Featuring Launchpad Venture Group, Golden Seeds, Walnut Ventures, Boston Harbor Angels & Mass Medical Angels!

1. Jodi Collier
Managing Director
Launchpad Venture
Group
@LaunchpadVG
Sheila Narayan
Angel Investor
Golden Seeds
@Golden Seeds
Jeff Arnold
Angel Investor
Boston Harbor Angels &
Mass Medical Angels
@Bharborangels
Applying for Angel Funding Part 1:
The Angel’s Perspective
@TCNupdate www.TheCapitalNetwork.org
Kathryn Roy
Angel Investor
Walnut Ventures

2. Fundraising is hard. You don’t have to do it alone.
Designed for entrepreneurs, by investors, TCN events cover a full range of topics
from finding investors, pitching and due diligence, to term sheets & exits
and everything in between.
Workshops, office hours, bootcamps, mentoring…
Let TCN guide you through the fundraising process.
Your future investors will thank you.

3. What are Angel Groups?
• Collections of Investors sharing deal flow and
diligence
• Most comprise individual investors, some are
funds
• Some have a specific focus
• Domain – tech, life sciences, food, education, etc.
• Location
• Demographic – women, minorities, etc.
• “Double bottom line”

4. What are we looking for?
• High growth companies in a large market
• Great team
• “Unfair advantage”
• Disruptive business model
• Disruptive technology
• Network effect
• Green-field
• Intellectual property

5. How do I know I am a fit?
• Determined by
• Stage (Seed/Series A)
• Technology (usually only tech companies)
• Growth potential (need revenue plan)
• Amount to be raised (to next milestone)
• Valuation

6. How do we invest?
We prefer equity, but still
use
convertible debt
● Structured as debt, but really
meant to be equity
● Mechanisms to fix issues may
complicate (caps, discount,
governance)
● Others vehicles being
developed: SAFE, KISS not yet
common here in Boston
Investments typically are
equity
• We get a percentage of the
company at a particular share
price
• We hope to “exit” at a share
price which is a (large) multiple
of our original price

7. How do you find us?
Prior Investors
Other
Introductions
Accelerators
Incubators
Networking
venues
Websites
(useful ONLY when
determining ‘fit’ &
finding networking
leads)

8. What’s our process?
1. Prescreening &
Screening
Referral is the key to
entering the process
2. Pitching
10-20 min presentations +
Q&A
3. Due Diligence
Varies between
groups & deal leads
4. Term Sheet
Negotiation
This is setting a market
price NOT a valuation
5. Syndication &
Funding
6. Repeat

9. Angel Groups: Pros & Cons
PROs
● We can bring a lot of money
to an early stage deal
(“we’re connected”- this works in your
favor!)
● We bring a lot of business
experience
● We bring a huge referral
network
● We often bring deep domain
expertise
● We are often more
“balanced” than individual
investors
CONs
• We’re slow, typically 2 - 6 months
• We’re all connected

10. Stories From The Vault
Times we said YES
Times we said NO

11. Source: ACA (Angel Capital Association)
● Angel Investor Forum - East Hartford,
CT
● Boston Harbor Angels - Boston, MA
● Boynton Angels - Worcester, MA
● Cherrystone Angel Group - Providence,
RI
● Clean Energy Venture Group - Boston,
MA
● CommonAngels - Lexington, MA
● DAWA - National/Boston
● eCoast Angels - Portsmouth, NH
● ECS Angels - Bar Harbor, ME
● Edible Ventures Group - Boston, MA
● Golden Seeds LLC - Boston, MA, New
York, NY and San Francisco, CA
● HubAngels - Cambridge, MA
● Landmark Angels - Greenwich, CT
● Launchpad Venture Group - Wellesley,
MA
● Maine Angels - Portland, ME
● Mass Medical Angels - Brookline, MA
● North Country Angels - Burlington, VT
● Ocean State Angels - Providence, RI
● Pipeline Angels - Boston, MA
● River Valley Investors - Springfield, MA
● SideCar Angels - Wellesley, MA
● TiE Angels - Boston - Boston, MA
● Topstone Angels - Darien, CT
● UMASS Lowell New Venture Fund -
Lowell, MA
● Walnut Venture Associates - Wellesley
Hills, MA
Some Angel Groups In NE

12. Alternatives to Angel Funding
● Bootstrapping
● Friends & Family
● Business Plan / Pitch Competitions
● SALES!
● Crowdfunding
● Debt Financing
● Grants SBIR, SBA (local, federal, industry
specific, etc.)
● Equity Crowdfunding
● Strategic Partners
● VC Funding