Marginal Participation Implies Marginal Influence I have encountered a misconception among some angels, who actually believe their money entitled them to tell “their” start-ups how or where to go. Occasionally, business angels do get involved in the ongoing business processes of their start-ups. As a board member or as member of some advisory committee some angels actually may carry some … Read More
Biases, Sympathies and Prejudices Guide too Many Business Angels (Part 2 of 3)
The Team is Key, Nothing else is The central date for Angels in assessing early-stage start-ups is their founder teams. Evidently, a very good start-up will present a very good business model, a promising market, an excellent product or service and so on. It goes without saying that a good founding team will have developed such a sound business model, … Read More
Vorurteile und Sympathien leiten zu viele Business Angels, Teil 2 von 3
Das Team ist Key – und sonst nichts Das zentrale Datum für Angels bei der Beurteilung frühphasiger Start-ups ist das Gründerteam. Zwar gehören zu einem sehr guten Start-up auch ein gutes Geschäftsmodell, ein chancenreicher Markt, ein bedarfsgerechtes Produkt usf. Aber gerade weil frühphasige Start-ups voraussichtlich noch einige Male ihr Geschäftsmodell drehen und wenden, ihren Marktfokus und ihre MVPs modifizieren, ihre … Read More
“Survival of the hippest”? Part 1 of 3
Angels are all too willing to operate on level playing field with their target entities This and my two subsequent posts in English shall be dealing with typical business angel mistakes. My “insight” originates from my own mistakes. To generalise by inferring from oneself is generally impermissible. Yet, I discussed the three issues with quite a number of other angels, … Read More
Der Business Angel – Ein Hans Guck-in-die-Luft? Teil 1 von 3
Bei den drei „typischen“ Angel – Fehlern, die ich in diesem und in den beiden Folgeblogs abhandeln werde, schließe ich von mir selbst auf andere. Das ist natürlich eigentlich unzulässig – ein logischer Fehlschluss vom Besonderen, dem Einzelfall, auf das Allgemeine. Nachdem ich mich aber mit nicht wenigen Angels in dieser Sache ausgetauscht habe, halte ich diesen illegitimen Schluss dennoch … Read More
Business Angels machen auch nicht alles richtig
Mein letzter Post hat mir einige – berechtigte – Kritik eingetragen. Bevor ich in der nächsten Woche mit der sowieso geplanten Selbstkritik beginne, möchte kurz auf die wesentlichen Kritikpunkte eingehen, die ich sinngemäß kursiv widergebe:
Do VCs and Angels Sit in the Same Boat?
Part 1: “Diversification” From time to time people ask me whether investing selectively in start-ups as a “profession” is not quite an irresponsible gamble, especially if, like in my case, you have practically no other current sources of income. This question is meant rhetorically, because the people who ask and I, we know Kind Advisors Such rhetoric is usually followed … Read More
Angel Fallacies 4: Neglect of Founders’ Personal Circumstances
The personal circumstances of employees are a minefield for employers: Whether in hiring or in staff development: On the one hand, as an employer, you have to consider potential risks such as illness, financial stability, family situations, even possible pregnancies; on the other hand, in an ideal world, these issues should really remain a private matter for the respective employee … Read More
Angel Bias and Angel Vanity
Investors and serial entrepreneurs usually entertain some good and many not so good investment memories respectively. Angel investors, who usually previously either worked as VCs or (serial) entrepreneurs therefore tend to be biased towards certain investment targets, certain technologies, certain types of business model etc. Their previous roles as investors (fund managers) or (serial) entrepreneurs make angels believe they have … Read More