http://idcee.org/p/john-ason-business-angel/ John Ason has been an angel investor for over 17 years specializing in early stage pre-revenue companies. He has made over forty eclectic investments in the areas of e-commerce, technology, advertising, digital social media and entertainment. For about half of his investments, John has been the lead angel devoting a significant amount of his time to mentoring the companies. A typical company consists of one or two people in a garage or kitchen with minimal or no revenues. Any capital efficient industry with high growth potential qualifies with the exception of medical and biotech. As a starting point, John will accept only one page executive level summaries via email (ason@comcast.net). Some of John’s companies are: Xlibris.com, Scoople.It, Bikini.com, Diapers.com, Soap.com, FulcrumGallery.com, Tips.by, AppyCouple.com, GetMaid.com, LiveLook.com, HotList.com, Hooja, CarbonNanoProbes, Centrak.com, TuckerToys.com, Geometrix, CallunaVineyards.com, Ology.com, Koding.com, WeHostels.com, DoodleDeals.com, MotionMathGames.com, MakeUsAnOffer, OffTrackPlanet.com and Spling.com. Pic's are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/idcee/sets/ More @ http://idcee.org Follow us on: YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialIDCEEChannel Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IDCEE Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/IDCEE-3940138 Twitter: https://twitter.com/idcee_eu Google+: http://gplus.to/idcee Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/idcee/collections/

1. Angel Investing
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2. Personal Background
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25 years AT&T Bell Labs experience
Successful in stock market
Angel investor last 17 years
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3. Angel Investments
Xlibris.com Scoople.it DoodleDeals.com
Koding.com EndlessTV.com ERAnyc.com
Centrak.com OffTrackPlanet.com Ology.com
Diapers.com HotList.com Imbookin.com
CallunaVineyards.com Tips.by Spling.com
WeHostels.com LiveLook.com Bikini.com
FulcrumGallery.com Geometrix
SpatialLabs AdPilot Hooja
MotionMathGames.com
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AppyCouple.com PhlatBall.com Monaeo.com

4. What is Angel Investing ?
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Source of funds for early stage companies
Typically first “professional” level
Typically $100,000 to $500,000
Experience / assistance provided
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5. Angel Profile
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Usually private
Ability to accumulate capital
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Retired professionals
Entrepreneurs
Financial return secondary concern
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6. What do Angels Want ?
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A pleasant experience
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An environment to contribute / participate
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Excitement of growing a company
Financial return
Management / oversight
Contacts
An exit strategy
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7. Exit Strategies (descending order)
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Chapter 11 / Disbanding
Life style (put option)
Buyout / Merger
Venture Capital round
IPO
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8. How to Find Angels ?
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Networking
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Venture groups
Venture fairs
Internet
Accelerators
University lectures
Intermediaries
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9. What do Angels Want to See ?
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Short focussed business plan
Quality management / people
Reasonable valuation (20-30% equity)
Market validation
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10. Negotiating with Angels
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Must be win / win
Process is asymmetrical
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Valuations fuzzy
Angel contribution fuzzy
Angels timeframe is casual / slow
Angels do not HAVE to invest
Angels can walk away at anytime
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11. Financial Returns
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Ten times investment in 3 to 5 years
50% IRR per year
Lifestyle companies do not qualify
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12. Company Culture
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Speed, speed, speed
Outsource everything
Leverage / margins
Compete / cooperate
Open non-secretive
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13. Angels VS VCs
Money
Own
Other people’s
Revenues
None
$2 – 5 million
Management
Partial
Complete
Stage
Early
Expansion
IRR
50%
30%
Multiples
10X
2X – 4X
Risk
High
Low
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14. Evaluation Process
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Clear, concise, compelling, coherent
one page executive summary
Very large potential (10X)
Intellectually stimulating
Marketing/sales skills
Execution capabilities
What’a missing???
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15. Exploding Angel Market
Starting a company close to zero
 Validating a company close to zero
 Emergence of accelerators
 Emergence of Super Angels (Micro
VCs)
 Emergence of AngelList
Dramatic increase in speed of angel investing
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16. International Activity
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Foreign startups looking for funding
Foreign governments looking to build
angel and startup ecosystems
VCs getting active
Accelerators going international
International conferences/hackatons
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17. How to seduce an
early seed stage
angel
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18. Investors Want
Detailed market data
Complete management team
Detailed ROI analysis
Explicit problem statement
Industry experience
Prior successes
Business plan
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19. WRONG!!!
(sorry!!)
This is for a later stage expansion company
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20. Available Data
%
Angel
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Expansion VC
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21. Angels Want
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Explicit statement of what you do
Rationale for market size
Bottom up market forecast
Quality management team
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Prior failures acceptable
Prefer outside of industry
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22. Angels Want
To be sold EQUITY in
your company and NOT
a product or service
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23. First encounter
Entertain
Impress
Inform
Only one chance to make first impression
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24. How??
Less Words
Less Data
More Pictures
More Action
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25. The sale is
Emotional
not data driven
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26. Thank You
John Ason
www.JohnAson.com
Ason@comcast.net
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