How to Build an Angel Investing Referral Network

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Elizabeth Kraus

As you may have read in my recent post on angel investing, building a trusted angel investment referral network can both increase deal flow quality and decrease time spent on due diligence. But what does it take to build a successful referral network? Here are a few suggestions: Continue reading →

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Upcoming Boulder Angel Investor Events and Announcing Mentors for Angel Training Program

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Elizabeth Kraus

The snow is finally melted and The Impact Angel Group is gearing up for a summer of jam-packed events for both entrepreneurs and angel investors. You can subscribe to our blog or check out our events page to stay informed, but here is just a sample of the fun things we have planned:

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Want to Become an Angel Investor? Our Six-Month Program Starts June 4th

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Elizabeth Kraus

Angel investing can be very lucrative and a whole lot of fun, but it is also risky and complicated. Many new angel investors fail to educate themselves and because of that, they lose money on the first investments they make and stop angel investing. Because this is exactly what we DON’T WANT TO HAPPEN, we’re launching a six-month training program to better educate and prepare new and aspiring angels. Here are the details: Continue reading →

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Brad Feld Shares His Angel Investing Strategy and Due Diligence Redefined

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Elizabeth Kraus

Bart Lorang from Full Contact, Jim Deters from Galvanize and Brad Feld are doing a pretty cool thing to encourage angel investing in Colorado. They’ve offered to host a dinner once a quarter with aspiring angel investors for an exclusive Q and A session with Brad Feld. I had the fortunate opportunity to attend and here’s what I learned:

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7 Angel Investor Due Diligence Resources

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Elizabeth Kraus

In preparation for a panel on “How to Conduct Due Diligence to Avoid Surprises and Make Great Investments” that I’m hosting at the Angel Capital Summit, our great team of panelists has pulled together our favorite resources for angel investor due diligence. I thought these might be helpful:

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What Companies Are Angels Actually Investing in?

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Elizabeth Kraus

It seems as if a new startup is funded every day, but in reality a very small percentage of startups are able to successfully raise capital. To give some perspective, the Impact Angel Group reviewed 522 angel investments last year and only invested in five. Of those 517 deals that we didn’t invest in, we declined 513 because we didn’t think they were viable investments and only four because of timing and other circumstances.  So what kinds of companies are angels actually investing in?

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Why I Love Angel Investing

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Elizabeth Kraus

I had a phone call yesterday with a very smart and savvy former Angel investor. He told me he stopped angel investing because he lost most of his money and finally realized that angel investing is risky, complicated and a lot of work! This is not the first time I’ve heard this and it made me wonder: Am I just a young, starry-eyed investor who is going to regret angel investing later? Sometimes I wonder…Why the heck am I doing this?

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The Impact Angel Group | 2012 Impact Investing Progress Report

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Elizabeth Kraus

With less than 4 hours until 2013, I thought it would make sense to reflect on the first year of Impact Angel Group existence. Since our inception 11 months ago, we’ve:

  1. Reviewed 502 executive summaries
  2. Met with 242 angel investors
  3. Made 5 impact angel investments
  4. Invested 300 hours of sweat equity in 3 additional impact startups
  5. Helped two promising investments avoid raising capital by recruiting executive talent to work for equity

And what have we learned from this? Here are our takeaways:

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Super Cool Tax Shelter: Support Colorado Startups for 35 Cents on the Dollar

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Elizabeth Kraus

Looking for ways to avoid the fiscal cliff??? The Rocky Mountain Innosphere has teamed up with the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado to form the Fund for Innovation.  Since the Innosphere is both a 501(c)(3) organization and located in a Colorado Enterprise tax zone, a donation to the Fund for Innovation is a serious tax advantage!!!

How does it work?

  1. You give a donation to the Fund.
  2. The Fund invests in game changing, job creating, economy stimulating technologies in water, energy, biosciences and software throughout the state of Colorado.
  3. You get a serious tax credit! (Assuming a 35% federal tax rate, your cost is only 35.37% of your total contribution).

Check it out before December 31st!!!

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5! Colorado Impact Angel Investor Events This Week

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Elizabeth Kraus

We have a jam packed week of events for Impact Investors in Colorado this week. Hope to see you at some of these!

  1. Tuesday, December 11 – Impact Investing night with the Rockies Venture Club – panel moderated by yours truly, 5-7:30
  2. Wednesday, December 12 – The long awaited opening of HUB Boulder – jam packed events from 12 – 12 on 12/12/12
  3. Thursday, December 13 – Rockies Venture Club DENVER Investor only meeting to discuss the companies presenting on Tuesday (accredited investors only), 7-9am
  4. Friday, December 14 – Rockies Venture Club BOULDER Investor only meeting to discuss the companies presenting on Tuesday (accredited investors only), 10:30am -12:30pm
  5. Friday, December 14 – Impactaneers – HUB Boulder Opening Hike-A-Ganza! 3:30pm
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