Every Business Needs an Angel by John May and Cal Simons

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Every Business Needs an Angel

Name: Every Business Needs an Angel
Price: 4.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: John May, Cal Simons
ISBN: 9780609504475

Ebook

Published on Dec 18, 2001 | 256 Pages

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Published on Dec 18, 2001 | 256 Pages

Buy from Other Retailers:

What’s the biggest problem most entrepreneurs face? Raising money: Without cash, you can’t get a
business off the ground or keep it running.

However, many entrepreneurs have a problem. On one hand, the traditional sources of financing—family, friends, personal savings, the local bank—are often inadequate. On the other, the venture capitalists who have played such an important role in the high-tech industry are interested only in investing much higher sums than most entrepreneurs need.

Enter angels: a new type of investor looking to invest between $100,000 and $1,000,000 in a company. There are about three million angel investors, and there’s a huge market of entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs who want to learn how to attract angels’ interest—and their money.

John May and Cal Simmons are at the forefront of this trend. Not only do they have years of experience in advising, managing, and investing in early-stage companies, they are also the originators of The Dinner Club, a Washington, D.C.–based group of successful businesspeople who hear pitches by entrepreneurs seeking funding and then decide whether to invest their own or the club’s money in those entrepreneurial ideas.

Every Business Needs an Angel offers a fly-on-the-wall look at how angel investors evaluate new entrepreneurial ideas, and provides a wealth of practical advice and insight for the countless entrepreneurs seeking help in their quest to find investors for their businesses. The book covers all phases of the process of finding angels and persuading them to invest, drawing on many examples of real-world companies that have pitched angels successfully—as well as unsuccessfully. These entrepreneurs are in a broad range of industries—from high-technology companies to more traditional businesses as diverse as breweries and concierge services—some quite well-known, like Nantucket Nectars and Preview Travel, whose founders had their own guardian angels.

For entrepreneurs who need money and advice on how to find it, the authors offer enormous insight into this new breed of investor. As the title says, every business needs an angel; this book tells you how to find one.

“This is the ‘How to Get Happily Financed’ bible that any person with a business idea must buy. It’s not enough just to get money (though that’s good!), it’s important to get the money at the right terms and from the right people. The authors show you the ropes, providing plenty of first-hand stories and insider tips that will boost your chances that you’ll find an ‘angel’ to make your business dream come true.”
—Nancy Evans, cochair and editor-in-chief of iVillage.com

“May and Simmons know this venture capital investing space cold, and the book is a great way to share their insider knowledge with entrepreneurs and angels alike.”
—Gerald Taylor, angel investor and former president of MCI

“If venture capital were a stock, I’d be buying to hold over the next twenty-five years; with smaller government and freer markets, venture capital will boom. And as investors become more sophisticated and hands-on, angel investing is a natural. My friend Cal Simmons and his partner John May have recognized this and provide good solutions to entrepreneurs, through these words and through their life’s work.”
—David Gardner, cofounder of The Motley Fool

“This is the real deal on angel investing. This book puts you in the room and enables you to learn how the wealthy make private equity investments.”
—Guy Kawasaki, CEO of Garage.com and author of How to Drive Your Competition Crazy

“I have been leveraging angel money and experience since doing my first start-up in 1985. Every Business Needs an Angel is an invaluable resource—I wish it had been available fifteen years ago. It should be required reading for every entrepreneur. Each of my companies has benefited greatly from its association with angels.”
—Philip J. Gross, angel investor, president and cofounder of AtYourBusiness.com, and former CFO of AOL

“Entrepreneurs and their businesses will be a lot more attractive to quality venture capitalists if they follow advice laid out in May and Simmons’s book!”
—Art Marks, general partner of New Enterprise Associates venture capital firm

“Angels are a crucial source of risk capital for new ventures, but entrepreneurs by and large know very little about them. John May and Cal Simmons have changed all that with Every Business Needs an Angel, which lifts the veil shrouding the process of angel investing. Their book is required reading for entrepreneurs who are searching for seed-stage and early-stage capital for a fledgling company.”
—William D. Bygrave, Frederic C. Hamilton Professor of Free Enterprise, Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship, Babson College

Author

John May

John May is the founder of New Vantage Group, a Vienna, Virginia, firm that mobilizes private equity into early-stage companies and develops innovative venture funds. Prior to cofounding and organizing hundreds of angel investors into The Dinner Club, he was a partner or advisor to Calvert Social Venture Partners, Solstice Capital, Women’s Growth Capital Fund, and the Maryland Enterprise Fund. He is an acknowledged authority on angel investing; cofounded two angel networks, the Investors Circle and the Private Investors Network; and sits on the advisory board of the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association.Cal Simmons is a longtime angel investor with extensive experience in early-stage private equity. He has invested in more than thirty early-stage companies and is cofounder and manager of several angel investing clubs, including The Dinner Club, eMedia Club, and Washington Dinner Club—all of which are early-stage venture funds that leverage the capital, expertise, and relationships of angel investors to identify, invest in, and grow promising young companies. Prior to his angel investing career, he was a successful entrepreneur, having founded Cal Simmons Travel, which he sold to a public company, and he recently founded ASAP Ventures, a small business incubator. He is a current member and past chairman of the Washington-area chapter of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO).

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Every Business Needs an Angel

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By John May and Cal Simons

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