10 Angels: Which Angel Investor Is Right For You? – Part 2
In 10 Angels: Which Angel Investor is Right For You? – Part 1 you were introduced to the first five angel investor types. Here are the other five. Have you met any of these before?
- The Brother Angel
This is an interesting species of angel investor. Entrepreneurs are well-suited to analyze, understand, and support the entrepreneurial opportunities of kindred brothers and sisters. Having a thorough understanding of what you’re going through, this category of angel could be your first and best supporter, willing to help along the way with good experiential advice. The only caution here would be to ensure this angel has sufficiently deep pockets to help you up the mountain, and not interfere with your own practices and ideas of getting things done.
- The Where Have You Been All My Life Angel
This angel has been looking for you as much as you’ve been looking for him or her. The where-have-you-been angel immediately understands your vision because it’s the same vision they have, and they are 100% supportive and eager to see your project take flight. The boon of having this type of angel on your side is the enthusiastic support you’ll receive from an unstoppable cheerleader. The cautionary side is they may not be able to provide the critical eye you need for those occasions when you should be more cautious.
- The Portfolio Angel
You may be fortunate to meet an angel who is allocating investment funds with a portfolio allocation model, taking their angel investing activities to a more structured and business-styled model. This specialized portfolio is focused on profitable returns, and they treat each investment they make from the perspective of a business investment, much as they would invest in the stock market. On the positive side, when this angel selects your proposal for investment, it’s likely that your business idea makes a lot of financial sense to a scrupulous investor. The limitation of this investor is that you and your business opportunity are regarded as equal to any other business opportunity and therefore might receive limited funding or funding curtailment if your business takes too long to yield profits.
- The Safari Angel
This investor’s style is to hunt for investments so he or she can acquire trophies for the den wall. Your business and their investment become pleasant cocktail stories to amuse their friends over canapés and martinis. Their interest in your business is mostly for entertainment, and perhaps a way of showing they support green businesses, for example, or something socially important about your business niche. On the bright side, your angel is probably very well-connected, providing a higher profile for you. The other side is that your angel really doesn’t care what happens to you or your company and will just as easily flip you for another good story to tell.
- The Pigeon Angel
A fool and his or her money are soon parted. Sadly, there are angel investors who don’t really know their motivations or interests, and get caught in the enthusiasm and passions of others. This is, of course, is an unhealthy relationship that’s best avoided. Not only will it deep-six your karma, but it will also make you feel miserable if this unsustainable relationship eventually crashes. You won’t want to be in your shoes when this happens. Stay away from naïve and blind angel supporters. You may want the money, but you don’t need the 10-ton anchor.
Conclusion
As you interview angel investors and they interview you, do your best to consider their motivation in funding your business. If you’re unable to determine why they are interested, it may be you’ll have too much of an obstacle getting the check written. Using these generic categories may be helpful with guiding your own selection process. Should you be blessed enough to have several angels interested in your project, give serious thought to analyzing the best choice with the most benefits that will help your business become a slice of heaven.
To learn more about Joe Maas, view his Paladin Registry research report.
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