Raising funds for your start up or growth stage business is hard. Here are some resources that could make it easier.
Tools to Shop Your Deal and Submit to Funders
Gust.com (formerly Angel Soft) is often used to submit your deal so funders can more easily compare your company, share it with their partners, and get feedback to determine how to best fund you.
Angel List is one of the early public investment marketplaces. You can call it crowd funding if you want. Great feature: Angels who see an investment that they like can invite other angels to participate in a round.
Investor Associations
Most start ups and early stage companies will want to be aware of at least these associations and the resources they bring.
National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) is a great place to find Venture Capitalists. They hold events where you can meet and greet potential funders. And if you’re a member of the NVCA, you can access their online directory. (For entrepreneurs, this may mean finding a friendly VC who is willing to help you access the membership.)
Angel Capital Association (ACA) is an association of Angel groups around the country. Unlike the NVCA, the ACA has a fully accessible list of its members, so entrepreneurs can browse to find groups that match. Most of the groups are regional.
These websites can give you great stats to use for decision making and for pitching and give you great insights into how to better deal with VCs and Angels respectively.
Industry Data Resources
Want to know what’s going down in technology investing? CrunchBase gives you a database of Venture Capitalists & Angels, investable companies and deals that have happened. So you can see where you can go, who might be willing to do a deal with you, and comparable deals for your planning and your pitches.
AngelSearch and VCSearch comb government records to gather investment data, industry preferences and total stock positions of America’s wealthiest individuals and VCs – giving you access by simply entering your parameters. Alas, it’s not free; but for a few bucks, you might be able to find ways to parlay your small investment into 6 or 7 figure investments by others.
From Their Own Mouths
Some Venture Capitalists and Angels share their views and data publicly on their own blogs and via Twitter. Here are several where I have found intriguing and helpful information.
FeldThoughts – posts from Brad Feld, VC at the Foundry Group in Boulder Colorado. I also follow his tweets.
AVC.com – posts from Fred Wilson, VC at Union Square Ventures in New York City.
GenuineVC – posts from David Beisel, VC at NextViewVentures in Boston. David is a native of Upper St. Clair.
Local Sources – Pittsburgh
Here’s a short list; but there are a lot more resources in Pittsburgh that can be helpful.
- Innovation Works
- Idea Foundry
- BlueTree Angels
- AlphaLab
- Pittsburgh Technology Council (Don’t forget to read my column in TEQ)
- C-Leveled
- ThinkTiv
- ThrillMill
Apps
VC Calendar from Fundingpost – This app lists VC, Angel Investor, and Entrepreneur events from around the world.
Your Favorites
Feel free to add your favorite resources as comments — whether they are from local sources or from around the globe.
And good luck getting the investment you deserve.