There are many great programs that teach entrepreneurs how to be successful in raising venture capital – but Angels are not VCs and the same rules and expectations simply don’t apply. The odds of raising angel financing are higher than raising venture capital, and in some instances it may be all the financing you need.

Deal Criteria Statement

The Band is primarily focused on seed stage high technology companies with strong teams, proprietary technology, and big markets. We invest in the range of $300k to $750k, but often lead a syndication of $2-3M. The largest investment ever made by the Band was $3.3M. Valuation depends on many things but few companies successfully raise financing from the Band at valuations greater than $5M.

In 2009 the Band raised a 3rd side fund, called Acorn Fund, which caters to scrappy entrepreneurs who need just a little bit of capital.

You can learn more about Acorn Fund here.

Fees

The Band charges no fees from presenting companies of any kinds.

Review and Selection Process

If you submit a plan for review to the Band it will be forwarded to a prescreen committee for review. This committee is made up of experts from every high tech category including life science, semiconductor, software, and internet. This committee reviews close to 50 plans a month and selects 6 for an invitation to the Deal Screening Committee. If your plan makes it this far you will be asked to place it in a standard formatand come to a meeting held the last Wednesday of each month. There, six Band members (one from each major discipline) will ask you questions about the company for 15 minutes to better understand the printed material. This Committee then selects three companies and one runner up, for presentation to the full Band of Angels. To learn more about our committee members, please click here.

Selected Companies Process

The three selected companies will present to the full Band of Angels at the monthly dinner meeting held the second or third Wednesday of each month. In the two weeks between selection and presentation the Band provides value-added preparatory services to the companies. In concert with selected service providers the Band will help the companies refine both their written and oral presentations in preparation for the Band dinners. These dinners are held the second or third Wednesday of the following month; typically 40 people attend a dinner. Each company has 10 minutes to present followed by a five minute Q/A session.

Follow-up

Band members invest directly; there is no legal pooling of resources. However, within two weeks of the dinner most companies that present to the Band will have scheduled a follow up meeting with interested members who may ask additional questions for the company. This also provides an opportunity for an organized syndicate of individual angels to be formed for the purpose of evaluating the company, negotiating a set of terms, and executing an investment. For a list of our recent portfolio companies, please click here

Expectations

The Band reviews more than 700 deals per year. In 2011 the Band invested in 13 new deals. Obviously this is a competitive dynamic. Nevertheless, our goal is to provide as much value as we can to all companies that pitch the Band. Many companies that do not progress further in our process still benefit from it; especially those that make it to a dinner presentation.