Where to Find Your Angel

There is starting to be a lot more chatter around the DC area revolving around funding and investments.  Many often equate this this funding with Venture Capitalists, but this is not always the case.  Another very important piece of this puzzle are the Angel Investors. 

 There was a great post at CenterNetworks written by Charlie O'Donnell, Co Founder and CEO of Path101, an angel investment firm out of New York City.  It was a great read I think all of us/you possibly looking for a boost of financing to place into making your ideas come to life.

His first piece of advice, you dont always find a hot date in the bar, so you probably wont find angels at those networking events.

the same thing as trying to meet someone great in a bar…   Sure, it happens, but the odds are against you.  They don't know you, you don't know them.   You don't have any idea what the other person is looking for, what they value, or whether they're even really in the market at that moment.  Maybe they're just getting out of a bad relationship, or in an angel's case, just lost some money in a bad deal–in your niche, too.  Plus, in general, there are way more potential angels NOT going to angel events than actually going.  Similarly, the number of single people far outpaces the number of people who hangout in the hottest singles bars and clubs.

So where exactly do you go looking then ? 

Your target angel list should include the top 30 most successful people you can find in your space–not that you want to include all of them in your deal, but you need to talk to a lot of people because you're going to get a lot of no's.  The biggest reason why you want these people in your deal is because they can vet your idea.

And don't always be looking for just a check.  Many angels have a wealth of just good ol' experience and if you listen close enough, you may find something more valuable than the money you are searching for.