{"id":146067,"date":"2010-01-06T11:55:54","date_gmt":"2010-01-06T16:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.technologytransfertactics.com\/content\/?p=5642"},"modified":"2010-01-06T11:55:54","modified_gmt":"2010-01-06T16:55:54","slug":"avoid-these-eight-types-of-angel-investors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/146067","title":{"rendered":"Avoid these eight types of angel investors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In his blog (<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.startupprofessionals.com\/\" >Startup Professionals Musings<\/a>), Martin Zwilling, CEO and founder of Startup Professionals, Inc., and board member and executive in residence at Callaman Ventures, warns entrepreneurs to validate the character and reputation of prospective angel investors. &#8220;The entrepreneur&#8217;s tendency to be in a huge hurry to obtain funding can end up being disastrous, and play into the hands of less scrupulous investors,&#8221; he writes. &#8220;In fact, most angels are pure, but there are some exceptions that may cost you more than an investment.&#8221; He cites these as angels to avoid:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Shark angels<\/strong>. The ultimate bad guy gets involved in early-stage investing only to take advantage of an entrepreneur&#8217;s lack of financial and deal-making experience. &#8220;If the term sheet process turns to pure torture, it may be time to respectfully bow out,&#8221; Zwilling says.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Litigious angels<\/strong>. These investors look for almost any excuse to take entrepreneurs to court, seeking to make money by intimidation, threats, and lawsuits. They know start-ups won&#8217;t have the resources to fight and count on them &#8220;caving.&#8221; Keep your attorney close by your side, Zwilling advises.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Superior angels<\/strong>. A number of successful business people believe they possess clear superiority over others, and some of these become angels. Usually, they are overbearing, negative people who are hypercritical of an entrepreneur&#8217;s every decision. Don&#8217;t be intimidated into bad decisions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Control freak angels<\/strong>. These angels start out looking like a start-up&#8217;s new best friend. Once the venture is funded, however, they wait until it hits the first pothole and then point out &#8220;gotcha&#8221; clauses in the agreement that give them more control &#8212; ultimately seeking to step in and run the company. Only a board can save a start-up in this situation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tutorial angels<\/strong>. This type of investor is not after control but wants to hold your hand on every issue. The mentoring offer sounds good up front. But once they write the check, the desire to be helpful 24 hours a day becomes a nuisance that eventually wears you down. &#8220;Keeping your distance is the best solution,&#8221; Zwilling writes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Has-been angels<\/strong>. These high-flyers have a liquidity problem. They&#8217;re still at the country club every day but running up a tab. They&#8217;ll meet with you and ask a thousand questions but never get around to closing the deal. Avoid them by learning to ask the closing questions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Dumb angels<\/strong>. Wealth is not synonymous with business savvy, Zwilling points out. When angels ask superficial questions or don&#8217;t understand business, a successful long-term relationship is not likely. But don&#8217;t forget that people with wealth usually have some savvy friends.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Brokers posing as angels<\/strong>. Some individuals, often posing as lawyers and accountants, have no intent to invest in your company but eventually solicit you to sign a fee agreement to pay them to introduce you to actual investors. Brokers are often worth the fee, but don&#8217;t be misled into thinking they are actually angels.\n <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.startupprofessionals.com\/2009\/12\/eight-angel-investors-to-avoid.html\" >Startup Professionals Musings<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In his blog (Startup Professionals Musings), Martin Zwilling, CEO and founder of Startup Professionals, Inc., and board member and executive in residence at Callaman Ventures, warns entrepreneurs to validate the character and reputation of prospective angel investors. &#8220;The entrepreneur&#8217;s tendency to be in a huge hurry to obtain funding can end up being disastrous, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146067\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}