Ron Conway, an Angel Investor who is currently investing in 150 companies, admitted on a panel at the AlwaysOn Summit at Stanford, that he is planning on making 40-50 more investments in the next year.
With less venture capital out there, it’s harder for early stage companies to find funding, and that’s why the angels are benefitting – the entrepreneurs come to them with built ideas.
Joyce Chung, of Garage Tech Ventures – an early stage venture capital fund, which has invested in companies like Kaboodle and Pandora – see this all the time. Chung explained the companies that come to her fund are a bit further along. They come to her with actual working products as opposed to a written idea.
And it seems this has become pretty much a requirement for entrepreneurs looking for investments from Angels. Rob Hayes of First Round Capital firmly gave advice to entrepreneurs looking for funding, “you shouldn’t be coming to an investor with nothing, come with a working idea.” Hayes wants to see people who’ve either been working nights and weekends on their product, or have quit their jobs to build their ideas – the passionate ones.
So what sectors should we expect to see the angels and early stage VC funds investing in?