Where To Find Angels ?

An entrepreneur's search for a business angel is hampered by the fact that most angels wish to remain anonymous to avoid being inundated with poor quality investment proposals.

More traditional methods of finding angels include word-of-mouth, through friends and acquaintances, other angel investors (who might share in some of your investments), bankers and lenders, technology transfer arms of universities, brokers hired by start-up firms to find investors, professional venture capitalists and other professionals in the field such as lawyers and accountants.

The first step is to identify by name some of the most likely sources. A few - certainly not more than five - should be approached in the first instance. Not only does this enable the business plan or the contact letter to be changed if they do not produce positive answers, but it avoids the danger of the business opportunity becoming too widely known and possibly devalued because of that.

In a number of countries, business angel networks operate locally to bring innovative companies in contact with business angels. In most cases, local or regional innovation agencies, research centers, and in some cases even commercial banks, are involved. This has improved the efficiency of the investor's search for investment opportunities and the entrepreneur's search for capital. Some of the networks can also provide help in raising finance from other sources and in preparing a business plan for a fee.