Angel Investing: The Gust Guide to Making Money and Having Fun Investing in Startups [Kindle Edition]

David S. Rose

David S. Rose (Author)

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(Author), Reid Hoffman (Foreword)

Book Description

PRAISE FOR ANGEL INVESTING

“The world of entrepreneurial startups is where the most exciting and creative action is happening in today’s business world, which is why I was a strong supporter of the JOBS Act of 2012. No wonder millions of people are wondering how they can get involved as investors. There’s no better place to start than by reading David S. Rose’s Angel Investing.”
—U.S. SENATOR CHARLES E. SCHUMER, Senate Finance Committee

“From the best methods for finding and picking tomorrow’s big winners to proven techniques for adding value to any business you invest in, Angel Investing provides readers with everything they need to know to get started in this fascinating, fun—and lucrative—business arena.”
—DAVID BACH, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Automatic Millionaire and Start Late Finish Rich, Angel Investor

“As an angel investor and a long-time fan of David S. Rose, I was delighted to hear he finally captured his wit and wisdom in the pages of a book. David’s witty stories and angel investing principles — as well as his unsurpassed knowledge of his field — are teaching me so much more about investing than I’ve learned over the years doing it!”
—BARBARA CORCORAN, Real Estate Mogul, Shark Tank star, Angel Investor

“This is the most comprehensive and readable guide to angel investing ever written. The chapter on valuation and expectations lays out a clear framework for understanding one of the least well-known pitfalls in the angel world. And its emphasis on creating a win-win relationship with the entrepreneur is at the heart of being a long-term successful angel—and continuing to see the best deal flow. I recommend this book to anyone even thinking about making or receiving angel investments.”
—HOWARD L. MORGAN, Founding Partner, First Round Capital

“Angel Investing is an engaging, easy read, full of real stories and hard numbers, actual cases and a whole lot of good advice. David S. Rose brings tons of real-world knowledge to the subject that makes this required reading for every new angel.”
—TIM BERRY, Author of Business Plan Pro, Entrepreneur, Angel Investor

“Anyone with a checkbook can be an angel investor, but it takes insight to do it well. David S. Rose has written a terrific new book that will help would-be angels make money, rather than lose it. From explaining the value of diversification, to tips on evaluating deals, to offering up plans to attract good deals, Angel Investing will help you move from a money-losing amateur to a money-making professional angel. And if you’re an entrepreneur looking for angel money, you should read this book too. It will help you understand what knowledgeable angels are seeking and how they will evaluate you.”
—SCOTT SHANE, author of Fool’s Gold? The Truth Behind Angel Investing in America

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Every year in America, over 600,000 new businesses start up and hire their first employees. Many will fail, but some of them will become the legendary businesses of the future, transforming industries and making millions for the angel investors who helped fund them in their early days. Angel investing, once the exclusive province of multi-millionaire high-rollers, has now entered the mainstream, with more than $20 billion being invested annually by individual investors in the US alone. Contrary to popular belief, access to these high risk/high return investments—and success in startup investing—doesn’t have to be a matter of luck or connections. Angel Investing: The Gust Guide to Making Money & Having Fun Investing in Startups shows how smart investors with the right strategy and a long-term perspective can achieve annual returns of 25 percent or more from a well-designed angel portfolio.

Written by David S. Rose, the founder of Gust—the global platform that powers the world of organized professional angel investing—Angel Investing is a comprehensive, entertaining guide that walks readers through every step of the way to becoming a successful angel investor. It is illustrated with stories from among the 90+ companies in which David has invested during a 25 year career as one of the world’s most active business angels and includes instructions on how to get started, how to find and evaluate opportunities, and how to pursue and structure investments to maximize your returns.

From building your reputation as a smart investor, to negotiating fair deals, adding value to your portfolio companies and helping them implement smart exit strategies, David provides both the fundamental strategies and the specific tools you need to take full advantage of this rapidly growing asset class. He details the advantages of joining an angel group, explains how seed and venture funds can help leverage an investor’s resources, and reveals how recent regulatory changes and new online platforms are making startup investing accessible to millions of Americans.

Making money is no longer about sitting back and reading stock listings, David says. It is now about being part owner of an exciting startup that can be fun and financially rewarding. Angel Investing teaches investors how to carefully select and manage investments, establish a long term view, and approach angel investing as a serious part of an alternative asset portfolio while also enjoying being an integral part of an exciting new venture.

About the Author

DAVID S. ROSE is a serial entrepreneur, Inc 500 CEO and one of the world’s most active angel investors. Described by Forbes as “New York’s Archangel,” by BusinessWeek as a “world conquering entrepreneur,” and by Red Herring as “patriarch of Silicon Alley”, David has founded or funded over 90 high tech companies. He is the founder and CEO of Gust, the international collaboration platform for startup financing used by over 50,000 accredited angel investors, 1000 angel groups and venture capital funds, and 250,000 entrepreneurs. Gust received the SIIA CODiE Award for Best Collaboration Solution in both 2012 and 2013, as well as the 2012 SWIFT/Innotribe Award as the world’s most innovative financial technology company.

David is also Managing Partner of Rose Tech Ventures, an early stage angel fund; Founder and Chairman Emeritus of New York Angels, the most active angel group in America; and Associate Founder and Founding Track Chair for Finance, Entrepreneurship and Economics at Singularity University, the Google/NASA-sponsored post-graduate program in exponential technologies. A native New Yorker, David has a BA from Yale University, an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School, and a D. Eng. h.c. from Stevens Institute of Technology.

Product Details

• File Size: 1812 KB
• Print Length: 305 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1118858255
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (April 28, 2014)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00K1A6ADA
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray:
  Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,533 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #34 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Entrepreneurship & Small Business > Starting a Business
  • #70 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Investing > Investing Basics
  • #95 in Books > Business & Money > Small Business & Entrepreneurship > New Business Enterprises

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Without question, the best book yet on angel investing May 8, 2014

By Amazon Customer

Format:Hardcover

I've been in this field as a professional since 1993, and have read many, many books on this subject over the years. This is the most complete, best thought-out book on angel investing I've read. The author takes the time to explain "why," not just "what" and "how." This book is current, relevant, and even entertaining. Great for angels and entrepreneurs.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book on This Topic May 15, 2014

By David M. Freedman

Format:Hardcover

I've read *all* the books on angel investing, and this is the most practical one.

It has a nice balance between technical analysis and anecdotal wisdom.

Now, I want to emphasize that on the subject of investing, you should not rely on any single book. You should get a variety of perspectives because no single author is supremely authoritative, and there is more than one legitimate set of strategies and methods. But you can rely on Rose's book as the first one you read, as it offers a balanced introduction for serious investors.

Some of the statistics Rose cites about ROI come from research by Robert Wiltbank and others who surveyed accredited investors who were members of angel groups. So non-accredited investors' returns were not considered. I dug deeper into these studies, and found that respondents to Wiltbank's surveys were self-selected; we can presume that investors whose returns were poor were less likely to respond to the surveys. Keep these caveats in mind when you read the stats that Rose reports.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great advice from an expert! May 9, 2014

By Mary V. Seneker

Format:Hardcover|Verified Purchase

This book has to do with investing money in startup operations, and is written by someone who knows what he's doing in this area. The truth is that most start-ups fail, but no one can predict ahead of time which one is going to fail and which one(s) will make it BIG!! This book is targeted toward "angel" investors who invest in one out of 40 start-ups. That's about 2-1/2 percent of start-up businesses. What about businesses who don't receive this benefit?

The author states that "making money is no longer about sitting back and reading stock listings", but about being part owner of an exciting startup that can be fun and financially rewarding." He proceeds to explain how this is done. David S. Rose is a serial entrepreneur, Inc 500 CEO and one of the world's most active angel investors. He's described by Forbes magazine as "New York's archangel." He has founded or funded over 90 high tech companies. "Angel investing" is an obvious salute to those angels who believe strongly enough in these companies to actually invest moneys in them.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Equally as useful (if not more so) to entrepreneurs seeking funding May 12, 2014

By Mark I LaRosa

Format:Kindle Edition

The best way to understand how to raise money from angel investors is to know how they think about you and your investment opportunity, and there is no better way to understand how the best angel investors make decisions than from David S. Rose, one of the most prolific angel investors in the world.

When you read this book with an entrepreneur hat on, you understand why investors ask certain questions. You understand why certain companies get investments and others don't, and you also get a better sense of what types of investors you want to find.

If you are an entrepreneur, and you want to understand the WHY behind all of the investment process so that you have the best chance of getting money from an investor like David S. Rose, then this is the book to read. And if you are lucky enough to have gotten funding and want to know how to keep your investors excited, this is also a great book for you.

The book is a great read. The stories and lessons are engaging, entertaining, and it will keep you wanting more.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bible of Angel Investing May 9, 2014

By David Siegel

Format:Kindle Edition

David Rose writes from his brain and his heart and shares all his knowledge so generously and eloquently that this book is hard to put down. Not just the stories and the inside-track to angel investing, but the hard-headed rules that help you stay on track and not get carried away. Do it his way, and it is lucrative and fun. This book is a must-read for anyone getting into angel investing.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars As a new Angel Investor, David Rose's book was ... July 2, 2014

By JonV

Format:Hardcover|Verified Purchase

As a new Angel Investor, David Rose's book was an invaluable introduction to the world of Angel Investing for me!!! It was extremely comprehensive and provided clear examples & stories to help empower a new angel investor on what to expect from the exciting and potential lucrative world of Angel Investing. -- Jonathan Vivar, Member Investor @ Charleston Angel Partners

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bible for Angel Investing July 17, 2014

By James Canton, CEO Institute for Global Futures author of The Extreme Future

Format:Kindle Edition

A valuable and important guide every angel investor and entrepreneur must have. David Rose demystifies angel investing with vitally important guidelines that every would be angel should read. His frank and direct approach to angel investing offers various entry points into the angel investing marketplace not just for investors but for entrepreneurs who want to know how angel investing works. Having been a pioneer in angel investing, David knows the angel investing opportunities and better then anyone else. You will learn what to do and what to avoid. I recommend this book if you what to find out from a angel investor insiders, just how the angel investing can be fun and profitable.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Must read May 6, 2014

By Brett Fogle

Format:Hardcover

I had pre-ordered the book and received my copy just a few days ago, so I haven't read it cover to cover yet. But it's already paid for itself with some of the sample term sheets and examples in the appendix. Very interesting reading style, from the point of both the investor and the entrepreneur with some great insights for entrepreneurs looking to raise capital, including important considerations about the new JOBS Act that I hadn't found anywhere else! I'm looking forward to reading the rest this week and I recommend it.