Winning Angels: The 7 Fundamentals of Early Stage Investing [Paperback]

David Amis (Author), Howard Stevenson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0273649167 | ISBN-13: 978-0273649168 | Publication Date: March 15, 2001 | Edition: 1

Winning Angels is a practical, hands-on guide to angel investing, which includes tools, tactics and strategies for high-tech, low-tech, and every other kind of early-stage investing. Over 50 winning angels in the US and Europe, including Mitch Kapor, Esther Dyson, Andrew Filipowski, Audrey MacLean, and Dick Morley, share their hard-earned years of experience. Some have done over 100 deals each, while others reaped rewards on investments in companies such as Apple Computer, Amazon.com, RealNetworks, idealab!, StarMedia Network, Kozmo.com, returning on occasions several hundred times their original investment. Winning Angels reduces the art of angel investing into a science, and opens the doors to those angels who have limited experience, while augmenting the experience of seasoned investors. Entrepreneurs will benefit by reading and reflecting on the contents of the book before they seek funding. They will gain access to the mindset of winning angels, and how best to win them over, as well as finding information on how to value, structure and harvest their deals. David Amis, who has made 15 angel investments, previously served as the Managing Director of Venture Capital Report Ltd, which has matched over 300 entrepreneurs with angels. He currently invests individually and through StartUpFund I, where he serves as the Managing Partner. As an entrepreneur, he has raised over $10m from more than 100 individual investors. Howard Stevenson, who has made over 80 angel investments, headed the Entrepreneur Management Unit at Harvard Business School for 18 years. He is a leading thinker in the areas of entrepreneurship and angel investing and has authored/co-authored six books, his latest is Do Lunch or Be Lunch, and 43 articles.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Winning Angels is a superbly organised and invaluable handbook to start-up investing. You will examine the shape of a typical deal, from chance contact at a networking group to flotation on the stock market. And all the time, you will be told to ask questions. What does my intuition tell me? Do I have experience in this area? Is there a clear product and revenue possibility? And you will learn about leaving people wanting to deal with you in the future. Very wise--that next one could be the real thing."        Amazon.co.uk "An insightful and fact-filled primer on how to ferret out great opportunities."  ¿ Richard Kramlich, angel in Apple Computer, and partner at Venture Capitalist firm, New Enterprise Associates  
"Entrepreneurs would do well to read and reflect on the contents of the book before they seek funding."  ¿ Peter Crisp, founding partner of VenRock Venture Capital  
"Winning Angels is required reading by angel investors and entrepreneurs. It is the best book on the subject of angel investing."  ¿ David Gladstone, Venture Capitalist, angel investor, and author of Venture Capital Handbook and Venture Capital Investor  "This book will be a framework helping angels to become winning angels and helping start-up entrepreneurs understand the criteria for support from winning angels."  ¿ Bert Twaalfhoven, angel in 24 deals in over 10 countries, Venture Capitalist, and founder of Europe's 500  
"In its ever-bigger deals with more predictable pay-offs, the traditional venture capital industry has itself become ripe for disruption. Winning Angels provides a wonderful tutorial for how angel investors can make this happen." ¿ Clayton Christensen, Harvard Business School professor and author of The Innovator's Dilemma  
"This is a book about effective execution in a chaotic environment. A must-read for both angels and entrepreneurs."  ¿ Wade Myers, Harvard Baker Scholar, US Army Ranger, and founder and CEO of Interelate "Winning Angels shows how many styles and frameworks there are that work, and reinforces how this early stage investing is still hard work."  ¿ Michael Rockefeller, member of the Venrock Board, and CEO of Active Media "This is the first world class book on early stage investing, I wish I'd had it years ago."  ¿ Prince Heinrich von Liechtenstein, international angel investor, and co-founder of FirstFive   

From the Back Cover

From the foreword by Peter Crisp, founding partner of Venrock Associates, which was formed in 1969 as the venture capital arm of the Rockefeller Family, and an investor in over 300 early stage deals including Apple Computer and Intel:

"Winning Angels is the first book to chronicle the activities of successful angel investors. Based on personal experience and interviews with over 50 angels, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, it is a treasure trove of advice from knowledgeable angel-veterans. Not knowing the authors personally, I was not sure what to expect when asked to review Winning Angels. I was impressed by the breadth and depth of the book; the authors have summarized and organized the process of angel investing in a way that no one has done before. The book is a catalog of one anecdotal insight after another, bringing alive the fundamentals of angel investing."

Winning Angels is a practical, hands-on guide to angel investing, which includes tools, tactics, and strategies for high-tech, low-tech, and every other kind of early-stage investing. Over 50 winning angels in the US and Europe, including Mitch Kapor, Esther Dyson, Andrew Filipowski, Audrey MacLean, and Dick Morley, share their hard-earned years of experience. Some have done over 100 deals each, while others reaped rewards on investments in companies such as Apple Computer, Amazon.com, RealNetworks, idealab!, StarMedia Network, Kozmo.com, returning, on occasion, several hundred times their original investment.

Winning Angels reduces the art of angel investing into a science and opens the doors to those angels who have limited experience, while augmenting the experience of seasoned investors. Entrepreneurs will benefit by reading and reflecting on the contents of the book before they seek funding. They will gain access to the mindset of winning angels, and how best to win them over, as well as finding information on how to value, structure and harvest their deals.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (March 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0273649167
• ISBN-13: 978-0273649168
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #89,790 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Winning Angels: The 7 Fundamentals of Early Stage Investing, August 4, 2001

By 

Suzanne Short (Irving, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Winning Angels: The 7 Fundamentals of Early Stage Investing (Paperback)

This book is clear, informative and well presented. I have just completed an advanced financial course on starting a business. Virtually no time was spent on the topic of angel investors.

It seems to me that this critical topic must be understood by the entrepreneur as he or she consider the funding requirements of a start up company.

Who are Angels? How to do you approach them? What type of investment return do they expect? What types of exit strategies appeal to them and in what time frame? All of these questions are clearly addressed by a cross section of experienced Angels.

This book exceeded my expectations and deserves my time to say thank you.

Suzanne Short

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read before swimming with sharks, July 4, 2003

By 

PAUL FARRINGTON (ENGLAND, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Winning Angels: The 7 Fundamentals of Early Stage Investing (Paperback)

The relationship between Angel, VC and Entrepreneur has been a source of popular confusion. This book clears up some key misunderstandings, such as the different roles Angels and VC's play in the financing process of startup companies. 'Winning Angels' contains a reasonable quantitative element outlining different valuation methods and deal structures, which should be accessible to any reader with a basic understanding of Corporate Finance or Discounted Cash Flow analysis. It's also made particularly credible by the inclusion of interviews with successful Angels. I was struck by the high bar set by the interviewees, and their generally shared opinion that the calibre of entrepreneur was a factor subordinate to all others. Because it's written from an Angel's perspective, the book is skewed towards investor interests. These fall out of alignment with the entrepreneur in at least one key respect: investors are motivated to maximise the return on their portfolio of investments, rather than any individual company's. It follows that Angels will have a tendency to pursue a number of high risk, high payoff vectors rather than companies with a high probability of success but less financial upside. This isn't a criticism of the book, just an observation of differing interests. In short: high quality advice for people on both sides of the table.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Winning Angels, The 7 Fundamentals of Early Stage Investing, May 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Winning Angels: The 7 Fundamentals of Early Stage Investing (Paperback)

As an angel investor in two start-ups and currently involved in fundraising for another one, I found this book to be an outstanding partner. With a chapter devoted to each aspect of the angel investing process, it is easy to get not only the 10,000 foot view, but also specific ideas on how to do it. I could not recommend this book more highly for serious angels or for entrepreneurs trying to understand them (and perhaps get some of their money).

The only drawback is that some people might think angel investing is for everyone, be sure to read the advice to new angels if you are one.