Angels flee from startup investments
nytimes.com
Angels flee from startup investments
1–10 of 19 posts
Re: Angels flee from startup investments
#2"For TwoSmartDogs, an Internet start-up in Los Angeles that was building an online hub for adult education classes, this sudden pullback was disastrous.
"In 2007, the company raised $715,000 in its first round of angel financing from eight investors. When the founders approached current and new investors for more capital in September, they were met with silence."
Why did investors think this
was a good business opportunity in the first place?
Re: Angels flee from startup investments
#3"For TwoSmartDogs, an Internet start-up in Los Angeles that was building an online hub for adult education classes, this sudden pullback was disastrous. "In 2007, the company raised $715,000 in its first round of angel financing from eight investors. When the founders approached current and new investors for more capital in September, they were met with silence." Why did investors think this http://www.twosmartdogs.c…
Actually, I think the basic idea has a lot of potential and could be a fine business. There's several different revenue models and the costs could be pretty low relative to a lot of other types of startups.
The bigger question is why they needed to raise $715k and still needed more.
Re: Angels flee from startup investments
#4"For TwoSmartDogs, an Internet start-up in Los Angeles that was building an online hub for adult education classes, this sudden pullback was disastrous. "In 2007, the company raised $715,000 in its first round of angel financing from eight investors. When the founders approached current and new investors for more capital in September, they were met with silence." Why did investors think this http://www.twosmartdogs.c…
Actually, I think the basic idea has a lot of potential and could be a fine business. There's several different revenue models and the costs could be pretty low relative to a lot of other types of startups. The bigger question is why they needed to raise $715k and still needed more.
That was really the thrust of my question. Why was that amount of money to start up a good investment?
Re: Angels flee from startup investments
#5"For TwoSmartDogs, an Internet start-up in Los Angeles that was building an online hub for adult education classes, this sudden pullback was disastrous. "In 2007, the company raised $715,000 in its first round of angel financing from eight investors. When the founders approached current and new investors for more capital in September, they were met with silence." Why did investors think this http://www.twosmartdogs.c…
Not all investors are smart. Maybe they were tricked with a really slick powerpoint presentation. With comic dogs and everything.
Re: Angels flee from startup investments
#6"It’s getting tougher for companies to raise money, but I think the good ones are still getting it done," said Ron Conway.
I think that's key... certainly, some opportunities that were worth a shot when everyone was flush with cash are now untouchable, but angels, like all other wealthy individuals, are still looking for good business opportunities. Convincing them might be a bit harder and require a somewhat more "this start-up will make money, here's how" approach, but it should still work.
Re: Angels flee from startup investments
#7"For TwoSmartDogs, an Internet start-up in Los Angeles that was building an online hub for adult education classes, this sudden pullback was disastrous. "In 2007, the company raised $715,000 in its first round of angel financing from eight investors. When the founders approached current and new investors for more capital in September, they were met with silence." Why did investors think this http://www.twosmartdogs.c…
teachstreet.com attracted funding from Madrona (a pretty solid VC firm) as well as Dave McClure, I think. Same thing, I suppose.
Bounce around craigslist for a bit and see how many people are buying and selling lessons. It's a big business.
Re: Angels flee from startup investments
#8If you can demonstrate a well-considered revenue model (i.e. cash, not eyeballs), there is still plenty of money going around. We raised a seed round in October, and it was actually much easier than all the doom and gloom you read about angel money drying up. I think the key was ensuring there is real, hard cashflow opportunities.
Re: Angels flee from startup investments
#9"For TwoSmartDogs, an Internet start-up in Los Angeles that was building an online hub for adult education classes, this sudden pullback was disastrous. "In 2007, the company raised $715,000 in its first round of angel financing from eight investors. When the founders approached current and new investors for more capital in September, they were met with silence." Why did investors think this http://www.twosmartdogs.c…
Eventhough a minor point - thier homepage still says,
"Copyright © 2007 Two Smart Dogs "
Re: Angels flee from startup investments
#10"For TwoSmartDogs, an Internet start-up in Los Angeles that was building an online hub for adult education classes, this sudden pullback was disastrous. "In 2007, the company raised $715,000 in its first round of angel financing from eight investors. When the founders approached current and new investors for more capital in September, they were met with silence." Why did investors think this http://www.twosmartdogs.c…
Education is a very large market, not sure what all that money was for, but obviously they did a very good job of selling the project.
The fact that they didn't manage to get a second round (and that's a fact that is now very well published) could be due to any number of reasons, such as missing critical goals that they've set in their original presentation and/or changes in the marketplace. It's hard to tell what the real cause is without asking the 8 angel investors involved.
Drawing far reaching conclusions ('angels flee from tech start-ups') from a single sample is not very solid science.
One possible reasons why angel investors are holding back is because of their stock portfolios taking a huge hit.
I also don't see not wanting to invest for a second round as 'pulling out', and I think the fact that all 8 responded unanimously says a lot more about 'twosmartdogs' (what a name) than it does about the investors.
They've had their shot, now they will either have to swim or sink. It's not different for the rest of us, with or without outside investors.