Angel investors desire success for entrepreneurs

Just the thought of trying to raise money from angel investor groups is often enough to start dripping acid into the stomach of many entrepreneurs.

First, there is the presentation to the angels, which is open to direct questioning and, sometimes, harsh criticism, which may be embarrassing and belittling. Then there is the nervousness about allowing outsiders to examine your whole business plan, including past mistakes, and having to reveal your current financial statements. And then there is the perceived threat of possibly losing control of your business by having the funding group take over the company because of greed and desire to cut you out.

No wonder these angels sometimes look like devils to entrepreneurs.

As an angel investor and an entrepreneur, I understand the anxiety. But I've got to tell you that there is little basis in fact or real-life experience for these concerns, which are essentially based on urban legends and nothing more. Please allow me to explain.

First, with regard to the presentation. Most good angel groups will assign one of their members to work with the entrepreneur to help him or her prepare for the presentation. It is to everyone's benefit to have the best presentation possible. Nobody wants to embarrass the business owner — that doesn't help anyone.

The fact is, the time and feedback of the investing group would be well worth paying for, if it came to that. Where else can an entrepreneur sit in front of a group of successful and experienced investors to receive feedback on their business proposal? Even negative feedback can give the person wanting funding a dose of reality that will help him or her get on the right track to having a company that is worthy of funding.

What angels don't like is to have a poor presentation during which the presenter is obviously hyping the numbers, the market size or even the concept itself. That's when the criticism will escalate — and it should.

Allowing investors to have full and open access to your business plan, financials and history is standard practice. Understand that the angels have no interest in competing with you, and they didn't get to where they are in life by leaking information. If you want outside money, you have to be willing to trust the investors as they do their due diligence. They will eventually discover all of the company's warts anyway, so why not be up-front and completely honest with the picture of the company? Take it from me: Angels are impressed with complete honesty.

The third perceived problem is that entrepreneurs lose control of the company when they take significant capital from angels. You need to understand that only rarely does the investment involve the purchase of a controlling interest. The investing entity may want to put a member on the board of directors, but they have no interest in displacing the founder of the company unless he or she is really fouling up. And at that point the founder SHOULD be replaced.

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