Browse > Home / Venture Capital / Blog article: Enterprise Angels

Enterprise Angels

May 21, 2008

Wes Cobb with Enterprise Corp has spearheaded the efforts to form a new angel group in Louisville. Kentucky Startups gets the lowdown from Wes:

Q: What spurred the formation of the Enterprise Angels?

A: The group came about as the result of several factors. The idea was first proposed by the Mayors office, which recognized how important a functioning angel group is to a city’s entrepreneurial community. Before groups like the Enterprise Angels, companies seeking angel money in Louisville either had to spend a lot of time just trying to get connected with the 2-4 person pockets of angels around town, or they had to take their deal out of town (to Queen City Angels in Cincinnati or Bluegrass Angels in Lexington), meaning that the wealth created by those deals (when they matured) stayed in Lexington or Cincy. The Mayor’s office recognized that the angel process is often very cyclical - entrepreneur starts company, sells company, gets rich, then becomes an angel investor himself - and sought to capitalize on the potentially exponential growth an angel group might bring. Within the Enterprise Corp (the branch of Greater Louisville Inc that focuses on developing the fast-growth entrepreneurial sector) we immediately recognized the benefits of an organized angel group. Not only would we probably get more deals funded, but we’d also save ourselves a ton of trouble by having all the angels in one place, rather than connecting the entrepreneur to each individual network of angels. From there, we did some research on other angel groups, came up with a loose framework, and started getting feedback from potential angels.

Q: How many members in the group?

A: The group currently has about 30 individual members, and we’re actively recruiting a few more. We bring around 20 to any given meeting; I think we’d like to get that number to 25.

Q: Any relationship with the existing Louisville Angels group?

A:The Enterprise Corp has worked with Tom McMahon and Growth Services many times in the past, so when we heard that Tom was going to start an angel group as well, we were elated. From our perspective, more deals getting done here in Louisville is great. Since both groups were formed at roughly the same time, we were able to share ideas, and now, thanks to Angelsoft (a wonderful tool for angel group management), we’ve been able to share a number of deals with the Louisville Angel Network. As a matter of fact, one of the companies that is presenting at the Enterprise Angels this month was referred to us by Tom’s group.

Q:Tell us about the type of deal the group is looking for,size,industry any other pertinent info.

A:The group has no real firm specifications on deals, and the choice of who presents to the group is ultimately up to the angels and to the Enterprise Corp. However, there are several things that make a deal more appealing. For one, we like to do deals in syndication with other angel groups or investment entities (this saves us some legwork on the diligence side). Another thing we like to see before a deal presents to the group is a strong internal champion: an angel who will stand up in front of the group and give his support (and money) to the company. We’ve found that a champion makes a deal much more appealing to the other angels in the group.

 

Written by Richard Stump · Filed Under Blog, Venture Capital 

Comments