When wealthy individuals get together as an organized group, they are all able to benefit from the resources of the entire membership. Angel Groups are structured organizations of individuals who have a strong desire to invest in entrepreneurial companies. The “angels” work together to find great deals in hopes of achieving a higher than average return on the investment.
What does it take to qualify as an “angel” investor? According to the SEC, angel investors must satisfy certain requirements and be accredited. They are typically individual investors with high net worth. The whole rule is created to protect persons from a higher than normal risk.
The federal securities laws define the term accredited investor in Rule 501 of Regulation D as:
1.a bank, insurance company, registered investment company, business development company, or small business investment company;
2.an employee benefit plan, within the meaning of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, if a bank, insurance company, or registered investment adviser makes the investment decisions, or if the plan has total assets in excess of $5 million;
3.a charitable organization, corporation, or partnership with assets exceeding $5 million;
4.a director, executive officer, or general partner of the company selling the securities;
5.a business in which all the equity owners are accredited investors;
6.a natural person who has individual net worth, or joint net worth with the person’s spouse, that exceeds $1 million at the time of the purchase, excluding the value of the primary residence of such person;
7.a natural person with income exceeding $200,000 in each of the two most recent years or joint income with a spouse exceeding $300,000 for those years and a reasonable expectation of the same income level in the current year; or
8.a trust with assets in excess of $5 million, not formed to acquire the securities offered, whose purchases a sophisticated person makes.
For more information about the SEC’s registration requirements and common exemptions, read the brochure, Q&A: Small Business & the SEC.
http://www.sec.gov/answers/accred.htm
It is very interesting to find out that the term “angel” came from the City of New York where they were describing wealthy individuals who supported funding for Broadway plays. A professor from the University of New Hampshire who founded the Center for Venture Research first began to use the name. He was describing the high net worth individuals that were providing seed capital for the start-ups.
A lot of angel investors are retired executives who have accumulated wealth as an executive or entrepreneur. The very reasons they invest go far beyond just trying to get a nice return on their investments. They are persons who are excited about what they do, and have an appetite for assisting others and developing successful start-ups. One of the great aspects to having an experienced angel investor provide funding to your start-up is their wise knowledge.
A lot of professional angel groups are put together for the purposes of pooling assets. Since only a low percentage of these deals pan out, it is good to spread the risk around. Another thing is that when a deal does work out it typically takes a longer time horizon than your average investor is willing to be patient. These groups also like to research their investment opportunities together so that no one person is over-burdened with due diligence. Finally, many groups allow entrepreneurs to directly pitch them as a group face to face which enhances the entire overall funding success.
Written by Edward Cambas – Capital Matchpoint.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Jessica Alba is hot. Did she secretly attend King High School?
I want to start this post off by thanking iVillage for the opportunity to guest blog on your site for my "Diary of a Spy Mom" blog series. I am writing a few entries about the film and the parallels to my own life as a working (and very pregnant!) mother. Hope you enjoy these.
Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D (which opens on Aug. 19) is my first foray into a true family film. I wanted to do something my 3-year-old daughter Honor could watch. On top of that, the opportunity came to me at a perfect time in my life from a thematic point of view, something I think many moms reading iVillage can relate to: the idea that we're stretched so thin in our daily lives as mothers and how to achieve balance -- if there is such a thing, LOL.
While shooting Machete, our second film together, director Robert Rodriguez came up with the idea of a new Spy Kids film. We discussed, among other things, the challenges of going back to work after having a child, which is very much a theme for my retired Spy Kids mom character. But Robert will credit Honor's exploding diaper on the set of Machete as having really sparked the lightbulb for the return of the Spy Kids series, LOL. After that incident, he began to write my role for a new film and a new set of spy kids, played amazingly by newcomers Mason Cook and Rowan Blanchard.
Trying to work, be a mom and wife and do it all perfectly with a smile is tough as heck. In fact, it feels nearly impossible sometimes. As much as I try to prepare and have everything planned out, there are moments where I haven't packed enough outfits, toys, snacks, pacifiers, burp cloths or some other necessity to avoid baby meltdown. And Honor will vomit, poop, pee or some combination, and I'll only have one diaper left. I'll make do with a diaper and a blanket, but I feel like I look like a bad mom. No matter how prepared you are as a mom I've found that you're always going to make mistakes. And most crushingly, I always feel like I should be doing more.
We had a lot of fun incorporating some of these themes into Spy Kids. (My character) Marissa is a first-time mother with two stepkids who are very critical of her and a husband she barely gets to see because he's always working. She tries desperately to please them all. I think she's relatable to moms who are trying to do it all and want it to seem like everything is going according to plan. ;)
One of my favorite scenes was shooting the action sequence where I'm on my last mission before retiring to be a full-time mom. I'm full term and going into labor in the midst of a chase sequence where I have to save the world -- ONE LAST TIME -- before throwing in the towel. It's obviously silly and light and not showing the "real" side of active labor, but I got a kick out of waddling around with a big (fake) belly, kicking butt.
credit ivillage for article: through the desk of eward e. cambas.
Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D (which opens on Aug. 19) is my first foray into a true family film. I wanted to do something my 3-year-old daughter Honor could watch. On top of that, the opportunity came to me at a perfect time in my life from a thematic point of view, something I think many moms reading iVillage can relate to: the idea that we're stretched so thin in our daily lives as mothers and how to achieve balance -- if there is such a thing, LOL.
While shooting Machete, our second film together, director Robert Rodriguez came up with the idea of a new Spy Kids film. We discussed, among other things, the challenges of going back to work after having a child, which is very much a theme for my retired Spy Kids mom character. But Robert will credit Honor's exploding diaper on the set of Machete as having really sparked the lightbulb for the return of the Spy Kids series, LOL. After that incident, he began to write my role for a new film and a new set of spy kids, played amazingly by newcomers Mason Cook and Rowan Blanchard.
Trying to work, be a mom and wife and do it all perfectly with a smile is tough as heck. In fact, it feels nearly impossible sometimes. As much as I try to prepare and have everything planned out, there are moments where I haven't packed enough outfits, toys, snacks, pacifiers, burp cloths or some other necessity to avoid baby meltdown. And Honor will vomit, poop, pee or some combination, and I'll only have one diaper left. I'll make do with a diaper and a blanket, but I feel like I look like a bad mom. No matter how prepared you are as a mom I've found that you're always going to make mistakes. And most crushingly, I always feel like I should be doing more.
We had a lot of fun incorporating some of these themes into Spy Kids. (My character) Marissa is a first-time mother with two stepkids who are very critical of her and a husband she barely gets to see because he's always working. She tries desperately to please them all. I think she's relatable to moms who are trying to do it all and want it to seem like everything is going according to plan. ;)
One of my favorite scenes was shooting the action sequence where I'm on my last mission before retiring to be a full-time mom. I'm full term and going into labor in the midst of a chase sequence where I have to save the world -- ONE LAST TIME -- before throwing in the towel. It's obviously silly and light and not showing the "real" side of active labor, but I got a kick out of waddling around with a big (fake) belly, kicking butt.
credit ivillage for article: through the desk of eward e. cambas.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Sunday, July 31, 2011
From the Lion's Den . Get our free important info.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers were close to a last-gasp $3 trillion deal on Sunday to raise the borrowing limit and assure financial markets that the United States will avoid a potentially catastrophic default.
"We're very close," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the top Senate Republican who is playing a key role in the debt ceiling negotiations.
White House senior adviser David Plouffe said there was general agreement on a deal that would cut the deficit in two stages. It was first time the White House had acknowledged that both sides were close to a deal.
The first $1 trillion in cuts have been largely agreed on by lawmakers. Under the emerging deal described by congressional aides, a further $1.8 trillion would be recommended by a special committee appointed by Congress and automatic measures would implement the planned cuts if Congress failed to vote on them.
"It is clear that in the first stage we're going to get ... an extension of the debt ceiling, a first set of spending cuts over $1 trillion, and then you're going to get this committee that will be charged with reporting out hopefully a balanced deficit reduction," Plouffe told NBC's "Meet the Press."
An agreement would end weeks of political gridlock that brought the world's largest economy teetering on the brink of an unprecedented default and close to losing its triple-A credit rating.
Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat, told CNN: "Default is far less of a possibility now than it was even a day ago because the leaders are talking, and talking in a constructive way."
Politicians were scrambling for a deal to avoid the possibility of market shock on Monday, before Tuesday's deadline when the United States loses its borrowing authority.
"We're very close," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the top Senate Republican who is playing a key role in the debt ceiling negotiations.
White House senior adviser David Plouffe said there was general agreement on a deal that would cut the deficit in two stages. It was first time the White House had acknowledged that both sides were close to a deal.
The first $1 trillion in cuts have been largely agreed on by lawmakers. Under the emerging deal described by congressional aides, a further $1.8 trillion would be recommended by a special committee appointed by Congress and automatic measures would implement the planned cuts if Congress failed to vote on them.
"It is clear that in the first stage we're going to get ... an extension of the debt ceiling, a first set of spending cuts over $1 trillion, and then you're going to get this committee that will be charged with reporting out hopefully a balanced deficit reduction," Plouffe told NBC's "Meet the Press."
An agreement would end weeks of political gridlock that brought the world's largest economy teetering on the brink of an unprecedented default and close to losing its triple-A credit rating.
Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat, told CNN: "Default is far less of a possibility now than it was even a day ago because the leaders are talking, and talking in a constructive way."
Politicians were scrambling for a deal to avoid the possibility of market shock on Monday, before Tuesday's deadline when the United States loses its borrowing authority.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
