TotalPicture Podcast

TotalPicture Podcast


David Rose Making Money and Having Fun Through Angel Investing

June 19, 2014

"Any company designed for success in the twentieth century is doomed to failure in the twenty-first." (Encore Podcast)
David S. Rose

Did you know that every year in America, over 600,000 new businesses start up and hire their first employees? Many will fail, but some of them will become the legendary businesses of the future, transforming industries and making millions for the angel investors who helped fund them in their early days. That's the topic of our conversation today with David S. Rose, a serial entrepreneur, Inc 500 CEO, and one of the world’s most active angel investors. I met (and interviewed) David several years ago in New York City, and am happy to have him back in this Career Strategy Channel podcast on TotalPicture Media.

Angel investing, once the exclusive province of multi-millionaire high-rollers, has now entered the mainstream, with more than $20 billion being invested annually by individual investors in the US alone. Contrary to popular belief, access to these high risk/high return investments—and success in startup investing—doesn’t have to be a matter of luck or connections. David's new book, Angel Investing: The Gust Guide to Making Money & Having Fun Investing in Startups shows how smart investors with the right strategy and a long-term perspective can achieve annual returns of 25 percent or more from a well-designed angel portfolio.

Making money is no longer about sitting back and reading stock listings, David says. It is now about being part owner of an exciting startup that can be fun and financially rewarding. Angel Investing teaches investors how to carefully select and manage investments, establish a long term view, and approach angel investing as a serious part of an alternative asset portfolio while also enjoying being an integral part of an exciting new venture.

TALKING POINTS:

When I interviewed you in 2008 -- six years ago -- you said "the world is changing so fast nobody knows where it's going." Is that true today? It seems to me the pace of change has even accelerated from 2008.

Recently, you participated in the Exponential Finance Conference, presented by Singularity University, in New York City. What were your takeaways? What did you learn?

On your show page on TotalPicture, I grabbed a quote from your book “ Any company designed for success in the twenty century is doomed to failure in the 21st.” Can you give some context to that statement?

Before we dive into your book, I want to get your take on the surge of interest and money in crowdfunding -- such as Kickstarter and Indegogo.

So would you consider crowdfunding to be a good option for those who don't have six figures available to get involved in Angel Investing?

Alright, define for us what you mean by Angel investing.

Chapter 1 Headline of Angel Investing The 25 percent annual return. Really?

What percent of your portfolio should the average person allocate to angel investing?

How do you get started?

How many companies do you need to be invested in for the 25% return to actually work?

Chapter 2 is all about the non-financial rewards of being an angel - can you share some of your personal experiences with us?

How do you go about sourcing and identifying high-potential opportunities

If you have a normal, stressful, demanding, management job how can you carve out enough time to do this — or can you? Is being an Angel a full time job in itself.?

Our interview 6 years ago was about how to create great pitch for investors — If I’m on the other side of the table what do I need to watch for? Can you explain to us all of the different investment rounds and their forms?

Lets talk about terms sheets and closing. Obviously,