The Angel Next Door

In this episode, Marcia sits down with Dr. Lyndsey Harper, a physician/OB-GYN who founded Rosy, a subscription-based women’s health app that delivers direct-to-consumer education and community in the women’s sexual health world, while providing anonymity to the user.  Lyndsey discusses her background as a private practice OB-GYN, where she noticed a commonality in patient’s sexual health problems and their shame and embarrassment in discussing those issues. 43% of women experience sexual problems, while only 17% of providers regularly ask about a patient’s sexual health. Lyndsey decided to start Rosy to connect the dots between these women’s problems, education and community, and providers.  Marcia and Lyndsey talk about the importance of building the right team for your startup early on and having a minimum viable product to gain customers as well as interest from investors. Lyndsey explains how she found a developer to build the first iteration of the Rosy app in exchange for equity prior to approaching investors and how she navigated the difficulty of fundraising by building a network of angel connections to find the right investors.  Lyndsey also tells us about how crucial it is to have a structured plan with deadlines and goals when raising capital so that subsequent rounds of funding can be at higher valuations due to proven progress. She discusses with Marcia the future of Rosy, and how she hopes to broaden the scope of women’s sexual health, create academic partnerships with providers, and use what they learn to improve screening rights for things like breast and cervical cancer.  You won’t want to miss hearing the wisdom of this accomplished doctor turned entrepreneur and the obstacles she has navigated!  Enjoy the show!Click Here to read Marcia's profile on LinkedInClick here to read Dr. Lyndsey Harper's profile on LinkedInClick here to redeem a FREE 1-Month Rosy Silver Membership or use code “ACAROSY”Click here to learn more about RosyClick here to learn more about Mindshift Capital  Click here to find out more about the Angel Capital AssociationTake courses to learn how to be an angel investor at Angel University - click here for info!Want to reach the Angel Capital Association? CLICK HEREHave ideas for the show?  Email us at theacaangelnextdoorpodcast@gmail.com

In this episode we discuss some important tax codes that most investors and entrepreneurs don’t know about and could save millions!  Marcia Dawood interviews former Chair of the Angel Capital Association, Tony Shipley. Marcia and Tony worked together as ACA board members for over 7 years! Tony is also Chairman and Co-founder of Queen City Angels, Cincinnati’s first group of experienced, accredited investors committed to accelerating the growth of early-stage businesses. Their primary investment areas are Information Technology and Life Science.Tony tells our listeners all about how he got started in the angel investing world and what led him to co-founding QCA with the hopes to provide growth to his community. Since the organization was founded in 2000 they’ve grown from 5 to 180 members, invested in more than 110 different companies, and invested approximately one hundred million dollars. He also shares how diversification was a very important factor in moving from network to fund model and growing the organization to what it is today.  Marcia also asks Tony about the 2 most memorable exits he has been part of (one of which was 9 figures!) and how his group was able to use Section 1202 of the Internal Revenue Code (aka IRC) to take advantage of the Qualified Small Business Stock (aka QSBS) provision that eliminated federal tax on the exit transaction.  They also discuss code 1045 and why these codes encourage investors to recycle QSBS returns from one deal to another QSBS company to obtain further tax savings. A new-er term is also revealed to our listeners, “dry powder,” which is the money investors set aside to make follow-on investments once a company starts to grow.  The initial investment is important but sometimes those follow on rounds make the difference as to which companies make it and which ones don’t.Lastly, Tony and Marcia discuss the importance the ACA has on public policy, how active they are with lobbying for tax codes and the work being done to preserve the definition of “accredited investor.”  This episode is packed with great tips and inspiring stories for both entrepreneurs and current/future investors! Listen to the full episode with Marcia and Tony here!Click Here to read Marcia's profile on LinkedInClick Here to read Tony Shipley’s profile on LinkedInClick Here to learn more about Queen City AngelsClick here to learn more about how ACA is active with Public Policy’sClick here to learn more about ACA’s Grassroots ToolkitClick here to find out more about the Angel Capital AssociationTake courses to learn how to be an angel investor at Angel University - click here for info!Want to reach the Angel Capital Association? CLICK HEREHave ideas for the show?  Email us at theacaangelnextdoorpodcast@gmail.com

The Angel Next Door is back with all new episodes!!  We will start off with demystifying equity crowdfunding.  Marcia Dawood sits down with Howard Marks, CEO and cofounder of the crowdfunding platform StartEngine.  StartEngine is an equity crowdfunding platform that recently acquired SeedInvest, bringing the total amount raised between the platforms to over $1 billion. Howard discusses how he started as an entrepreneur with his roommate at the University of Michigan, and purchased a controlling stake in the video game company Activision and turned it into the industry leading company it is today, leading to a purchase offer from Microsoft of $68 billion.  Howard tells the listeners how StartEngine was initially launched in 2010 as an accelerator for entrepreneurs in LA, but he quickly realized capitalizing these very early companies was the problem he really needed to solve.  He explains how the JOBS Act of 2012 paved the way for a revolution in the way start ups could raise money, and how it changed the way StartEngine was going to help entrepreneurs.  Howard also shares with Marcia the background of how the rules and regulations for investing had limited who could invest in private startups to a very small group of people. The new regulations motivated him to launch StartEngine as a crowdfunding platform in 2015, which now operates as a funding portal, broker-dealer, and transfer agent, while providing liquidity options for investors, providing endless opportunities for regular investors outside of just the 4700 companies traded on the NYSE.  Finally, Howard explains what it takes to be successful when raising capital through crowdfunding. He and Marcia discuss the future of StartEngine and crowdfunding and new alternative investment opportunities in things like art, comic books, wine, and real estate (allowing new ways to diversify an investment portfolios) and touch on the debate on whether consumers should have the ability to risk their money on these types of investments.  Tune into this episode to get some great background on equity crowdfunding and learn how startups can be successful in gaining capital through these platforms! Click here to read Marcia's profile on LinkedInClick here to read Howard Marks' profile on LinkedInClick here to learn more about ActivisionClick here to learn more about StartEngineClick here to learn more about SeedInvestLink to Howard's blog pageClick here to find out more about the Angel Capital AssociationTake courses to learn how to be an angel investor at Angel University - click here for info!Want to reach the Angel Capital Association? CLICK HEREHave ideas for the show?  Email us at theacaangelnextdoorpodcast@gmail.com

The Angel Next Door is back this week for a BONUS episode with US Congressman Byron Donalds. Byron serves as the US representative for Florida’s 19th congressional district which covers most of southwest Florida.  In this episode our host Marcia Dawood talks with congressman Donalds about why angel investing plays a crucial role in giving everyone an equal shot at building wealth.  They also discuss proposed legislation related to angel investing and how many people don't realize just how active the Angel Capital Association is in influencing public policy. The ACA is deeply involved on federal, legislative, and regulatory fronts.  Congressman Donalds shares his views on many of these topics in addition to some of the regulatory changes he anticipates during this midterm year. Some of these changes include reforms to Dodd-Frank, bills established for crypto, and (he is hoping) the end to CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau).  Finally, Marcia and Byron both discuss the importance of maintaining current financial thresholds in the definition of an accredited investor while concurrently widening the parameters, through demonstrated measures of sophistication, of who CAN be an investor which will stimulate growth in our economy.  ACA's CEO Pat Gouhin drops in to share some very powerful statistics on the impact that the ACA has on our economy.  "We have 15,000 accredited investors that contribute 650 million dollars per year into 3000-4000 startups. Based upon economic studies for every $100,000 invested it leads to 5.8 jobs and 2.1 mil in economic output."Now imagine how much MORE impact we could have if the parameters of an accredited investor were widened!  Tune into the full episode to learn more about other changes congressman Donalds expects in the near future and how these regulations can directly affect everyone's equal opportunity to build wealth. Click Here to read Marcia's profile on LinkedInClick Here to read Congressman Byron Donalds profile on LinkedInClick here to find out more about the Angel Capital AssociationTake courses to learn how to be an angel investor at Angel University - click here for info!Want to reach the Angel Capital Association? CLICK HEREHave ideas for the show?  Email us at theacaangelnextdoorpodcast@gmail.com

This week Marcia Dawood is bringing you a very brief episode of The Angel Next Door to share some powerful statistics delivered by Dr. Ronald Weissman at the ACA Summit in May. Marcia shares stats on the current economic decline we are experiencing in public markets, IPOs, valuations, seed funding, mergers and acquisitions, exits and more after studying the data from Q1 2022 compared to last year. When exits slow down, raising money is harder and takes longer.  Marcia also tells us what down rounds are and why they can often occur during an economic downturn.  Marcia tells our listeners, “this is a time when angels and entrepreneurs need to protect ourselves and as always, cash is king!” She also explains what cram downs are and what to look out for!On July 6th at 12 PM ET, Marcia will be moderating a webinar where Dr. Ron Weissman will be giving up to the minute updates on his presentation from May and give more insights on what can be done to protect ourselves now and in the future as times are unsteady.Finally, Marcia wants everyone to know that although there may be a rough 6-12 months ahead of us it is not a time to be scared but simply to focus on preserving every dollar you can.  Tune in to listen to the full episode to hear examples of what we can do to get ahead of the game! Click Here to read Marcia's profile on LinkedInClick Here to read Dr. Ron Weissman’s profile on LinkedInClick here to learn more about the webinar on July 8th - Crystal Ball 2022: The Path Forward for Angels and Startups in Down MarketsClick here to find out more about the Angel Capital AssociationTake courses to learn how to be an angel investor at Angel University - click here for info!Want to reach the Angel Capital Association? CLICK HEREHave ideas for the show?  Email us at theacaangelnextdoorpodcast@gmail.com

This week on the Angel Next Door, Marcia Dawood interviews Liz Sigety, expert lawyer in everything startup, partner for Fox Rothschild Law Firm and co-founder of Delaware Crossing Angel Group in Philadelphia. This episode is great for both entrepreneurs and investors as we discuss both sides of the angel investing process.  Fox Rothschild offers a great program called the Fox Launch Pad, a virtual incubator and resource center developed to nurture startups. Marcia and Liz discuss all the resources that startups receive when entering their program, how they help get their legal documents in order, as well as why it is so important that entities are set up correctly from the VERY beginning. They also discuss how a series LLC can assist in housing many investments into 1 SPV. Liz also explains pre and post money SAFE, what it means and the difference between the two.  In addition we hear about how Delaware Crossing started and the types of companies its 35 members typically invest in. Liz has been a part of over 50 investments as an angel investor and tells our audience all about what makes her region unique from an investment standpoint.  Finally we will get a briefing from Ahmad Takatkah, Chief Investment Officer at Kingscrowd. Kingscrowd uses data across crowdfunding platforms to help investors make more informed decisions.There are tons of great tips and tricks in this episode for entrepreneurs and investors!Tune in to listen to the full episode! Enjoy the show!Click Here to read Marcia's profile on LinkedInClick Here to read Liz’s profile on LinkedInClick Here to read Ahmad’s profile on LinkedInClick here to learn more about Fox RothschildClick here to learn more about Delaware Crossing Investor GroupClick here to learn more about Fox Launch PadClick here to learn more about KingsCrowdClick here to find out more about the Angel Capital AssociationTake courses to learn how to be an angel investor at Angel University - click here for info!Want to reach the Angel Capital Association? CLICK HEREHave ideas for the show?  Email us at theacaangelnextdoorpodcast@gmail.com

The Angel Next Door is back this week with a new episode! Marcia Dawood sits down to interview Kingsley Advani the CEO and founder of Allocations, a private markets platform with a vision to create more economic freedom for the world.  Allocations scaled to $1B in assets in less than 3 years! Kingsley is also an Angel Investor who in 2017 founded and scaled Allocation Angels to over 1,000 investors. He has also personally made over 300 angel investments in companies such as Solana, Coinbase, Robinhood, SpaceX, and more!Marcia and Kingsley discuss how he turned his $34,000 in savings into $100M in private investments all before turning 30! Kingsley discovered the crypto world back in 2011 while studying finance and economics and in 2013 took his savings and started to make his first small investments into cryptocurrency.  Kingsley shares a few tips on how to get started in the crypto world, how he got started in the Angel Investing world and what led him to creating Allocation Angels!  The Allocation Angels are one of the many groups today that are using SPVs (Special Purpose Vehicles) to have access to more deals and to help angels develop a more diversified portfolio. Marcia and Kingsley talk about some behind the scenes work and how Emerging Managers can expand their track record with groups of investors making investments into SPVs. Kingsley also shares how Allocations is helping to streamline these deals as much as possible and in the future will even be releasing INSTANT SPVs.  If you're interested in learning more about crypto, SPVs and Angel Investing all together, this episode is for you!Tune in to listen to the full episode! Enjoy the show!Click Here to read Marcia's profile on LinkedInClick Here to read Kingsley’s profile on LinkedInClick here to learn more about Allocations Click here to learn more about Allocation AngelsClick here to learn more about the Corporate AMEX offerClick Here to learn more about the ACA 2022 Summit in Atlantic City NJClick here to find out more about the Angel Capital AssociationTake courses to learn how to be an angel investor at Angel University - click here for info!Want to reach the Angel Capital Association? CLICK HEREHave ideas for the show?  Email us at theacaangelnextdoorpodcast@gmail.com

This week on The Angel Next Door, Marcia Dawood interviews fellow ACA board member, Elaine Bolle! Elaine is very active in the angel community and acts as an advisor to early stage companies after the many years she spent being a CEO and senior executive. She has quite the track record leading domestic and global organizations from venture-backed start-ups to $750M+ enterprises. In addition she is a marketing extraordinaire who has truly done it all! Currently she is the investment chair at RTP Capital Associates located in the Triangle area.Elaine has a unique story - from the role she played in Chewy Granola Bars 41 years ago, to building a business to compete with Western Union, to deciding to branch out and become an entrepreneur and investor and move to Silicon Valley, she has been a CEO and COO for multiple companies over the years. Elaine has worked fiercely to grow companies that she truly felt passionate about.Elaine also shares with our audience how angels today are building the world they want to see one investment at a time, by investing in companies that they truly care about and are making a difference. She tells us all about her work with Portfolia and her role as a lead venture partner on the Active Aging and Longevity Fund.In addition, Elaine talks a bit about RTP Capital Associates and the 60 members that make up their organization. She tells us how they currently invest, how many deals they average per year and how a sidecar fund is a much simpler way of managing investments today. She also tells us about her part in the Angel Funders Report and why that is so important each year in looking at key companies, trends, and what's happening within Angel Capital Association groups.  Tune in to listen to the full episode! Enjoy the show!Click Here to read Marcia's profile on LinkedInClick Here to read Elaine’s profile on LinkedInClick here to learn more about RTP Capital Associates Click here to learn more about Portfolia Click here to learn more about the Angel Funders ReportClick Here to learn more about the ACA 2022 Summit in Atlantic City NJClick here to find out more about the Angel Capital AssociationTake courses to learn how to be an angel investor at Angel University - click here for info!Want to reach the Angel Capital Association? CLICK HEREHave ideas for the show?  Email us at theacaangelnextdoorpodcast@gmail.com

This week Ann & Bill Payne are joining Marcia.  Bill Payne has been a pioneering angel investor for over 3 decades and he is a huge part of the Angel Capital Association's history.  Ann, Bill and Marcia have a great conversation about how Bill got involved in ‘angel investing; before it was an actual term.  In addition to investing, he has been a founder and board member of many successful angel groups, as well as an educator who has spent countless hours curating content and then teaching workshops and classes about becoming an angel investor. Bill believes educating accredited investors to become great angel investors is the key to the success of our entrepreneurial driven economy. Bill has been an integral part in the development of the Ann & Bill Payne ACA Angel University which now has 9 classes including everything from Fundamentals of Angel Investing to Term Sheets to Valuations and many more.  In this episode we learn how Bill was able to invest in over 50 companies as an angel investor after having an exit as a successful founder of Solid State Dielectrics Inc. in the 70's that was later sold to Dupont. We will hear about some of his most exciting companies he's invested in as well as his first experience in the angel investing world and how it has changed and evolved to what it is today. Bill will also tell us about the start of two major ACA groups the Tech Coast Angels and Band of Angels, both of which are still very active in the angel community with over 500 angel investors in these groups combined. We also get to hear from Bill why the ‘angel fund’ model is so successful with angels and getting a real return on your investment. Bill credits much of his success to having a trusted partner at his side.  Ann continues to remain a reassuring voice and sounding board for all Bill continues to accomplish.Tune in as we talk all about the history of angel investing told by none other than one of the best teachers that ACA has had the pleasure of learning from! Don't miss it!   Click Here to read Marcia's profile on LinkedInClick Here to read Bill’s profile on LinkedInClick here to learn more about Tech Coast AngelsClick here to learn more about Band of AngelsClick here to learn more about the Kauffman FoundationClick Here to learn more about the ACA 2022 Summit in Atlantic City NJClick here to find out more about the Angel Capital AssociationTake courses to learn how to be an angel investor at Angel University - click here for info!Want to reach the Angel Capital Association? CLICK HEREHave ideas for the show?  Email us at theacaangelnextdoorpodcast@gmail.com

The Angel Next Door is back with another episode! Today's guest is Ashley Gautreaux, Director at CreativeCo Capital and investor in early growth software companies. Ashley shares with Marcia Dawood how she got started in the technology and software world, what it was like working at Tesla for 7 years and the reason she wanted to enhance the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Charlotte with the start of CreativeCo.  CreativeCo Capital invests in B2B software companies across the US at seed stage (anywhere from 500k-1.5 million in revenue) with an annual growth of over 100%. As a bonus they also offer their portfolio a 60 person product engineering team as a shared resource for them in order to help accelerate their product roadmap. This is huge today as access to engineering can be very challenging! Ashley also shares a few examples of companies that they've invested in such as Rent Ready, a company that automates the turnover for large apartment buildings.  In addition Ashley tells our listeners what it's like making her own investments as an Angel investor and the core qualities she looks for when investing. Her mission is to invest in female founders with inspiring stories, companies that are aiming to redefine industries, and businesses involved in the crypto and NFT world. One of her most recent investments was in Moonwell, a company that allows you to lend and borrow cryptocurrency.  We also will hear about World of Women, a group of women creating an iconic global brand and making a statement not only in the NFT space but also in the real world through impactful actions and utility.  Tune in this week to hear Ashley's story and learn more about these great companies. Click Here to read Marcia's profile on LinkedInClick Here to read Ashley’s profile on LinkedInClick here to learn more about CreativeCo CapitalClick here to learn more about Rent ReadyClick here to learn more about MoonwellClick here to learn more about World of WomenClick Here to learn more about the ACA 2022 Summit in Atlantic City NJClick here to find out more about the Angel Capital AssociationTake courses to learn how to be an angel investor at Angel University - click here for info!Want to reach the Angel Capital Association? CLICK HEREHave ideas for the show?  Email us at theacaangelnextdoorpodcast@gmail.com