Best Practice Guidance for Angel Groups - Post Investment Monitoring

Abstract

Your angel group has sunk the money into a start-up or growing business, now what? Who's on the board? What do you do when things go wrong? How do you get to the exit?Monitoring the performance of your investment is essential to being a successful angel investor, and having solid monitoring processes is as important as due diligence. During the preinvestment dance and documentation, you should determine the level of involvement your group will have with the company post investment. This includes how frequently you will receive financial updates and of what type, as well as whether you will have a board seat or other official role in the company. Even without a board seat you need to maintain a relationship, though it may be more informal, and provide advice and connections for the portfolio company. However you've structured your investments, staying involved with the entrepreneurs and monitoring the progress of the companies can impact the level of success of your investments.To provide more insights into the Post Investment Monitoring stage of your investments, Stephanie Hanbury-Brown of Golden Seeds, Catherine Mott of BlueTree Allied Angels, Carol Sands of The Angels' Forum, Paul Sciabica of New York Angels, John May of New Vantage Group, and James Geshwiler of CommonAngels were interviewed on the following topics:* Deciding who will be involved with the entrepreneur* Mentoring, Coaching and Advice* Level of communication* Company and portfolio measurement and assessment* Board of Directors* Board Logistics and Issues* Dealing with problems* Follow on Fundraising* Exits