A HISTORY OF ANGEL INVESTING
The history of angel investing helps explain what the first check is for, and which businesses can disappear from view when only exits are counted.
The standard history traces “angel” to backers who financed Broadway productions. Their capital made a production possible; repayment depended on its success.
Van Osnabrugge and Robinson, Angel Investing, 2000. No first-use date is asserted here.
William Wetzel published Angels and Informal Risk Capital, studying individuals investing in young businesses outside institutional venture capital.
Wetzel, Sloan Management Review 24(4), 1983.
The Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire became a source of research on the angel market.
University of New Hampshire, Center for Venture Research.
Angel groups created ways to share opportunities, diligence and experience. Published return studies increasingly described equity investments and exits.
See the research discussion in the investment case. Historical exit samples do not describe every business or every investment.
The fund’s model includes both equity and revenue-based structures, with statewide sourcing and support around the founder.
The investment structure follows the business. Returns remain uncertain.
WHAT WE TAKE FROM IT
A manufacturer, clinic or local service company may contribute to its community for years without an acquisition. Its financing should reflect how the business earns.
Georgia Angels keeps investment potential in the decision alongside the founder, jobs and value created in Georgia.
Read the investment criteriaSee how the idea becomes an investment process.