Angel Investing, Entrepreneurship & Learning

Some of you may have seen that we are changing our name from FundingUniverse.com to Lendio!  We have also announced that we are partnering with 2 incredible VC firms: Highway 12 Ventures (out of Boise, ID) and GSA Venture Partners (out of NYC).

Our team has worked incredibly hard to get us to this point and we are excited to take the company to the next level.  The small business lending market is so painfully inefficient that it’s difficult for small business owners across the US to get the capital that they need.  We’re anxious to help both the lenders (banks, credit unions, lending institutions) and small business owners so that they can connect more efficiently.  Goal:  make small business loans simple!

I’m especially excited to add Glenn Michaels (Highway 12) and Brian Hirsch (GSA VP) to our Board of Directors.  They are incredibly talented and have already added a ton of value to our strategic goals.

Finally, I’m especially grateful to my incredibly patient wife (that puts up with an entrepreneur that doesn’t stop), our mentors and advisors (you know who you are), and the entire Utah entrepreneur community.

This is only the beginning.  The best is yet to come!

We are looking to make another key hire at FundingUniverse — do you or anyone you know fit the bill?

Graphic Designer

Position Summary: utilize strong production and design skills to create high quality marketing materials from inception to completion for the Marketing and Sales departments.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Design and produce professional marketing materials (direct mail, magazine/newspaper ads, and printed collateral) and online creative in accordance with global style guide and Lendio marketing standards
• Create banners for web to maximize appeal and click-through rates
• Create event marketing materials/signage that fully represent the Lendio brand
• Create online components, emails, banners, and landing pages to promote campaigns and brand messaging
• Work with head graphic designer to ensure that creative design reflects strategy and is within budget
• Post/retrieve electronic files to FTP site and share content with team as needed
• Attend to multiple marketing projects and meet all production schedule deadlines associated with the projects
• Update existing creative designs and copy to reflect current campaigns
• Work with third-parties as needed to complete projects
• Other duties as required and assigned

Qualifications:

• Experience: At least two years of graphic design production experience required
• Technical Skills: Strong production skills required; flash skills required; complete understanding of Mac platform and all Mac-based software applications (Fireworks, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Acrobat) required; knowledge of web based applications preferred; solid understanding of image formats (EPS, TIF, GIF, JPEG, PDF) required; understanding of graphic compression tools and their use required; prior experience with FTP required; basic understanding of Microsoft Office applications as well as Google Applications; working knowledge of four-color printing process, digital production, and pre-press delivery formats required
• Communication Skills: Strong written and verbal communication skills required
• Other Skills: Ability to multi-task and be flexible in a high-pressure, fast-paced environment required; ability to work additional hours to meet deadlines required; strong attention to detail and ability to solve problems required; ability to work in a team environment required
• Other Requirements: Ability to sit for long periods of time with reasonable accommodation required; ability to look at a computer screen for long periods of time

If you know someone, please have them contact me at bblake “at” fundinguniverse.com.  Thanks!

I have always known this, but it has become 100% apparent that so much of success is dependent on the quality of talent that you have leading the ship.  Talent is an interesting thing to define:  talent isn’t experience, talent isn’t age, talent isn’t about the same skill set (all CEOs, etc.).  To me, the best team consists of a strong combination of the following characteristics:

• A strong combination of experience (people that have “been there, done that”) and energy (those that don’t care how it’s been done before — they push limits and find solutions).  Interesting enough, I wrote a blog post about this some time back.
• A combination of people that have VERY different skill sets.  This is key.  Each member of the management team should have very different things that interest them.  The more diverse the skill set, the more you appreciate each other.  In addition, it allows each to really focus on the areas that allow them to succeed.
• A team that is ultra-driven (as opposed to those that are just there for a 8-5 job).  When one member of the team decides to take his/her contributions to the next level (i.e. performance is high), this automatically will motivate the team around him/her to step up their game.  This only happens when the team is very driven.
• A team that is full of problem solvers.  This characteristic may be the most important attribute that sets the “A” players from the “B” players.  When someone is a problem solver, they don’t get stuck on hiccups/challenges.  They don’t come to management to ask how to solve each problem.  After being assigned a task, they won’t stop until they figure out a solution.  I love problem-solvers.

There’s no question why investors always say that they’d rather invest in an “A” management team with a “B” idea than a “B” management team with an “A” idea.  “A” teams will figure out how to make the “B” idea a success while “B” teams will figure out how to make the “A” idea a failure.

What other attributes have you seen in great teams that I am missing?

Yesterday, we had another committee meeting to discuss the details of the upcoming UtahStudent25 awards gala.  If you haven’t heard about this awards program, you’re missing out.  Led by BYU Professor of Entrepreneurship/Angel Investor/good friend John Richards, the idea is to recognize the state’s student entrepreneurs.

Utah Student 25 is an awards program that recognizes the top student-founded businesses in Utah, encouraging growth and interaction with Utah’s renowned entrepreneurial community.

The goal of the Utah Student 25 is to encourage growth and entrepreneurial activities in the state. We help student entrepreneurs get the recognition they need to thrive, as well as provide them with resources to contribute to Utah’s economy and their communities. Winners receive recognition, significant exposure, and opportunities to interact and mingle with successful Utah leaders, including entrepreneurs, angel investors, and venture capitalists.

I’m excited to be a part of the committee and am especially excited for the awards gala that will be held on November 5th at the Grand America Hotel.  If you are interested in attending, you can go here to register.

The organizing committee of the Utah Angel Investor of the Year has announced the top 15 finalists.  Here is the list:

• Alan Hall
• Craig Earnshaw
• David Carter
• Gary Williams
• Hal Widlansky
• JD Gardner
• John Richards
• Kent Thomas
• Kyle Love
• Mark Madsen
• Martin Frey
• Nobu Mutaguchi
• Robert Kunz
• Scott Frazier
• Warren Osborn

If you are in Utah, the event is next Tuesday — make sure you register!

• Tuesday June 23rd
• 11:30 am to 1:30 pm
• Hilton Alpine Room, 255 S. West Temple, SLC, UT
• $25/seat, $200/table (includes lunch)
• www.investoroftheyear.org

I mentioned a few weeks back that we were conducting some in-depth research on Angel Investing.  Well, on Tuesday, we shared some more information with the world as the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum asked us to speak on the “State of Angel Investing in Utah.”

Here are a few highlights of the presentation:

• 60 active angel investors surveyed
• The economy significantly affected angel investing as of November 2008
• Average number of angels/deal = 4.26
• 72% of investments had a pre-money valuation between $750k and $3M
• 85% of angel investments were less than $1M
• 55% of investments were in software/technology/SaaS deals
• 65% of investments were some type of preferred equity

Intrigued? Feel free to download the “State of Angel Investing in Utah” via PDF.  Please make appropriate attributions. 

DISCLAIMER:  This data is still very early in the process.  We are still collecting data and I am definitely not a statitician.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been working with the local community to put together the first-ever Angel Investor of the Year Award here in Utah.  We’ve partnered with several entrepreneurial-minded organizations to put it on and, thus far, it’s been a great process.  Nominations were open for about 6 weeks and it was amazing to see the variety of nominations that were submitted.  From the most well-known angel to the “under the radar” individual — we received them all.

After receiving nominations, our organizing committee interviewed each of the nominees to find out responses to questions like:

• Tell us about how you got into angel investing?
• Tell us about your portfolio companies and investment history.
• What are your motivations for angel investing?
• etc.

As you can imagine, they have been some fascinating interviews!  Anyway, the committee has met and narrowed down the list to a group of finalists — which should be announced tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

Oh yeah… one more thing.  For those of you in Utah, the can’t-miss award luncheon will be next Tuesday (June 23rd) at the Hilton in downtown SLC.   Click here to register.

At FundingUniverse, we are in the process of doing an intense research study on the current Utah angel investment market.  We are partnering with the heads of each of the angel groups to gather the information.  Here is a quick teaser on more information to come:

• 93 Utah investors surveyed
• 49 investors said that they are still actively investing (52.69%)
• 2 investors said that they were syndicating deals, but not leading any new ones (2.15%)
• 21 investors said they are no longer investing (22.58%)
• 21 investors said that they are not making any investments outside their current portfolio (22.58%)

I have spoken to several people about this survey and have received drastically different responses.  One of the questions that I have is:  given the current state of the economy, are those statistics more optimistic or less optimistic that you had expected?