Angel Investing, Entrepreneurship & Learning

The Angel Investor Market fascinates me. I just visited the University of New Hampshire’s Centure for Venture Research and here are some interesting stats about the first 2 quarters of 2005:

• A total of 26,000 entrepreneurial ventures received angel funding in the first half of 2005
• The number of active investors was 126,000 individuals
• Total investments amount $11.0 billion

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What do you need to build a successful business?

As entrepreneurs, we often have the false sense of hope that “if I only have more money, my idea would be wildly successful!” Such thoughts place the majority of emphasis on only 1 of many sources of capital that a company needs to be successful. I am quickly learning of two other sources of capital that are important:

• Knowlege Capital
• Relationship Capital

Acquiring knowledge capital is one the skills that I’m learning from a mentor, Paul Allen. Paul is known to spend a few hours of each day reading from the best books, blogs, magazines and websites. Such dedication to learning requires much discipline, but I am beginning to understand its value. Acquiring knowledge about your industry, current trends, customers, history, and competitors will eventually translate into competitive advantages and long-term success.

The other, relationship capital, is the value of establishing strong relationships with other individuals and companies. You never know what will come of relationships that you develop in your life. Paul often says, “The best things happen outside of the office!”

Corporate Alliance is that KING of relationship capital. Over the past 2 days, I attended their Corporate Relationship Training and was invited to the Jazz game with a few other members. Both events were terrific opportunities to establish long-lasting relationships with other business leaders in the state. I wish Corporate Alliance the best of luck in their expansion plans.

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Doesn’t it seem like Google announces a new product everyday? I just read an article in Forbes announcing the newest product Google Transit.

Google Transit will allow you to receive directions to your destination using the local public transportation system. The coolest part about it is that it allows you to compare the cost of public transportation to driving the same distance!

One neat feature is a price check on the trip to be made, allowing the user to decide whether it would be better to go by car after all. The service cleverly calculates the cost of driving, based on the average mileage for the shortest route between the start and end addresses and the cost per mile (40.5 cents) that the IRS allows businesses to deduct, although it doesn’t yet account for tolls, variations in gas mileage for different types of cars, and over-zealous parking attendants.

While I’m not a Google fanatic, I’m always impressed with their constant innovations.

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I guess that it would be smart to add a link to my old blog on here….www.brockblake.blogspot.com.

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“Remember who you are! Knowing who you are changes what you do.”

This phrase means more to me than most will ever know. You see, the phrase “remember who you are” was very frequently used by a very special person in my life — Grandpa Loy F. Blake. My grandpa is my hero for many reasons, but mostly because he understood who he was and the principles that he stood by. His example has left a huge impact on me and I hope to be like my Grandpa Blake. Let me explain…

1. My grandpa believed in hard work. When my father was a young child (7-8 years old), the neighbor farmer hired my dad and his twin brother to work on his farm. My father and uncle worked on the farm for many years until they could get a job elsewhere. It wasn’t until a few years ago that we found out (through the neighbor) that my grandpa was really paying the wages of my father & uncle through the neighbor so that my father could learn how to work.

2. When I was in high school, I was invited to travel and play with a regional soccer team in Europe for a month. I really wanted to go, but didn’t have the few thousand dollars that it would require to pay my way. I knew that my Grandpa was a wealthy man (though he didn’t show it by any means) so I went to him for money. He was very kind and asked that I go with him to the bank. I was very excited that he would agree so quickly and take me to the bank to withdraw the money. We arrived at the bank, sat down, and began to chat with the banker. This wasn’t unusual to me because my Grandpa chatted with everyone (after all…he was the town mayor). Before giving me the money, the banker and my grandpa handed me some papers to sign and I started to realize what was happening. Instead of withdrawing a few thousand dollars for my trip, my grandpa was setting up a loan! Obviously, I didn’t appreciate it at the time — I had to pay $265.17/month for the next year!

Looking back on it now, it was one of the best things that my grandpa ever taught me.

So why do I bring up all of this now? Well, these principles of integrity and hard work are shaping the decisions that I am making today. Recently, I’ve been dealing with a difficult experience that has affected my partners, my family and me. While it is still not completely resolved, I realize that decisions I make today will not only be representative of me, but also my partners and my family down the road. There are many things lost that you are able to regain, but once you have lost your reputation of integrity, you may never get it back.

In regards to this issure, Warren Buffet said:

A lot of people in business these days trap themselves by putting on a facade. I remember my father telling me when I was 11, ‘It takes you 30 years to build a reputation, but you can ruin it in 30 seconds.’

Thank you Grandpa Loy Blake for leaving a legacy for me and the rest of the Blake family to live up to!

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I’m going to join the thousands of people who are talking about the future of technology. With the invent of PODcasting, TiVo, Google alerts, and the like; it appears that the future will be filled with valuable and relevant information at your fingertips. Imagine a world of personalized information at your disposal when you want it and how you want it. No commercials, no sorting, no unwanted information.

It seems that in the near future, radio will soon be replaced by PODcasts of information that will only play your favorite songs or shows. Steps of action have already been taken with satellite radio, but it will even go further than that. In light of all of this discussion, I’m leaving a few links that talk in more detail about the future of technology.

-Paul Allen’s post on Intelligent Alerts
-Phil Windley’s article in Connect Magazine on PODcasting.

What do you think? Please refer me to other similar articles.

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Last Friday, I had the opportunity to attend the annual UITA Hall of Fame dinner event at the downtown SLC Marriott (Thanks David Bradford!) I was impressed by the attendance of many business professionals throughout the state including Senator Orrin Hatch and HP’s CEO Mark Hurd.

I was very impressed with Mark Hurd’s knowledge and leadership. He shared his personal management style with the group and I especially enjoyed this quote on leadership (as shared in the a press release): “In my opinion, the secret to success is to focus a company and provide its people with a clear mission and clear expectations. Make sure they have the right resources, and then get out of their way.”

“It’s not just the clarity of the message,” Hurd added, “But it’s also the frequency of the message that’s key. Having everyone on the same page, understanding their role, and knowing how they’ll be measured and how they’ll be rewarded is critical.”

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I spent most of the past week in Arizona attending the Arizona Angel Investing Conference. I’ve been to a few other conferences but was quite impressed with the content of this one. While there, I had the great opportunity to network with many influential angel investors in Arizona, and the feedback that I received was quite interesting.

When an entrepreneur is seeking capital for a new business venture, most people in the entrepreneurial community would suggest they write a business plan to submit to investors. However, how many investors really enjoy reading an extensive 20-25 page business plan? I believe that most investors MAYBE read the first page and then decide whether they will skim through the rest or not. That fact of the matter is that investors don’t have the time or the interest to read an entire business plan.

What does this mean? Entrepreneurs need to do a better job of appealing to investors through either an executive summary or a well-rehearsed elevator pitch.

Understanding that this is the case, FundingUniverse.com is providing these types of opportunities to appeal to angel investors. As mentioned earlier, we’ve already started our quarterly Speedpitching Events. In the near future, we are launching “PodCast Pitching” and “Video Pitching” that will allow entrepreneurs to record their elevator pitch and get it in front of investors through voice or video recordings.

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