Today, I had the incredible opportunity to eat lunch with Steve Mercil, President & CEO of RAIN Source Capital. I was completely impressed with Steve and his vision for RAIN. I believe that they have already formed 17 angel groups throughout Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, etc. — and aren’t about to stop!
Here are a few interesting facts about Steve and their model:
- Their angel groups are formed with a hybrid model; a mix between a committed capital model and a network model. In other words, they require a certain investment amount up front from their members that is allocated to the group’s fund. The group then makes a decision whether the funds will be invested into the company or not. In addition to the group’s investment, individual angels may also contribute more of their own cash if they really like the deal.
- The RAIN network has it’s own fund. If any one of the formed angel groups is in need of more funds to do a deal, they can always turn to the central RAIN fund.
- I like how they are in the process of recruiting and training angels. Part of their recruitment process is to provide training and other resources to help the groups become successful.
Steve and I plan on spending some more time together tomorrow. I look forward to seeing if there are opportunities for synergy.
