ACA New England Angels

The following are course descriptions of the ACA / ARI New England Angel Education Series workshops scheduled for Spring 2013:
(Information on past workshops can be found here)

Valuing an Early Stage Company. (May 2013) Determining the likely funding requirements of an early stage company can help ensure that a deal is structured properly and that the projected company valuation has a good chance of being attractive to next stage funders. There are numerous ways to calculate valuations – revenue, income, cash flow and even Black-Scholes but in early stage investing is usually based on comparables and desired investor return requirements. Senior angels around the country have built some interesting “valuation methods”. This session will allow time to review these approaches.

Instructors:

Jean Hammond – Member, Golden Seeds, Hub Angels Investment Group, and Launchpad Venture Group
Tom Huntington – Member, Launchpad Venture Group

Performing The Right Amount of Due Diligence. (May 2013) Angel investors use a variety of due diligence methods – some more rigorous than others – before making an investment decision. Some angels use intuition. Some focus on the CEO. Others do formal analysis of the market, competition, financials and analyses of expected return scenarios. The purpose of this session is to describe the alternative due diligence models that local angels and angel groups go through prior to making an investment. Experienced angels and angel group managers will give examples of their due diligence, and several due diligence templates will be available for participants as resources. This 60-minute session will include presentation, healthy debate, and discussion so that participants can both learn and share.

Instructors:

Sheryl Schultz – Managing Director, Golden Seeds
Mic Williams – Founder, Boston Harbor Angels
Gene Zimon – Member, Clean Energy Venture Group, Launchpad Venture Group, and Walnut Venture Associates

Deal Terms. (May 2013) This course reviews key concepts of private preferred stock equity investment deals. Each key term that defines an angel’s ownership position will be reviewed. These include those defining the economics of the deal, including pre-money valuation, option pool size, liquidation preferences, anti-dilution and dividends will be examined. In addition, the other key terms affecting investor control, governance, monitoring the investment, maintaining ownership, and management rights will also be reviewed.

Instructors:

Christopher Mirabile – Managing Director, Launchpad Venture Group
George Simmons – Member, Cherrystone Angels; and Partner, Derby Management