"I don't think we're going to be seeing a lot of IPOs again any time soon," says Early Exits author, Basil Peters (no relation), "so the old model of building companies, ... is dead". But don't despair, Basil has several exciting new developments to share.

He's busy. He's putting on an Exits workshop for the Band of Angels. He writes a blog where his most popular post is Don't Blow the Biggest Deal of Your Life. He'll be speaking in Seattle this week at the NW Regional Angel Summit hosted by the Alliance of Angels. If that's too short notice for you, make plans now to see him kick-off the Angel Capital Association's Annual Summit in San Francisco, May 5-7.

Show #279 (30:51) Listen

Meet me in Tucson: March 22, the SW Regional Angel Summit hosted by the Desert Angels.

Istanbul: April 15-16, EBAN's 2010 Congress. Join me as I moderate a panel on angel investing and 'animate' the Awards ceremony.

Austin: April 21, the Texas Entrepreneur Funding Symposium. Come see Austin's vibrant entrepreneurial community for yourself; I'll keynote.

"I don't have your check and I don't have your paperwork," so went the email. That's because I'm not investing in this pay-to-play round. "You're the only one who isn't," went the terse reply.

It's been that kind of year; hearing from my portfolio companies who haven't hit their stride, but continue to promise a bright future. Maybe I feel defensive, a need to justify why I didn't write a check and instead got converted to Common and diluted, terribly. I'm certainly no smarter than all the others who did write a check, but my conscience has been nagging at me and as therapy, I recalled the words of Kevin Covert in this podcast from the archives, so I thought I'd share it with you again.

Show #119 (34:32) Listen

Meet me in Seattle: March 11-12, at the NW Regional Angel Summit hosted by the Alliance of Angels, or in Tucson: March 22, the SW Regional Angel Summit hosted by the Desert Angels.

Do your genes control your level of entrepreneurship? Your willingness to risk? To go it alone?

Case Western University economist Scott Shane has a new book, Born Entrepreneurs, Born Leaders: How Your Genes Affect Your Work Life which will confirm some of your hunches about entrepreneurs. "Entrepreneurship, job satisfaction, financial risk-taking", Scott says our genes influence all this and more.

I'm ready for Scott because Joshua Baer has me reading The HypoManic: The Link Between a Little Craziness and A lot of Success by John D. Gartner, which describes the Puritans as venture capitalists, but also as a "lunatic fringe whose paranoia was matched only by their grandiosity". Does that description still fit?

Think of the gene pool of this country... it contains remnants of all the settlers who abandoned the old country and came to America to seek their fortune. Maybe that explains entrepreneurship in this country, but Scott argues, no, that's not the case.

"Novelty-seeking", that's the new buzz-word, and Scott describes how it affects entrepreneurs' drive to do what they do.

Then as we wrap up, Scott helps me to apply these theories to my home life...

Check out Scott's Illusions of Entrepreneurship and the classic, Fool's Gold?: The Truth Behind Angel Investing in America.

Show #277 (30:15) Listen

Come to an angel conference:
Seattle: March 11-12, the NW Regional Angel Summit hosted by the Alliance of Angels
Tucson: March 22, the SW Regional Angel Summit hosted by the Desert Angels
Istanbul: April 15-16, EBAN's 2010 Congress. Join me as I moderate a panel on angel investing and 'animate' the Awards ceremony.
Austin: April 21, the Texas Entrepreneur Funding Symposium. Come see Austin's vibrant entrepreneurial community for yourself; I'll keynote.
San Francisco: May 5-7, Angel Capital Association's Annual Summit.

As a typical angel (retired, having sold my own company, now hoping I'm not part of the punchline to the old classic joke "How do you make a small fortune in angel investing?"), I appreciate your more humble approach, as opposed to the more caffeinated versions of Jason Calacanis. I appreciate that the focus is with other angels, as opposed to focusing solely on the latest, hottest entrepreneur, all of whom attribute their success to brilliance as opposed to good fortune and sweat. (F: Amen)

How about bringing in some women from Golden Seeds? Appreciate any and all East Coast groups you get on.

Thanks, T.D.

He's the co-founder of the Hub Angels in Boston, David Verrill is chair of the Angel Capital Association's Collaboration Committee, too. Hub is organized around a fund, so he had capital to invest and weathered the economic storms of 2009 better than some angel groups. Even so, David advocates that now is a good time to review "the terms we're using when negotiating these investments". So it's no surprise that he's organizing the ACA Syndication Webinar Series that will focus on syndication, due diligence and terms.

Show #276 (15:09) Listen

Join David for the Syndication Basics webinar 3pm Eastern Wed March 3rd

Seattle: March 11-12, the NW Regional Angel Summit hosted by the Alliance of Angels

Tucson: March 22, the SW Regional Angel Summit hosted by the Desert Angels

Istanbul: April 15-16, EBAN's 2010 Congress. Join me as I moderate a panel on angel investing and 'animate' the Awards ceremony.

Austin: April 21, the Texas Entrepreneur Funding Symposium. Come see Austin's vibrant entrepreneurial community for yourself; I'll keynote.

San Francisco: May 5-7, Angel Capital Association's Annual Summit. Come to this must-attend event of the year, finally in San Francisco where it should be every year! Expect a super line-up of noteworthy speakers and panelists.

Hope all is well and I will look forward to getting together with you in preparation for our "Next Big Thing" in Tucson.

I need to mention two scenarios: my daughter, Claire, in California was forwarded our podcast from Curtis Gunn the new leader of Desert Angels. She was quite impressed.

More interesting, we are finalizing a deal with O******** L*** out of Maryland. (Another of our "out of state", "syndications deals"). We have probably 10 investors for short money but syndicating as part of a $1.2M round.

I had liked him enough and had enough contact without actually doing the physical phone call; however, the point was not lost on him or the value of that personal contact with each investor. Our due diligence leader had done a powerful job; however, it was very impressive that he took our session to heart. Powerful stuff.

Thanks for sharing the wonderful world of Angel Investing with so many.

Your appreciative friend, Mic

Meet Mic in person: March 22, at the SW Regional Angel Summit in Tucson, hosted by the Desert Angels

Could your startup use $20,000 in seed capital? Mind spending 10 weeks in Austin? If so, Joshua Baer is someone you're gonna want to know better!

Joshua's the Managing Director of Austin's Capital Factory, a seed-stage mentoring program. Startups must apply and out of the hundreds that do, 5 are selected. Each receives $20,000 in cash, $20,000 in stuff and, best of all, the attentions of 20 mentors over the 10 week program.

Since angel fundings are down, wouldn't most investors be suited to returning to the roots of what it means to be an angel? Can you picture a Capital Factory franchise in your neighborhood? What if you could organize those risk-averse investors and get them involved with a structured mentoring program like Joshua's? What could it mean to your local innovation economy?

Entrepreneurs, you better apply quickly...

P.S. During the interview I say I'll check out Joshua's OtherInbox email organizer. I signed up and have been using it happily for 2 weeks!

Show #275 (32:27) Listen

Join me in Austin, April 21, at the Texas Entrepreneur Funding Symposium.

Two JumpStarts, but no dead battery, that's Dave Berkus!

Dave is making his 16th appearance on the show, Ray Leach of JumpStart Ohio, his 2nd, and ACA board member Katherine O'Neill of JumpStart NJ, her first.

"The new normal," according to Ray, "is going to have a big impact on angels, on how companies get funded and how quickly they can scale." That being the VC industry's poor track record and inability to attract new investment.

It's the innovation economy of the future we're talking about.

Show #274 (49:31) Listen

Save these dates:
March 3, Syndication Basics webinar
March 22, SW Regional Angel Summit in Tucson, hosted by the Desert Angels
April 15-16, EBAN Congress 2010 in Istanbul
April 21, the Texas Entrepreneur Funding Symposium in Austin
April 28, Term Sheets webinar
May 5-7, the ACA Annual Summit in San Francisco

I'm listening to your show over a year now, and it's my most favorite podcast! For me it's enlightening to hear insights about the US and worldwide angels. I hope to meet you personally when you are visiting Germany. Until then I'm looking out for your podcast, interesting interviews and thoughtful questions! Thank you very much!

Lets talk about http://asana.com - a bay area internet technology company which raised 9 Mio. USD within three days. When I'm looking at the Angel Investors it seems to be the elite. My question (as an German entrepreneur without knowing how this system works internally) is: How are these deals made? What is the most important factor?

With kind regards, Birger Hartung

European enthusiasm for angel investing has been growing over the past few years. What's the potential for the future?

More growth, according to Brigitte Baumann, President of EBAN. Part of this growth comes from younger angels who may be working the corporate track, but are attracted to eventually become an entrepreneur. But do these younger angels qualify? In the US we use the SEC's definition of an Accredited Investor, but there's nothing like that in Europe.

Are these angel groups robbing the cradle? And, besides money, what can these younger angels bring to the table? You'll be surprised.

Show #273 (34:49) Listen

Meet Brigitte in person at the EBAN 10th Annual Congress, April 15-16 in Istanbul.

"The fact is, most of these companies will fail, no matter how much due diligence you do," so says Mic Williams.

He moved to Boston for love then decided to create the Boston Harbor Angels.

Mic shares the stories, the process, the syndication strategies and his refreshing attitudes about due diligence as we discuss getting deals done in New England.

Show #272 (42:48) Listen

Interested in exotic travel?
Come to Istanbul for the EBAN 10th Annual Congress, April 15-16. Then jet-set with me to Austin for the Texas Entrepreneur Funding Symposium, April 21st. Complete the sweep in San Francisco, May 5-6-7 at the ACA Annual Summit.

Last night's topic: An Angel in LA, a blend of my entrepreneurial journey mixed with dance photography and stories of the Tech Coast Angels.

Check out the schedule; all the guest lectures are free and open to the public.

See me in Austin on April 21st for the Texas Entrepreneur Funding Symposium. I'll keynote.

How did angel investing get started in San Diego? My guest Vern Yates shares the story.

I knew we were going to hit it off when I spotted the elaborate model trains on his patio. I can't believe my eyes as I reach for the camera.

As we sit down, I know I'm in for a look back at the history of angel investing in San Diego. Vern's been there.

How do you succeed in angel angel investing? Start 13 years ago, in the good ole days when Vern describes returns of 40X and 150X. If you do that you'll be playing with house money for the rest of your career.

We get started with a few topics from the recent Tech Coast Angels' off site strategic planning meeting where no issue was off the table.

Show #271 (46:12) Listen