US veteran "angel" investor Bill Payne has put US$1.5 million (NZ$2m) into about 50 technology start-ups during the past 30 years and reckons he has achieved an average annualised return of 20 per cent to 25 per cent, thanks mainly to "four really nice exits".
Now he is spending five months in New Zealand as "entrepreneur in residence" at Auckland University, sponsored by BNZ and other businesses, trying to pass on what he learnt along the way to entrepreneurs and other angels. Last year he won the US Angel Capital Association's highest honour, the Hans Severiens Award.
Funding options for entrepreneurs include using their own savings or mortgaging their homes, borrowing or accepting investments from friends and family, "organically" growing their businesses by reinvesting profits from early sales, and seeking out angel investment or venture capital.
Mr Payne says no-one knows how much money entrepreneurs invest in their own companies. "We do know that in the United States about 500,000 companies are formed each year, and what we have found out recently - which shocked me - is that friends and family invest about three times as much annually as angels and venture capital funds."
To read the full, original article click on this link: Family and friends more important than angels' help... | Stuff.co.nz
Author: TOM PULLAR-STRECKER
