Angel Investors, Tips, InvestingSo you’re starting a tech company. The first thing you’re going to need is money right? Well right now there are millions of other people int he same boat as you. Everyone is looking for money. Thankfully there is more than one source for money for your great tech company. There’s crowdfunding, venture capital, revenue and of course angel investors. But how do you find an angel investor?

The people over at alltopstartups.com came up with seven great tips to find angel investors. Here are the first four:

1. Don’t settle for any angel, find an ideal investor.

In as much as it’s difficult to find an investor for your startup, don’t start your search looking for any investor. You are better off with an investor who knows your industry, understands your business and it’s well connected to take your business to the next level.

2. The best angels you will find are the ones who know you personally.

The steps to a successful fund raising takes time but you can significantly increase your chances of securing funds if you or your connections know a couple of investors. This is partly because they need to have confidence and trust in you to take a risk on you and your business.

Greater percentage of investors invest in people not ideas.  Identify the people you want to engage and then see if you can get to them via your network using LinkedIn.

Getting referred by someone with whom an angel investor has already worked with, is the easiest way of getting connected to him.

We see 5 deals per day, 30 per week. All these deals are quality referrals from people we already know; we already either know the referrer or the entrepreneur.–Ron Conway (Legendary angel investor) 

3. Give them a good reason to invest.

Investors get thousands of applications each month. They invest in startups by making informed decisions about the prospects of the startups.

According to Ron Conway,  40 percent of his firm’s investments often fail.

You must be up to something significantly great to get the attention of a great angel investor. The most important thing is to give them a good reason why your startup is worth their attention, resources, partners and their money.

4. Investment resources

Search private equity websites, investment groups on LinkedIn and most importantly competitors’ sites. If you are looking for an investor in your industry, check out the about us pages of your closest competition, you may find their investors who are already interested in your niche.

–Create a good introduction of your team and business and find the best way to reach out to them. Cold emails may not be effective. Find a contact to make an introduction on your behalf.

—You could also find out from a professional venture capitalist if he or she is aware of an angel investor group who could be interested to invest in your startup.

—Find the right investment advisor, or member of your advisory board, and the “match-making” will happen.

–There are some good investment books out there to help, like “Attracting Capital from Angels”, by Brian Hill and Dee Power.

Contact investment advisors for a free analysis and explanation of what options exist for you. Most of them are connected with lots of angel investors.

Check out the next three tips at alltopstartups.com