On Tuesday, February 10, 2015, the WTIA held the Essentials of Angel Investing Seminar at the downtown Seattle office of Perkins Coie. The workshop featured speakers Kha Dang of Perkins Coie, Tyler Griffin of Prism Money, Rebecca Lovell of the City of Seattle, and Doug Bevis of Alliance of Angels.

Rebecca Lovell kicked off the event sharing her knowledge and experience in the angel-investing world from her position working with startups through the City of Seattle.

• People want to know not only who they’re investing in but what they’re investing in.
• Trust is easy to establish and easy to lose, so always be honest about your product development.
• The motto of angel investors is “noses in and fingers out”—they are probing and curious but keep they fingers out of the management pie.
• Financial projections: yes we want to see them, no we won’t believe them.
• Nobody knows more about your business than you do.

Next to the podium was Tyler Griffin, the founder of Prism Money. He spoke about angel investing from his experience as a startup seeking funding in the early stages of his company.

• Talk to your customers; make sure you are actually solving a real problem.
• Bottom line: it is going to take time. You may think you have the best business in the world, but everyone else has great businesses too.
• You are a sales person. You have to learn how to sell yourself.
• Know where your investors are coming from and cater to that audience.
• You’re going to feel like you’re wasting your time because most investors will say no. Don’t waste time, plan out your days prescriptively.
• You have to be pumped up about it—passion sells.

Kha Dang and Jim Caroll took on the next session with a fun and informative game of Start-Up Jeopardy focusing on the legal terms of angel investing. Categories covered formation and organization, venture capital financing, angel financing, IP protection, employment, and unplanned tax problems.

The final speaker of the seminar was Doug Bevis, manager of Washington Park Ventures, board member of the Alliance of Angels, CFO for two Seattle area tech company’s IPOs and more. His role as an angel investor in the tech space made for great insight into what investors are looking for, what works and what does not.

• If you don’t ask, you won’t get.
• If you fail the first time, be sure to discuss your lessons learned and it will prove fruitful for your next one.
• A quick “no” is the best answer; this way no one’s time is wasted.
• If you don’t win on the first deal, you’ll win on the next one.
• Don’t lose the passion.

“We’ve been doing this for a while now,” said moderator Dang. ”This has been the best turn out by far!” Attendees had the opportunity to share what they learned for prizes following the event and network with fellow attendees/speakers following the event.

Big thank you to Kha Dang and Perkins Cole for hosting the seminar, to Rebecca Lovell, Tyler Griffin, and Doug Bevis for speaking, and all our guests for attending.