Startup Investing

Angel investors dream of finding and investing early in the next Uber, Airbnb, Waze, or Mobileye. While it’s easy to get seduced by the hype, serial startup investors know it is hard to be successful in this asset class. With the help of members of OurCrowd’s experienced investment team and other industry resources, we have put together a quick, three-part guide to ‘earning your wings’. These articles highlight essential terms and strategies while referencing accepted industry best practices; with these basics in hand, getting started in startup investing can be a lot smoother. Part 1: The Basics | Part 2: Risky Business | Part 3: Strategy Part 3: Strategy Diversify One of the most important rules of investing is diversification. The more companies you invest in, the greater chance there is at least one “winner” in your portfolio to give you the return you’re looking for. In angel investing, you could focus on diversifying based on company industry, and business stage. Some experts say that 10-15 companies is the minimum sweet spot for building a strong portfolio, while the Monte Carlo...

Angel investors dream of finding and investing early in the next Uber, Airbnb, Waze, or Mobileye. While it’s easy to get seduced by the hype, serial startup investors know it is hard to be successful in this asset class. With the help of members of OurCrowd’s experienced investment team and other industry resources, we have put together a quick, three-part guide to ‘earning your wings’. These articles highlight essential terms and strategies while referencing accepted industry best practices; with these basics in hand, getting started in startup investing can be a lot smoother. Part 1: The Basics | Part 2: Risky Business | Part 3: Strategy Part 2: Risky Business Understand the Risk The distribution of returns within a VC portfolio typically follows the power law curve. According to Horsley Bridge, if you take a longtime limited partner in VC funds who has been collecting data on VC returns since 1983, you’ll find that just 6% of their hundreds of investments have generated 60% of their total returns since 1985. Professor William Sahlman of Harvard Business School is quoted saying, “80%...

Angel investors dream of finding and investing early in the next Uber, Airbnb, Waze, or Mobileye. While it’s easy to get seduced by the hype, serial startup investors know it is hard to be successful in this asset class. With the help of members of OurCrowd’s experienced investment team and other industry resources, we have put together a quick, three-part guide to ‘earning your wings’. These articles highlight essential terms and strategies while referencing accepted industry best practices; with these basics in hand, getting started in startup investing can be a lot smoother. Part 1: The Basics | Part 2: Risky Business | Part 3: Strategy Part I: The Basics Do Your Homework, Be Highly Selective A 2007 study on angel investors’ returns found that those who spent more than the median time of 20 hours performing due diligence had an overall portfolio return of 5.9X, while those that spent less than the median only had returns of 1.1X (source). OurCrowd’s investment team (made up of around 20 investment analysts, principals, advisors, and partners) vets more than 200 startups a month....