Highway To Heaven

Another place where angels sometimes congregate is the business incubator. Angels like new business activity, and incubators are often full of promising start-ups. According to Dinah Adkins, executive director of the National Business Incubation Association, some 60 percent of the 550 business incubators in North America offer formal or informal access to early-stage financing, which often means angels.

In addition, many incubators screen applicants, offering what amounts to a quality-control mechanism that attracts investors. In short, you can gain access to angel investors simply by being a member of the club. You can obtain a list of incubators nationwide by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope to the National Business Incubation Association, 20 E. Circle Dr., #190, Athens, OH, 45701-3751. You can also call (740)593-4331 or visit its Web site at http://www.nbia.org.

This article was originally published in the June 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Highway To Heaven.