Angel On Your Side

Need nothing short of a miracle to get start-up capital for your budding business? Miracles are no problem for angel investors, individuals or organizations that provide relatively small amounts of funding to get businesses through their start-up and initial development phases, often in exchange for a portion of ownership in the businesses.

The best place to find angels is within your current circle of contacts: family members, friends and professional associates. Other places to look are your chamber of commerce, banks, accounting firms, universities, business incubators, regional or state economic development agencies, editors of business publications and even potential customers.

Here are a few other organizations to help you in your quest:

ACE-Net, a not-for-profit listing service developed by the SBA, designed to facilitate the flow of information between entrepreneurs and investors. For more information, go to www.sba.gov, click on the "Financing" bar, then click on "ACE-Net."

American Venture Magazine, provides insight and advice on angel investors. Contact them at (503) 221-9981 or www.avce.com for a $15, one-year subscription of four issues.

Angel Capital Networks, www.capcon.com/worldfinance/who01.html

Angel Money, www.angelmoney.com

Internet Angels, (212) 333-8722, www.internetangels.com

Finance Hub, www.financehub.com.

Pamela Rohland writes about the joys and tribulations of entrepreneurship for a variety of regional and national business publications.

This article was originally published in the October 2000 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Angel On Your Side.