An Insider's Take on Attracting Angel Investment James Hunt, an angel investor and adjunct professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, shares his secrets on getting attention from financial backers.

For early stage companies, angel investment can be an attractive funding option, says James Hunt, angel investor and adjunct professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. Hunt specializes in early stage funding and has holdings in about two dozen companies. Here, he shares the secrets to getting a blessing--and funding--from an angel.

What are the signs that an entrepreneur is suited for this kind of outside investment?
You have to be realistic about the investment and about the expectations. Angel investment is typically smaller in size than earlier stage or seed funding. You have to be willing to take direction from investors and be able to show that you have some sort of strategy for returning the investment.

What else is important to you?
We ask some hard questions. Have you put any of your own money up? Have you recruited a team? Have they proven they can do this in the past? And is your market substantial enough to support reasonable growth? They don't have to be trillion-dollar markets, but they have to be large enough so the angels can see they're capturing some percent of a vibrant market.