Tennessee’s angels weigh in on investment scene, and notable lack of angels in the state
The panel was a part of the 3686 Entrepreneurship Conference in Nashville on Tuesday.
Jay Schaffer, an angel investor based in Chattanooga, said, “If you want people to talk to you, put Angel Investor on your name tag.”
Seeing the turnout at the Meet Tennessee’s Angel Investors panel at the 3686 Conference on Tuesday afternoon, we would say Schaffer’s statement is a fact.
One thing almost all entrepreneurs have in common is a need for money. Some get it from family and friends, some bootstrap the operation, and some immediately jump into earning revenue, but some early-stage companies that do not have those options may pray for an angel… literally.
Except in Tennessee, angel investors can feel few and far between.
The panel at the 3686 conference featured Jay Schaffer, Market Director of VentureSouth and Board Member of Atlanta Tech Angels; Haley “Zap” Zapolski, Founder of Lighthouse, based in Nashville; and Cameron Drummond, Principal of Mastodon Capital Management, also based in Nashville, although his investments span primarily outside of Tennessee.
All three spoke of the nature of angel investments and what goes into closing the deal.
Zap said her focus is on investing in founders that she can help. She said it’s the intention behind her founder-first community, Lighthouse. She’s cut more than 20 checks in the past 18 months.
“I cut $5,000 checks,” she said. I’m not pushing anyone’s business over the edge in terms of funding. But I can help them with connections to another founder who is experiencing the same problem, or a co-founder, or another investor.”
She said that her biggest pet peeve is when a founder is only in it for the money and not receptive to advice.
Schaffer agreed. He pulled a famous quote from Michael Colt, “Ask for money, and you’ll get advice. Ask for advice, and you’ll get money twice.”
But the question that most intrigues us, and likely will intrigue the Teknovation audience, came from Milt Capps, the Founder of Venture Nashville Connections.
Capps asked the burning question: “How do we engage more angels in Tennessee?”
After all, the state has a significant amount of high-net-worth individuals, both those we know about who are well-known for their philanthropy, and those who still remain somewhat undetected.
“This is a big focus area for me. I think the key is education,” Zap said. “I’ve been hosting some Angel retreats to further engage people who are interested in investing in startups.”
Schaffer said he is continuously talking with people behind the scenes to generate interest.
But, for all three panelists, it remains a head-scratcher. How do we get more investors involved in Tennessee startups?
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