Angel Investors in the Midwest

Aug. 18, 2008 - PRLog -- Nowadays entrepreneurial ventures are constantly making headlines and featuring on television shows both in the US and abroad, which is pushing more and more people to make that change and start their own business. Some use their previous experience to provide a refined version of an existing business model that they believe can be improved, while some people lean towards the innovative side with a new idea or concept they've come up with. While their ideas may cover a vast range of areas, there tends to be one thing that they all have in common: the entrepreneur is ready, but all he/she needs is capital (whether it is thousands or hundreds of thousands) in order to get their new idea off the ground. The next obstacle is being discovered in the first place, and this is where the concept of "angel investment" comes into play.

With little or no capital, let alone an established brand name, most entrepreneurs cannot get their company approved for loans, as they have no credit record or financial history. In this case, the most common sources of funding are individual investors, known as "business angels" or "angel investors". They are high-net-worth individuals, who will invest seed capital in your company in exchange for equity in the company and a percentage of the company's profit.

It is up to you the entrepreneur to decide whether he/she wants them to act as a silent partner or play an active role in the running of the company. Most will offer the investor an active role, as one of the additional advantages of obtaining funding via angel investors is that they bring their experience and know-how to the partnership as well as their money.

Many of the biggest start-ups in the online world (such as Amazon and Google) started up from angel investment, but even offline companies, such as the Body Shop and Starbucks were all started thanks to the help of angel investors.

Nowadays, thanks to technology, you don't even have to live in one of the major cities in order to generate interest from potential investors. Communities such as the Midwest Angel Investment Network at http://www.midwestinvestmentnetwork.com provide a platform for entrepreneurs to find capital and for investors to find investment opportunities. This particular network operates in the Midwest US states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin) but is also part of a national and international network. Most of the communication is done online which gives investors the chance to invest in US or foreign businesses and allows entrepreneurs to raise funding not just in the US but internationally.

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The Angel Investment Network currently includes a wide range of US and International investors looking for investment opportunities, along with entrepreneurs in the Midwest US looking to get their business off the ground.