Backing entrepreneurs with good ideas can be a moneymaker for these daring investors who go where venture capitalists fear to tread.

BusinessWeek

Not only can John Reid claim to have been visited by angels, he is one. The 61-year-old entrepreneur founded his Parkers Prairie (Minn.) medical-device company, AbbeyMoor Medical, in 1997 with seed money from so-called angel investors. Such people invest in promising startups too young and raw to attract the attention and money of professional venture capitalists. Reid has also helped fund several early-stage ventures, on his own and with fellow angels.

The credit crunch and economic downturn have some angels feeling skittish. But others see opportunity: Studies show that the best time to start a business is when the economy is down. That's because entrepreneurs with good ideas will find cheaper land, labor, supplier contracts, and other ingredients that go into starting a business. Angels that back such ventures can earn impressive long-term returns—one study cites a rate of return of about 27%, on average, or 2.6 times the investment in 3.5 years. The risks, of course, are steep. Still, 258,200 angels pumped $26 billion into 57,120 ventures last year, according to the University of New Hampshire's Center for Venture Research.


Backing entrepreneurs with good ideas can be a moneymaker for these daring investors who go where venture capitalists fear to tread.

BusinessWeek

Not only can John Reid claim to have been visited by angels, he is one. The 61-year-old entrepreneur founded his Parkers Prairie (Minn.) medical-device company, AbbeyMoor Medical, in 1997 with seed money from so-called angel investors. Such people invest in promising startups too young and raw to attract the attention and money of professional venture capitalists. Reid has also helped fund several early-stage ventures, on his own and with fellow angels.

The credit crunch and economic downturn have some angels feeling skittish. But others see opportunity: Studies show that the best time to start a business is when the economy is down. That's because entrepreneurs with good ideas will find cheaper land, labor, supplier contracts, and other ingredients that go into starting a business. Angels that back such ventures can earn impressive long-term returns—one study cites a rate of return of about 27%, on average, or 2.6 times the investment in 3.5 years. The risks, of course, are steep. Still, 258,200 angels pumped $26 billion into 57,120 ventures last year, according to the University of New Hampshire's Center for Venture Research.