Angel Capital Association Conference

I just returned from the very informative and well-run Angel Capital Association Summit in Atlanta last week. While there is still quite a bit of investing activity, the "take-away" message that I got was this: The reduction in M & A activity and the near-halt (until last week, that is) in IPO activity has put quite a damper on investment activity. In particular, valuations have been cut substantially.

Interestingly, one speaker, Basil Peters, presented evidence showing that all parties involved make more money upon exit when either angels or VCs are involved as investors, but not both. In other words, the involvment of angels lowers returns for VCs and the involvment of VCs lowers returns for angels. The same reductions follow through to the entrepreneur.