Be Aware of Angel Investors Who Aren’t
Back in 2014, I found myself in a difficult position. I had invested most of my savings into my new consulting company, which was not generating the revenue I had expected. I had the initial idea for LatAm Startups (now known as Global Startups ), but I didn’t have a clear strategy on how to launch it. Those days were quite gloomy. My biggest event failed, and I had already overspent on my credit card. At the time, I was based in Latin America but frequently traveled to Canada to maintain my contacts. Toronto was a new territory that year, and I had to build a network and navigate the good, the bad, and the ugly, as is the case in any market you enter.
Some people present themselves as the perfect partner, offering the perfect deal and the perfect everything, while others view you with skepticism about what you can really achieve.
In 2014, I spent over $10,000 on trips due to a “Super Angel,” another fellow Latin American supposedly with good connections and willing to invest not just in startups but also potentially in a company I wanted to build. What a joke! I wasted not only time but also a lot of money on unnecessary trips and empty promises that led to nothing.Since then, I have encountered numerous “investors” who turned out not to be genuine, resulting in a complete waste of my time.
While I wasn’t actively raising money, I wanted to build relationships. By 2016, with my first group of startups, I had already met many unfit investors. This experience made me question the integrity of the market at times. The good investors I met were too conservative and rightly skeptical about the startups I was bringing since they were not accustomed to working with startups entering Canada.I was fully amused while reading “ Do More Faster” by Techstars —a book I highly recommend. Initially, I thought it was just a promotional tool for Techstars, and partially it is, but it contains good stories that resonated with my own experiences. A chapter named “Beware of Angel Investors Who Aren’t” reminded me of those so-called investors I had encountered who were not real investors. Today, as the General Partner of an investment firm, I have learned many lessons from nearly eight years of dealing with investors in Canada, the USA, and Latin America.
Investment is not easy, but it certainly requires a commitment to doing good, following a structure, and adhering to certain rules. You want to get your money back, but you also want to be fair with the startup. That’s why my firm, GSA Ventures, is committed to transparency throughout the process with aspiring investors and those who already have more experience than I do.
If you are an aspiring investor and would like to create a positive impact, I would like to have a chat with you. Hopefully, being part of a trustworthy network can help create a healthier environment in the tech ecosystem we live in today
Article by:
Miryam Lazarte , General Partner at GSA Ventures
