Which investor networks can help your portfolio companies grow?

As the founder and member of business angel networks I have founders' incredibly thankful for bringing together a diverse group of people with certain sector knowledge and contacts that they can reach out to. Angel networks are often "closer" to the founder, it is very personal with money and time on the line for both sides. It is most fruitful when having one member of the angel group lead the conversation and serve as a link to fall back to, with subject matter experts reaching out to their counterparts in the startup and thereby keeping business interruptions to a minimum. In my experience, angel groups are therefore highly valued, especially when teaming up with other interested parties such as customers, other angel groups or VCs.

Most investors see themselves as "value-add" to PortCos, often more so than they really are. The CEO skillset is incredibly broad and takes a long time to develop. Most people are topic or functional experts (focused and deep). It's hard to make an argument that every investor can always be value add. I've built a 1300+ syndicate network over the last 3 years through word of mouth. Beyond a common investment thesis and being passionate about venture, there is no identifiable commonality. We've built in diversity and breath by design to maximize the chance that we can be helpful to PortCos through the network beyond myself as an individual.

Syndicates bring the benefit of bundling individual angel investors respectively their investment into one entity (SPV). Therefore, the founder can benefit from multiple angel investors without adding complexity to the cap table. However, it's important for the founder to properly understand the syndicate: who's part of it (smart vs. dumb money)? how well do LPs/GPs know each other? etc.

Many tools such as CB Insights and Pitchbook can help, but you need to also supplement this private market data with your own unique insights and data about the market. Having an organized CRM system in place can help supplement these data bases with real-time insights/information.

Investor and industry networks open doors to capital and BD opportunities, and are especially key at the company's earliest stages. As the startup scales, execution KPIs and internal processes such as a repeatable sales engine increase in importance over broad networking. Founders: continue to cultivate stage-appropriate relationships but remember that delivering on business metrics is what's actually going to convert prospects into partners and fuel sustainable long-term growth.

Investor Networks are a group of people with similar agendas. They also compete with each other. - so for my portfolio companies such networks don’t usually work. At best they can invest at a higher rate than what I invested in. Instead industry networks help. Since they are keen to buy from or sell to or learn from or teach to my portfolio companies. So we are a part of the value chain here and we can add value by doing business with each other. That becomes a win win situation.

The question was "Which investor networks can help your portfolio companies grow?" It's not an investor network at all. What helps a portfolio or any company for that matter grow is focus on top of funnel development and sales. Revenue and net income production is what helps a company grow. Sadly, very few VCs or Angels add any value outside of their capital. They say they do, but they don't. For the 99.95% of companies that do not get funding from investors, revenue and net income is and will continue to be their only source of growth capital.

What does every startup need? Customers. More than most anything, a customer proves someone cares about your product. It gives you feedback that helps reduce your 100 ideas to the 10 that matter to someone willing to pay. Build networks of early adopters. Have that network help you sell to the early majority once you cross the chasm.