How to make smart private Investment in Start-Ups

I completed my last role as a CEO in November 2015. It was a great role, with many challenges and marked with significant achievements and progress for the company. It was then, after a 20+ year career, time for my first long vacation. After a period of rest and spending quality time with my family, I considered my next steps. Being fortunate to have enough funds to support my family, I was looking for work that would give me mainly satisfaction. I ventured into consultancy, board membership, advisory board positions, part-time roles and so on. It is important to mention that I had already started private investing in 2012. Having said that, it was secondary to my CEO roles. It took me a while to understand that I had already “found” the work that I was looking for, and my next primary position was going to be an “angel investor” and a start-up supporter.

Even though it requires on average, only 30% of my time, I have discovered that you need to have the mindset of a professional investor in order to be successful. Since 2010, I have invested in 11 startups, of which I was also CEO of two of them. Three of them made exits. One start-up, which was sold, broke even. The remaining seven are still active.

This blog is intended for investors interested in investing in start-ups and would like to do so smartly. Investing smartly requires time – for research, analysis…but can be done regardless of whether you hold a full-time position or are investing on a part-time basis. It is my intention to offer advice and solutions to the investor who has less time to dedicate to these investments. During the next blogs I will do my best to advise start-up private investors based on my own experiences. Future blog topics will include:

• Why be a Start-up Private investor?
• The Start-up Market in Israel
• Investor - Start-up Relationships
• Fund Amount to be Invested
• Time Required
• Investment Strategy
• The Team
• Investment Tactics
• Due-Diligence
• Investment Vehicles
• Exit
• Plan B

Some of the topics define what “investors like me” is, and in others, I will share my knowledge and experience.

I would be happy to consider more topics based on your feedback and areas of concern. All relevant issues are open for discussion. There is no right or wrong –many things are probably subjective. I am not a professional consultant and in this blog I will express my private opinions.

I will do my best to publish every two weeks.

Until next time, here’s to great investing!!