Kyle
A new group of Angels is putting the finishing touches on their website, business and an event to kick off their new fund. Gopher Angels is holding an invite only event for seed stage tech startups on May 3, 2012 at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.
Gopher Angels is currently pre-screening startups to see if they have what it takes to get funding from the group. Interested startups should visit this link to check out Gopher Angels and submit their best idea.
More after the break
“When we refer to seed, this would include entrepreneurs looking for 10′s of thousands in funding to build a prototype, do consumer or customer surveys, focus groups, legal work, etc. It is not to fund salaries, office space, or other G & A expenses. Strength of the concept is critical as is the potential scalability,” David Russick told tech.mn.
Their website is still under construction but promises to be ready in a week or so. Russick and his wife Sara are entrepreneurs themselves with successful exit experience. Their first venture was an “indestructible” trash bag that caught the eye of refuse giant Waste Management, which eventually acquired the company.
The couple then went on to start TUBS which is a PODS like storage rental unit business, which they still own today.
“We have a lot more sensitivity for the entrepreneur because we’ve been on that side of the table before,” Russick told the Star Tribune.
Gopher Angels is a different kind of fund. They have put together a syndicate of investors who have invested at least $50,000. Unlike other venture groups each individual in the Gopher Angels network can decide for themselves if they want to participate in the round or not. If a company is not good for one investor but others in the group like it, the company could still get funded.
“If there’s a deal that you don’t really like as much, you don’t have to participate,” said Lindsay, who is on the network’s board of advisers.
source: tech.mn Star Tribune
