Speaker Day - John Dimmer

John Dimmer’s presentation gave me a lot of insight about how companies are funded.  He went over several types of funding and which would be the most appropriate for each stage of the business.  I learned that starting businesses often rely on personal funding to start off, or sometimes the founders ask their friends and family to build basic funds.  I also learned about angel investors (which I felt was the focus of the presentation).  It seems angel investors can be a major source of funding should the business have a successful-enough plan that the investor can get a substantial return, and that the founders have enough time to talk to enough angel investors to get his or her business funded (however I have the weird feeling that this process takes a long time, and may span several months or even a year).  I also learned about what John Dimmer thought himself as an angel investor, as he strategically funded businesses based on the potential returns so that he can come positive and make money.  The whole process looked a lot of like the stock market or gambling of some sort and ultimately it seemed interesting to work as an angel investor – it is highly based on personal knowledge and personal improvement will improve results.  However, I will not be following that path because it requires a lot of experience in the field to be successful (otherwise it would be far too risky).  But, it was nevertheless interesting pondering it.