Missoula News

Got an Extra Million? Have I Got a Seminar for You!

Come One, Come All (Capitalists and Others)… to Invest in Missoula

By Robert Struckman, 9-08-08

One of the leaders of a Flathead-area capital investor group has renewed a push to build an angel investment network in Missoula with an all-day seminar at the Doubletree Hotel on Sept. 25 geared toward possible investors and led by long-time capital investor Bill Payne.

A seminar may seem like a funny way to get rich people to come forward as potential backers of potential businesses, but that’s the trick with building an angel network, said Liz Marchi. Other partners in Marchi’s effort include the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and umpteen local economic development groups, including Montana Community Development Corp. Most of the groups, excluding MCDC, have little or no actual experience in fostering real startup companies and spurring them to grow.

That’s the point, Marchi said. That’s why outreach efforts like this are important. Attendance isn’t limited to individuals who can fund startup companies. It’s also key to educate the local community about why investment groups matter and what kinds of policies encourage investing, such as mechanisms at the University of Montana for spinning research there into new companies.

All of this can be reduced to nuts-and-bolts. The forestry, business and pharmacy schools, for instance, must be churning out valuable research. And Missoula must have individuals who have the means and expertise to turn those tidbits—ideas and research—into profitable companies which could add career-type jobs to the local economy. Economist Paul Polzin, who recently retired as the long-time director of UM’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research, will provide data to assessing the capacity in Montana for angel groups.

“We need to identify four or five accredited investors who see value in organizing,” Marchi said, which brought her to her second main point: “One of my learning curves in the Flathead is that it’s important to have structures in place, processes, web-based platforms and schedules, as opposed to, ‘I’m in from California for a few weeks,’ and then nothing for months.”

“We’re starting a state-wide push,” Marchi added. And she’s got national help, too, in the form of a curriculum on starting an angel organization from the Angel Capital Education Foundation, which is funded by Kauffman Foundation of Entrepreneurship. The seminar will address investment structure, membership strategies, attracting and recruiting members, legal structures and other related subjects.

“The angel community has changed incredibly in the country in the last five years,” Marchi said. “There’s a fundamental drive for innovation in the American economy.”

There has been ongoing talk about angel investors in Missoula and Montana for the past five or six years, but little has materialized. Most entrepreneurs in Missoula, if you want to get down to it, pulled money out of their own homes to start their companies and can get pretty bitter about the meetings they’ve had with purported investors who never committed to a dime.

Marchi is an exception to that rule. She’s part of a successful angel organization. And Payne, who will be speaking at the seminar, is an active angel investor, board member and advisor who has successfully founded or invested in 37 startup companies. He is an involved member of the Frontier Angel Fund, Tech Coast Angels (San Diego), Vegas Valley Angels and Aztec Venture Network.

The seminar is intended for investors and community leaders who wish to help start an angel organization, leaders of organizations that support entrepreneurs through mentoring, coaching, education and connection to resources, university leaders and directors of entrepreneurship, innovation or emerging technology initiatives in academic institutions and professional service providers who work with entrepreneurs or investors and want to learn best practices in angel group development.

For more information or to register, contact Liz Marchi by phone at (406) 883-4044 or by . Attendance is limited.

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