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Benjamin Bergen is Executive Director of the Council of Canadian Innovators, a national business council led by the CEOs of Canada’s fastest growing technology firms. It’s easy to be a pessimist these days. We have now been slogging through the turmoil, strain and heartache of a global pandemic for more than a year — long enough to grind anybody down. But by their very nature, innovators are optimists. We don’t accept the world as it is today. We insist that it can be better, and when we see problems, we work to make it better by building the solutions. Innovators have helped carry us through COVID-19. E-commerce, cloud computing and an array of other technologies have saved countless lives by allowing us to continue working in our socially distanced reality. What’s more, innovative, cutting-edge techniques allowed us to develop vaccines at breakneck speed. As we look toward putting COVID-19 behind us, our world will only be more data-driven and technology-infused, and when the post-pandemic recovery comes, we can be sure that it will be led by innovative companies. There’s no guarantee, though, that Canada will enjoy the full benefit of this economic boom. If we aren’t engaged and proactive, Canada can’t expect to claim its share of the global knowledge economy. If we don’t put the right policies in place to support homegrown Canadian innovators, there is a very real possibility that Canada will be left buying technologies and services from the countries that get it right, and we will all be poorer for it. A thriving innovation economy is an ecosystem, and everything is interconnected — high-growth scale-ups, emerging startups, established players, research institutions, venture capitalists, angel investors and public policy experts. A growing, prosperous ecosystem creates wealth in terms of equity and intangible assets, which get invested back into the ecosystem, driving the next generation of growth. This growth also creates public wealth in the form of taxes, which help pay for the social services we all value as Canadians. Learn more and subscribe at www.pathways.news. 

Season 2 is packed with actionable content and intimate conversations.   For pure concentrated knowledge on mobilizing capital and scaling the next massive global success story, we will be interweaving content from a Practical Guide to Angel Investing and you will hear from over 100 prominent thought leaders at the intersection of entrepreneurship, capital and innovation, including:  Arlene Dickinson from CBC’s Dragon’s Den to help you descipher between good and bad angels, We have The Untold Story of SkipTheDishes with co-founder Chris Simair who's also building Harvest Builders and connected to NEO Financial which raised $50 million in financing from prominent angel investors across North AmericaWe have Charles Plant, founder of The Narwhal Project on how $27 billion was created by made in Vancouver success story Slack. Raine Maida, lead singer of Our Lady Peace, will be talking NFTs (non-fungible tokens), the new craze that's eclipsing bitcoin. John Ruffolo, Founder and Managing Partner of Maverix Private Equity shares his insights on raising a $500 million fund; and Raising Canada's Largest Venture Fund for BIPOC Founders is Sheldon James, CEO and managing partner at Bay Mills Investment Group after making headlines and being featured in Forbes on the amazing work underway.  And many more, entrepreneurs, innovation leaders, angel investors, and venture capital fund managers 

Built by Angels is a new podcast series that will guide you on the road to venture capital scale and growth. Interested in funding the next big thing? Are you an entrepreneur searching for capital, to fund and scale your company? Are you on the sidelines, wondering how to jump in, while everyone else is building, backing, and supporting the next generation of entrepreneurial companies? Stay tuned, subscribe and join us on this exciting journey, as we transform ordinary listeners into extraordinary investors. 

This podcast is for informational purposes only and is based on the book "A Practical Guide to Angel Investing, 2nd Edition" authored by Steven Gedeon PhD and published by the National Angel Capital Organization. Content discussed is for general guidance on matters of interest and should not be taken as professional, legal, business or investment advice. Most angels have enjoyed a successful business career and want to share their expertise and experience with younger entrepreneurs. Of course. They want and expect to gain above market rates of return on their investments. That's what makes this form of investing sustainable, but often they also want to pay it forward to help others and give back to their communities. Angels are often retired executives or other professionals, or in many cases, they are former entrepreneurs who ran and sold their own companies. Business angels invest because of their love for entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial journey. Angels invest for many reasons, including the excitement of being involved in an interesting company or industry. The desire to mentor the next generation of entrepreneurs, the desire to pay it forward by sharing their expertise with those who need it, contributing to the economic growth of their region, community, or country. This podcast will help distill the wisdom of hundreds of angel investors who came before you.

What will you do with the next 20+ years of your life? For most angels, the answer is: "I want to contribute to the good of my community" "I want to continue to do what I love." "I want to be involved in strategy, important deals and major decisions." "I want to lend my expertise." The value of angel groups is that they essentially help mitigate your risk. Angel groups help you attract the highest quality deals and help you go through a due diligence process that vets out the deals that have a disproportionately high chance of failure, or a very low probability of success. Angel groups provide discipline, additional due diligence, and deal flow resources that will mitigate your risk and increase the probability of return.  More on this topic in future episodes.

We are here with Senator Doug Black, Chair of the Senate Banking, Finance, and Trade Committee.  The innovation ecosystem in Alberta has a tremendous potential. We see an opportunity to transition the risk capital, that has historically been in more traditional industries, to the high growth industries that can contribute so much to the economy. From your perspective, what can we do as a national organization and what can angel investors do to contribute to Alberta's renaissance?  We need to find bridges. Build those bridges and make sure folks cross them. Specifically, in respect of Alberta. I spent a fair bit of time as an elected Alberta Senator moving through the province, understanding what I would call "Alberta 2.0" needs to look like. We have historically relied upon the oil and gas industry, and this is a very powerful, important industry. But, we recognize that we need to focus on a transition. Alberta 2.0 will take time. A large part of that is going to be technology. Whether it's specifically in the oil and gas industry, the renewables industry, the banking industry, or the agriculture industry. There are huge opportunities throughout the Alberta economy.

Angel investors bring more than capital. The knowledge that you have, your experience, what you've done in your professional life is exceptionally important for helping the next generation of entrepreneurs achieve success.  High potential entrepreneurs in Canada do not need to exit. They do not need to sell their companies in order for the investors to achieve liquidity,  Where only a small percentage of angel investors do exceptionally well, a very wide range that don't do well at all. The distribution of returns shows that over half of all investments never return their original capital or fail completely. In contrast, 10% of exits produce 90% of total returns. Since only 1 in 10 investments will tend to account for almost all returns, successful angels must use a portfolio diversification approach. Investing in only a couple of deals over several years is a weak investment strategy. This need for a portfolio to reduce risk is the same as the reasoning behind mutual funds or index funds.  This speaks to the importance of diversifying your angel asset portfolio through investments in angel funds and participating in angel groups so that you can engage in a thorough due diligence process. Having the appropriate depth of education and training will help to be able to decipher between the riskier bets with a low probability of success from those rare investments that have a higher probability of success.  High potential entrepreneurs in Canada do not need to exit. They do not need to sell their companies in order for the investors to achieve liquidity. Liquidity mechanisms are in development that provide angel investors with a return on their capital. This includes secondary market funds, venture capital and growth funds that provide liquidity to angel investors, and other mechanisms in development.  NACO is engaged in initiatives to increase the level of integration across the funding spectrum, so that the funding continuum is smoother between angel to venture capital. Creating greater connection between angel investors and venture capital investors, allows for venture-grade companies to graduate out of the angel investment portfolio into the venture capital portfolio, and continue on to growth. More on this topic in future episodes. 

How do you value a company? How many companies do you need in your portfolio? The general suggestion among Canadian angels is 20 companies. Dr. Wade Brooks estimates that you need 40 companies to have a 95% chance of getting the average internal rate of return of 27%. A portfolio of 20 companies would give you a 60 to 70% chance of hitting the average. This is based on NACO data from the National Angel Summit in 2015. However, these numbers can be misleading. Angel investment practices across Canada vary tremendously and we will explore this diversity in more detail as we go through the six chapters of the book. A practical guide to angel investing. Of course, success takes more than just luck and a large portfolio. Angel experience, length of due diligence and post-investment participation in accompany coaching and governance also all play a significant role in increasing the rate of return and increasing the chances of success. This speaks to the critical importance of being associated with and participating in an angel group in your local community. NACO has 40+ angel groups throughout the country in virtually every region. These angel groups provide a network of experience, and it is through the angel groups. In addition to NACO's innovation and entrepreneurial hubs around the country that we deliver NACO Academy sessions ensure that you have the training necessary to increase your probability of success. You can purchase the book, A Practical Guide to Angel Investing, 2nd Edition, on Amazon.ca by clicking here. 

Lessons learned from Patrick Lor, Co-Founder of iStockphoto and Managing Partner at Panache Ventures based in Calgary, Alberta.  "I don't know if there's anything secret about this. But, we grew iStockphoto off the side of our desks and eventually iStock became such a success that we sold it for $50 million U.S. A few years later, they were doing about $300 million worth of revenues. The company would have been worth a few billion dollars. We didn't have that billionaire mindset." Part 2 of this interview coming soon. Stay tuned.  Recorded on location at the Western Angel Investment Summit 2020 in Victoria, B.C. 

What is the role of angel investing in the economy? If there is no capital, there is no company. It's as simple as that. Without investment capital, there would be no new companies and no new jobs. Our economy would be in zero growth mode. This is based on a quote from Carl Furtado from the Golden Triangle Angel Network. Small to medium size enterprises, referred to as SMEs, are defined as companies with fewer than 500 employees and they represent over 98% of companies in North America and Europe, employing over two-thirds of all workers. A small fraction, around 4% of these SMEs, are high growth companies – called Gazelles, that create virtually all new jobs. What is the connection between job creation and the entrepreneurial economy? Virtually 100% of all new jobs in the last 30 years have come from new company creation. This is true of all developed countries. U.S. job data shows this particularly well. Angels play a critical role in the economy, investing in 27x more startups than venture capital investors. The Golden Triangle Nework (GTAN) has an infographic that shows their group's investments alone have created over one thousand jobs since its inception in 2009. Two major forces are affecting the angel asset class. First, entrepreneurs need less capital than ever to prove their business models. Using agile lean techniques, they can achieve significant growth. Next, the ability for angels to co-invest in syndicated deals has increased. Successful angels often syndicate deals and co-invest with everyone across the investment ecosystem, including internationally with venture capitalists, angel funds, founders and government partners. Some of the most attractive angel investment opportunities use technology-based barriers of entry to achieve competitive differentiation and high valuations. While Canada invests heavily in scientific research and development, it is difficult to commercialize these techniques and bring them to market with solid business models. Angels provide a vital bridge across the commercialization funding gap, filling the gap in the funding continuum between initial seed capital from friends and family– and the larger scale investments made by venture capital. If funding is not available through this often lengthy interim development phase, many startups would fall into the Valley of Death, reducing the pipeline of businesses for later stage growth and development. As summarized by Bryan Watson, former Executive Director of NACO, it was not that long ago that the majority of policy and support programs were designed primarily for supporting venture capital-backed companies. Angels, a collective of individuals, are a difficult entity to develop policy for. The economic crisis of 2008, and crowding out of angel investors in the Canadian market coupled with increased sophistication of angel groups, allowed angels to communicate with all levels of government. This led to programs that angel-backed companies could leverage to cross the funding-gap, while also helping to offset the risk faced by angels. This is based on research from Cumming and Macintosh (2006). The innovation funding gap continuum shows that angels fund companies to scale-up. The Valley of Death is in that chasm between seed and maturity. This is where individual angels, angel groups, angel syndicates, and funds, help smoothen the journey across the funding continuum for Canadian entrepreneurs. Some provinces also give angel investors direct tax credits to incentivize investment into entrepreneurial companies, and help reduce the risk of the asset class to a level that incentivizes investment.

Replay of the NACO Roundtable on Canadian Angel Activity Good morning everyone. Welcome to today's Roundtable on Canadian Angel Activity. I'm Claudio Rojas, CEO of NACO and I will be your host for today's discussion. Thank you all for making the time to join us.  Entrepreneurs are under severe pressure.  COVID-19 has unleashed a combined health pandemic and economic crisis. The necessary shutdown to stop the spread of the virus has impacted company operations, dried up revenue, and the need for access to capital has never been greater. Today is the first in a series of conversations, Roundtables on stimulating angel activity, supporting the innovation ecosystem, and ensuring that entrepreneurs have sufficient access to capital to survive the economic effects of the crisis. Entrepreneurs, many of whom have put everything on the line, are struggling to stay solvent, cutting expenses, and laying off workers. The future has never. Then more uncertain. Government officials are working tirelessly to keep the economy functioning while instituting necessary measures to protect Canadians. Today's Roundtable includes global, national, and regional leaders from across the early stage capital ecosystem. We have over 350 listeners. We're going to move rapidly, taking stock of the current state of angel activity and gathering insights on policy responses to sustain the future of Canada's innovation economy. Bringing a policy perspective to this discussion are Senator Colin Deacon and Professor Thomas Hellmann.  Colin Deacon, Senator in the Parliament of Canada from Halifax, Nova Scotia is an innovative thinker who spent his career turning ideas into products and services prior to joining the Canadian Senate.  Dr. Thomas Hellmann is the DP World Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. He has been an advisor consultant to the World Economic Forum, Barclays Bank, the Government of British Columbia, and numerous startup companies. His case studies on entrepreneurial companies and venture financing bring a unique perspective on policy issues and potential response.  Originally Recorded on April 2, 2020. Click here to join future roundtables.

Replay of the NACO Roundtable on Canadian Angel Activity We have Ginette Mailhot, Chair at Anges Québec, a prominent angel group and member of NACO that does extraordinary work in unlocking capital in the Province of Québec. Also, joining is Derrick Hunter, President and CEO at Bluesky Equities based in Calgary, Alberta. Derrick was recognized this past year as the BDC Angel Investor of the Year at the NACO World Angel Investment Summit and is a member of Valhalla Angels. We also have Lynn Davis, Chair at SWO Angels based in Southwestern Ontario and part of the angel cluster called Equation Angels. Derrick, as an active angel investor, what are you seeing on the ground in Alberta? And let me set the stage here. The innovation ecosystem in Alberta was emerging in a significant way after years of work, including NACO being quite active in the region. But, there were also challenges in the broader environment. Are we at risk of the startup and scaleup ecosystem losing the momentum that we built up over these past years? It would be great if you could also situate us around the policy environment and what you're seeing within your portfolio.  [Derrick Hunter]  I will talk about the policy environment and then about some data from within our portfolio. Last October in the provincial budget, Alberta slashed the provincial component of Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) and also its Investor Tax Credit (ITC), which made Alberta the only province without SR&ED. And to my knowledge, the only jurisdiction in the developed world that doesn’t support entrepreneurs through the tax system specifically. As a result, they took a lot of heat from a lot of people.  In December, they created what they called the Innovation Capital Working Group... Originally Recorded on April 2, 2020. Click here to join future roundtables.