• A strong combination of experience (people that have “been there, done that”) and energy (those that don’t care how it’s been done before — they push limits and find solutions).  Interesting enough, I wrote a blog post about this some time back.
• A combination of people that have VERY different skill sets.  This is key.  Each member of the management team should have very different things that interest them.  The more diverse the skill set, the more you appreciate each other.  In addition, it allows each to really focus on the areas that allow them to succeed.
• A team that is ultra-driven (as opposed to those that are just there for a 8-5 job).  When one member of the team decides to take his/her contributions to the next level (i.e. performance is high), this automatically will motivate the team around him/her to step up their game.  This only happens when the team is very driven.
• A team that is full of problem solvers.  This characteristic may be the most important attribute that sets the “A” players from the “B” players.  When someone is a problem solver, they don’t get stuck on hiccups/challenges.  They don’t come to management to ask how to solve each problem.  After being assigned a task, they won’t stop until they figure out a solution.  I love problem-solvers.

There’s no question why investors always say that they’d rather invest in an “A” management team with a “B” idea than a “B” management team with an “A” idea.  “A” teams will figure out how to make the “B” idea a success while “B” teams will figure out how to make the “A” idea a failure.

What other attributes have you seen in great teams that I am missing?

Utah Student 25 is an awards program that recognizes the top student-founded businesses in Utah, encouraging growth and interaction with Utah’s renowned entrepreneurial community.

The goal of the Utah Student 25 is to encourage growth and entrepreneurial activities in the state. We help student entrepreneurs get the recognition they need to thrive, as well as provide them with resources to contribute to Utah’s economy and their communities. Winners receive recognition, significant exposure, and opportunities to interact and mingle with successful Utah leaders, including entrepreneurs, angel investors, and venture capitalists.

I’m excited to be a part of the committee and am especially excited for the awards gala that will be held on November 5th at the Grand America Hotel.  If you are interested in attending, you can go here to register.

I love these events. I love seeing the passion of the entrepreneur in action. I love to see the vulture and variety that is so apparent in various cities throughout the US. I was especially excited today because we announced to the group that we are looking to expand permanantly into the NW and hire someone up here — and we had a lit of interest.

We are also looking to go to other markets also: Colorado, Arizona, and SoCal to name a few. If you or someone you know is interested, let me know.

Each person that we recruit in the local market will be focused on 3 things: community development (angels, entrepreneurs, universities, business organizations, etc), events, and attracting new revenues. Let’s be honest, it’s my dream job!

After leaving events like this, i’m reminded how much the business community needs them. We need to move quicker to spread them out to our already-existing custers throughout the US. Here we come!

• Alan Hall
• Craig Earnshaw
• David Carter
• Gary Williams
• Hal Widlansky
• JD Gardner
• John Richards
• Kent Thomas
• Kyle Love
• Mark Madsen
• Martin Frey
• Nobu Mutaguchi
• Robert Kunz
• Scott Frazier
• Warren Osborn

If you are in Utah, the event is next Tuesday — make sure you register!

• Tuesday June 23rd
• 11:30 am to 1:30 pm
• Hilton Alpine Room, 255 S. West Temple, SLC, UT
• $25/seat, $200/table (includes lunch)
• www.investoroftheyear.org

Here are a few highlights of the presentation:

• 60 active angel investors surveyed
• The economy significantly affected angel investing as of November 2008
• Average number of angels/deal = 4.26
• 72% of investments had a pre-money valuation between $750k and $3M
• 85% of angel investments were less than $1M
• 55% of investments were in software/technology/SaaS deals
• 65% of investments were some type of preferred equity

Intrigued? Feel free to download the “State of Angel Investing in Utah” via PDF.  Please make appropriate attributions. 

DISCLAIMER:  This data is still very early in the process.  We are still collecting data and I am definitely not a statitician.

After receiving nominations, our organizing committee interviewed each of the nominees to find out responses to questions like:

• Tell us about how you got into angel investing?
• Tell us about your portfolio companies and investment history.
• What are your motivations for angel investing?
• etc.

As you can imagine, they have been some fascinating interviews!  Anyway, the committee has met and narrowed down the list to a group of finalists — which should be announced tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

Oh yeah… one more thing.  For those of you in Utah, the can’t-miss award luncheon will be next Tuesday (June 23rd) at the Hilton in downtown SLC.   Click here to register.

• 93 Utah investors surveyed
• 49 investors said that they are still actively investing (52.69%)
• 2 investors said that they were syndicating deals, but not leading any new ones (2.15%)
• 21 investors said they are no longer investing (22.58%)
• 21 investors said that they are not making any investments outside their current portfolio (22.58%)

I have spoken to several people about this survey and have received drastically different responses.  One of the questions that I have is:  given the current state of the economy, are those statistics more optimistic or less optimistic that you had expected?

First of all, with the economy and all, I’m stoked to see any press releases hitting the wire of companies receiving angel investments.  However, I was very surprised to see TCA making an investment in what seems to be a high-end bike shop/storage station.  Don’t get me wrong — I love the concept, but it doesn’t fit into the typical angel investment mold.  Some of the questions that I have:  how large is the market?  What’s their sustainable competitive advantage?  Will they really be able to return 10x the investment?  How long will the station be relevant?  Hey, it could just be a nice PR play.

I think that it is brilliant PR by Bikestation to push such a strong green message — it’s such a hot trend right now that even NBA bball players are wearing their green initiative t-shirts.  In fact, I heard from an executive several weeks ago who told me that they tried raising investment capital for about 6 months without any luck whatsoever.  Almost hopeless and ready to give up, they decided to go back to the drawing board and re-brand the company to be green.  2 months later, they again hit the funding trail and the reception was completely different and — you guessed it — they raised a few million.

I may not completely understand the investment, but I give props to the team at Bikestation and wish them the best of luck.

So… the question I know have is… have you (or anybody you know) unlocked an iPhone to use on the T-Mobile network?  If so, could you please tell me the risks of doing that?  Or even better… convince me why I shouldn’t?

Thanks for your help in advance!

When I found out that my contract was coming to an end, I was debating whether to switch to At&t so that I could get the iPhone or stay on T-mobile and get Google’s new phone — the G1 (I’ve had the Blackberry Pearl for several years).  I decided that it would be worth it to wait for the release of the G1 to see what kind of reviews the phone gets compared to the iPhone.

When the phone was finally released, I was really surprised disappointed.  The phone has received mixed reviews (by experts and normal users) and pales in comparison to Apple’s sleek & sexy iPhone.  Personally, I haven’t ever heard anyone speak highly or recommend getting a G1 — the release was almost anticlimactic.  After looking at both carefully, the bulkiness of the G1 put me over the edge and I’ve decided to pick up an iPhone.

At the end of the day, I guess that I’m disappointed with Google’s first attempt at a phone.  Google does so many things well (email, calendaring, search, photos, groups, etc.) and I am an avid user of most of their applications.  Because I love their user experiences and their easy-to-use software programs, I had high/unmet expectations for the phone.

That being said, the functionality of the G1 appears to be fairly impressive… maybe Google ought to hire a few creative designers from Apple?!