Robleh Jama, the founder of mobile app Tiny Hearts, which was acquired by Shopify in 2016, is among the group of angels looking to pay it forward with his money and time.
Mr. Finkelstein says there’s no pressure for Shopify staff to become angel investors. He says he believes it’s just part of the company’s DNA.“It’s foundational at this company that we have people who care about entrepreneurs,” Mr. Finkelstein says. “We all do it to a different extent, but I think all of us do it for the same reason – we deeply believe entrepreneurship is important … and now that we’re fortunate to have a bit of money we can do something [to support it].
“Having someone who believes in you is important,” he says, citing the example of Shopify’s first angel investor, lawyer and former telecom executive John Phillips. “When someone who’s had some success says, ‘Hey, I not only believe in you … but I’m willing to give you some money to validate [it],’ that’s an injection of confidence. Often that’s the difference between being successful or not.
It’s also “incredibly gratifying,” he says of angel investing. “It’s not really about the money, but the experience of being part of the growth that can be recycled back into the ecosystem and help others have the same success.”The angel money has been hugely helpful, but Vino Jeyapalan, seen here on Feb. 26, 2020, says the expertise the investors bring, particularly when it comes to online purchasing behaviour, has been invaluable.
The angel money has been hugely helpful, but Vino says the expertise the investors bring, particularly when it comes to online purchasing behaviour, has been invaluable. “We needed to rely on that type of advice early on for us to grow as fast as we did.” “We realized everyday questions that came with cannabis legalization weren’t being answered,” says chief operating officer Karina Karassev, a former Sun Life Financial employee who co-founded RCU alongside Ilia Larionov, chief design officer, and Afshin Mousavian, chief executive officer.
“They have a really good understanding of what it takes to build out technology and build out startups and … scale them to build products,” Mr. Mousavian says. “What we got from the angel investors was a runway that allowed us to not be forced to release products when they’re not ready for market.”Ansarullah Ridwan Mohammed was working at a development bank in Saudi Arabia when he came up with the idea to start a toy brand that reflected his Muslim faith.
GlobeSmallBiz vijayjeyapalan 🤩🤩🤩🥳🥳🥳
alokepillai GlobeSmallBiz link to a PDF version? paywall blocked 🥴