Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
AngelPad
As shown throughout this topic, the computer and software industries have had
thousands of startup companies. Some of these fail quickly, but others, such as
Amazon, Google, and YouTube, grow into large and successful corporations. Al-
most all of them needed some kind of seed money in order to get started when they
were too small to attract professional venture capital groups.
AngelPad focuses on aiding startup companies that are too small and too new
to attract regular venture funding but that show a promise of growth and future
success. AngelPad was founded in 2010 in San Francisco, California, by Tho-
mas Korte together with six former Google employees. The other founders were
Richard Chen, David Scacco, Vibuh Mittal, Gokul Rajaram, Deep Nishar, and
Keval Dasai.
AngelPad does not just write a startup a check and walk away. Candidate com-
panies have to submit written business plans, which are reviewed. If the plans are
accepted for funding, there are a number of companies grouped together as a
class
.
In the initial class, ten startup companies are selected. Classes may have as many
as 25 startup companies.
The companies in the same class meet and work together using office space
provided by AngelPad. They are also mentored by AngelPad officers as needed.
The class works together for a ten-week period. The idea is to share ideas and
change startups from working in isolation in garages to sharing ideas and concepts
with other entrepreneurs as well as with experienced technology workers from
successful companies. The AngelPad startups each receive up to about $100,000.
AngelPad is not the only company that helps small startups. Another California
company, Y Combinator, has a similar business plan. And there are several others.
Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a hotbed of technology business startups and has an
interesting business incubator. It will be interesting to see how many of the An-
gelPad startups succeed and later grow to become successful and possibly have
IPOs.
Authr
Authr is a highly specialized but interesting niche company aimed at beginning au-
thors. It is also a pioneer in the domain of
crowdfunding
, or obtaining many small
financial contributions that together might be significant.
This company was founded in Los Angeles in 2011 by an author and entrepren-
eur named Eric Bownman. Authr.com is a website that allows authors to show-
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