Your last vocabulary assignment was about Crowd Funding definitions. Now lets discuss a couple commonly misused words from the classic investment world.  And that really means that I’ve used these words incorrectly.  They means something specific.  By the way, these are not dictionary definitions…  But rather experiential definitions.

Friends/Family/Kickstarter
This round of funding comes from the goodness of peoples hearts.  You are given the money because people want to see you succeed, and maybe because you have good swag.

Angel Investor
People who believe in you, and have more money then the average person.  They are willing to give you 20,000 or 30,000 dollars (maybe more) to start something…  But they want ownership in return.  They could be new to the investment world and might have their own idea of how things should be done.  Or maybe they are an experienced executive from a company in the industry looking to branch out.

Venture Capitalist
Most people think of VC’s and Angel Investors as the same thing.  They are not.  Venture Capital firms are companies of people with charts, data, and information. They crunch real numbers about you’re likely-hood of success.  VC’s don’t invest unless the odds are in their favor.  Which makes their money harder to get.