At Aegean, our approach to investing is simple: we seek out visionary entrepreneurs, and give them the support they need to build great companies from the ground up.
No venture or idea is too early for us. We take great pride in serving as deal leaders, helping our startups face down controversy or face up to courageous decisions. Plus, we bring expertise in tackling critical startup issues: follow-on financings, hiring senior executives and developers, shaping business strategy, creating new product categories, and forming solid partnerships.
The entrepreneurs who bring their visions forward are literally the lifeblood of our business. We offer them the best of our advice, and push hard for our point of view – but we don’t dictate to them. We don't talk down to them. To our partners, Aegean is their most enthusiastic supporter, and most constructive critic. It’s our job to enable our startups. Not second-guess them. Aegean’s best investment prospect is an early-stage startup with a disruptive market-changing idea. We’re looking for opportunities where we can take smart, innovative founders and help drive them to success.
No venture is too early for us. The bulk of our investments have been to companies with fewer than 10 employees—many have as few as 2 or 3. Aegean doesn’t require a complete management team, since we can often help in bringing the right talent to the mix.
The best way to get our attention is not with a 100-page business plan. A concise executive summary, an expense budget for the first two years, the revenue model, and a PowerPoint presentation are the materials we’re interested in seeing. It helps if one of our portfolio companies or a member of our contact network recommends you.
We want to sit down with you face-to-face, getting the complete picture. We ask ourselves, “Can this become a significant company?” We assess the capabilities and charisma of the founding team, “Can they attract the best employees? Do they have the capability to shift the direction of an industry?”
If we can visualize greatness, and are convinced that the founders share the same vision to create an industry giant, we’re excited. We use our network of contacts to gain perspective on the company’s strategy and key executives.
Our most important due diligence comes in whiteboard sessions with the venture’s founding team, brainstorming about the business’ potential. A small team from Aegean engages with the company and generally stays with the venture, post-financing.
Unlike many venture firms, we don’t lurk on the sidelines waiting for a strong lead investor to step up. When we believe in a project, we want to be the lead investor.
Send it to support@aegeanfunding.com. Be sure to include a one page executive summary in PDF format that includes the following information:
• Your company's mission or vision
• Brief bios of your team
• What problem are you solving? What is your solution?
• How is your solution differentiated from your competitors?
• What is your sustainable unfair advantage?
• How do you propose spending your AEGEAN capital?
• What milestones do you plan on reaching with your capital?
• List of 3 references
If you also have a more detailed PowerPoint presentation or a link to a demo/prototype/beta product, that will only help us in visualizing what you are building.
We will contact you if there is positive interest. We regret that we can't contact each of you individually due to the volume of submissions we receive.
Assuming we like your materials and want to move forward, we would schedule you to come in and meet with us so that we can quickly make a decision.
Click here or call to have further discussion: 877.566.7111