#66: Investies - Meet Angel Investors Pam H. and Maggie E.
Episode Summary
Pam H. and Maggie E. are two Wealth Circle alums who connected over their shared interest in angel investing. In this conversation, they talk about how they got into angel investing, what they're doing to keep one another accountable in the journey, and how they deploy a purpose-driven investment strategy by focusing on companies with underrepresented founders. Oh, and the kicker to all of this? They're both under 30 years old!
Episode Notes
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Transcript
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We have a very special episode for you today. In the wall circle community is everything. We hold each other accountable to our goals and push each other to dream bigger. We realized we needed a word that describes these special relationships we don't really form anywhere else, where women come together to advance their investing potential. I'd like to officially submit to Merriam Webster investees. It's like besties. But for investors, we're featuring some amazing factoria and besties over on our Instagram this month, and today we're interviewing Pam and Maggie. They met after they're well circles taken a year apart, due to their shared ambition of becoming angel investors. Today, not only are they already angel investors, but real life investors having done their first two angel investments together in the same companies, their story is incredible. If you want to find your own investi you have to apply to the wall circle. It takes 10 minutes and it will help you get crystal clear on where you stand financially. Right now. You can do that at factorial wealth.com forward slash wealth dash circle. Let's get into the episode. This is a letter of no wet Brantley, and you're listening to the coffee and coin podcast where women talk well, I'm the founder effect aura, a company on a mission to lead 1 million women to 1 million in net worth. On this podcast, I sit down with factoria alum to share their financial stories, real numbers and how they've transformed their financial lives to prove that it's possible for anyone listening. Welcome back to another episode of Coffee and coin. I have Maggie and Pam h on the pod with me today. Welcome, ladies. Thank you for having us. Yeah, thank you excited. Well, so I'm really excited to learn what you all have been investing in and how you got started with angel investing. But let's start from the beginning and give our audience a little bit of context. Where are you both from originally? And where are you based? Currently. Let's start with Pam.
So I am originally from Las colinas, Mexico, and I'm currently based in Austin, Texas.
What about you, Maggie?
My family's originally from San Antonio. I kind of moved around a bit when I was growing up because of my dad's work. But I'm also have made it back to Texas and I'm currently based in Austin.
Alrighty, so what do you both do for work? And if you don't mind sharing what your salary figures are? Because we love sharing numbers here at backdoor.
Yeah, so I'm a data scientist, I work in tech, I've worked in tech my whole career. And my current salary is a 165 base with let's see, trying to mentally do the math here, about a little over 70,000 a year in rfqs, restricted stock units. And a bonus that's in the mid 30s. So target that's based on the revenue of the company as well as my performance. But my overall is around $270,000 a year.
Love it. I also just want to interject because this is a number I think is really cool. Maggie, do you mind sharing how old you are? I'm 26. Ladies, go and become a data scientist. There is good money in this profession. And there are not enough women doing it. I know this because my husband rescaled from being a sales bro, to a data scientist. And it really changed his earning potential as well. So that is a field we need more women in. And what about you Pam, what do you do?
So I leave finance operations at a FinTech company. So startup, my base salary is $170,000 with some stock options. Love
it. Okay, so some high earners we have here and take it back. We always like to know what was your first money memory, Maggie?
Yeah, so I was trying really trying to think about this because my family didn't really discuss money, especially sort of the nitty gritty details about budgeting and planning at all. But one of the things that I do remember my mom taught me was when she was working, she worked at a big company that was publicly listed. And she taught me how to flip open a wall street journal and find the stock ticker symbol for that company. So I could report on what the value was at that And that present day, so we'd be at, you know, 711, or a store where there's like a Wall Street Journal sitting on the kiosk or counter and she nudged me and say, go look at my stock. So I had this sense, I didn't know exactly what that was. But I had this sense that Oh, like this, you know, represents the value of the company that she's working for. And so higher is good. And when it goes down, like that's bad. But it wasn't necessarily like anything that I tangibly felt. But that was my first kind of like exposure to, especially to paper assets, and kind of this the way of equity that wasn't cash.
Oh, my gosh, I love that story. We actually did a factory a photo shoot a few weeks ago, and we needed a Wall Street Journal, and we couldn't find one. And that was my first suggestion. I was like, there at seven elevens. We didn't have a 711 year. So ultimately, we found one at a grocery store, but they're not carried in CVS, or any of these places that I just assumed. They always were. So that's such a great story. And I feel like we've had a few women on here, whose first money memory is attached to a wall street journal, somehow the stock section, but I've never heard a mom say look at my company. It's always been a grandfather, like trying to keep his granddaughter quiet being like, like, Well, I have my breakfast. What about you, Pam?
I just want to say Maggie's mom sounds like a badass. I'm like, That's amazing. Let's see one of my first memories. As I mentioned, I'm a first generation immigrant. So I'm originally from Mexico. And so when we moved to the states when I was seven, my parents are really hard workers. But I think they certainly felt the pressure of sort of the American dream and keeping up with the Joneses. So one of my sort of first money memories is my mom hiding, like credit card bills from my dad, because she again had this like pressure of like appearances and what things would look like, you know, that was my first exposure to sort of like this keeping up with the Joneses mentality and like credit card debt, and what that all could mean for your financial security.
Yeah, so I definitely experienced similar in childhood, lots of credit card bills and statements, and a very panicked and upset mom that I would stay away from when she was trying to tally everything. It's probably why I went into the line of work I'm in today. But that's just to show listeners, like, it doesn't matter if your first money memory is positive or negative, somewhere in between. It's more so what are you doing with your finances today? How are you paying attention and setting yourself up for the future? So you both took a factorio? Well, circle, I'd love to know, kind of how did you find factoria? And what circle? Were you a part of? In what year? Maggie?
Yeah, so I think I initially saw that Torah. And actually, I joined factorio, before it was factoria. Because I was a member of circle two, way back in 2019. So more than two years ago now, because I think it was the beginning of 2019. And, and I had been looking for something similar, because, as I mentioned, sort of, I spent my career in tech, and I didn't know that much about money. So all of a sudden, I had suddenly, you know more money than I was immediately spending and trying to figure out what to do with that. And so I was looking for this type of education. And when I saw that Torah, it seemed like a really accessible and really kind of a way to achieve that education and that and learn a lot without being super intimidating. Because I love the idea of it being all women and specifically sort of focus on female empowerment. So that's kind of how I stumbled across it and why I joined.
Yeah, so you know, are very old name, l factor. But I feel like, I have people now who have to ask me they're like, what was it? What was the name when I took a well circle? Because it's different. And I don't remember it. I'm like, good, we're pushing it out. We had to rebrand. And we're very glad that we did. So what about you, Pam, How'd you find your way?
So I think I stumbled across factoria via Instagram, which is a great way to, you know, follow things that you're interested in. I did my my wellsford goal in spring 2020. And I think at the time, I work in finance, and I had a lot of maybe the quote unquote, like technical knowledge of how things worked. But I didn't know how to actually like apply that to my goals, or even honestly come up with goals of like, what I wanted my life to look like in the next 10 to 20 years. So I was certainly feeling sort of this like pressure of like, I know how a 401k works, but what am I going to do with a 401k? How do I need to like set up my financial life for success in the future. So that's What brought me to factorial,
and then you never left because Pam has been a facilitator of circles since then, and is actually coming on as our very first facilitator manager for the fall well circle when we're going to have more facilitators and more women a part of the wall circle than we've ever had. So very grateful that Instagram brought us together, and that we're never gonna let you leave. So okay, let's get into the meat of this episode, we're calling you investees, as in women who meet through factoria, who, it doesn't matter what kind of investing they're either doing together or becoming each other's accountability partners and confidence. You all happen to be really interested in angel investing. And that's what our story will focus on today. But first, I would just like to know, since you weren't even in the same well circle in the same year, how did you meet your investing?
Yes, I think it was Maggie who reached out to me after hearing one of my coffee and coin episodes where I was just talking about how excited and interested I was in angel investing and and how I had joined this angel network. And I had originally really thought that angel investing wasn't necessarily accessible to me at the time. And Maggie reached out and wanted to know more about what I knew I was just starting on my angel investing journey at that time. So I didn't know much, but I shared what I knew with her. And she ended up joining the angel network that I'm a part of.
Yeah, exactly. I totally reached out to Pam after I heard her podcast episode because I was so excited about what she was doing. angel investing was something I've been interested in exploring for a while and it kind of complicated salary story. But I was working for a nonprofit and then took this new job my current job. At that point, I realized that I would be accredited and was able to join a join the angel network as a full investor.
I'd love to know a little bit more about what that means. When you say joining as a full fledged investor, this angel network, it means that you're accredited, which means you can actively participate in some of the deals. Can you share what being an accredited investor means?
Yes, so to clarify, when I say full investor, this particular Angel network, and I think others also have sort of training programs for people who are not yet accredited, but interested in learning more about the process and what investment deals with, like in what terms can look like. But in order to participate, you have to be accredited, which hopefully I don't forget the guideline for individuals. So I think there are different requirements, if you're sort of an investor from a firm or representing a firm, but if you're an individual person, if you are single, accredited means that you have an income of at least $200,000 a year for the past two years, and that's expected to continue going forward. Or if you're married, that income can combine to 300,000 a year, for the past two years. There's also the net worth requirement or sort of way of becoming accredited, which is that I think it's that if you have at least 1 million in net worth excluding the primary residence, so the idea is that people can, or the people who are angel investing can afford to lose what they're putting in. But honestly, I think the requirements are a little bit restrictive. And actually, I think that there's now another way to get in outside of income or net worth, which is through some type of certification requirements. I know folks who work at VC firms who've done this, so like, if your employer or if your your means of employment involves investing, you can sort of show that you you have enough knowledge of the space to understand the risks that you're taking on and then be accredited.
Yeah. So they are trying to open it up a little bit. They're even trying to let Certified Public Accountants and other series license people get active. But to your point, Maggie, I still think it's quite restrictive, because I think there are plenty of people who make six figures. No, they don't make 200 or 300,000 yet, but if they're making over six figures, and they think, okay, I want to put a little bit of money into startups, because I want to take on that risk. I do still think it's too restrictive. I hope they continue to open that up. Because what happens is, we all know a lot of women earn less especially at the start of their careers, which means it takes longer to get to this accredited status before you can even actively participate in this deal flow. So I hope that we will continue to see this open up because Obviously, investing in startups is a really great opportunity. And we hear about it in the news all the time that there are so many startups that do well, and the people who invested in them get multi times over what they invested. Now, on the flip side, there is way more risk investing in a startup than there is investing in the stock market. That's kind of obvious, right? Our 401 K's are investing in the stock market. So employers are basically saying, here's a tried and true method, you know, use this work for me until retirement and you can just let that money work for you on the side. That is a slower growth reality, then something like startup investing, but again, higher risk, higher reward, I just want more women to have access to it. So I think it's really great. What beam and other Angel networks are doing, focusing on women having training programs for women and letting women get started with not that much money. Can I ask what is the minimum or the expectations when you join beam? For how much you're going to invest? And how many companies?
This varies a lot based on the angel network for being specifically usually the minimum is 5000 per company, and I believe the expectation is 10,000 per year. Is that right? Pam?
Yep, that's right. And I think to your point about this is different for other Angel networks. I mean, there's other Angel networks where the expectation is that you can invest, you know, as low as $1,000, which I think a lot of angel networks are now trying to expand access, as more people are able to get accredited via, you know, a variety of ways, which I think is really exciting, because essentially, you can diversify your portfolio a lot quicker than you would if you're always writing 5000 $10,000 checks. The average I've kind of seen across other Angel networks is exactly what Matthew said, in terms of like, total investment per year, they're really hoping, you know, for people to put it in between 10,000 to $25,000. In companies per year, though, I will say, you know, it's a suggestion, you know, some years you might invest $30,000, and some years, you might invest $10,000. So I haven't, you know, heard of an angel network saying like, you can't be a part of our network, because you invested $1,000 less than the minimum, it's just more of a suggestion just to make sure they're having active angel investors on the platform.
Yeah, and the way these Angel networks work for listeners who may not be familiar, is basically an angel network is putting together a bunch of accredited investors. And then it's also bringing them deals. So they are getting to see startups who pitch this network, and then that network can say, We're interested, we want to put money down. But to Pam's point, you might see, you know, 35 startups and really not have a personal interest or belief in that company. And so you obviously don't want to put your capital at risk if you don't think it's something that's going to be right for you. So let's talk about that a little bit. What is your interest in angel investing, because I know it goes beyond the dollar.
So for me, I had sort of been around startups, for a lot of my career, I've worked for two startups that were acquired. I've advised other startups in the early stages. And I think that one thing that particularly interests me about investing this early, is that you really have an opportunity to shape different sectors and that you can choose to support companies that are good for the world, or companies that you think would make the world better. And so I actually referenced this with respect to the wealth circle, and the emphasis on values based spending and value based investing because I loved that with supporting startups, I could support female and other underrepresented founders, I could really help to get companies off the ground that I thought were doing something important. And so the idea that just really appealed to me kind of from right when I graduated college and started working at a cybersecurity startup. Yeah, I think that the the way that angel investing can be intentional, really appealed to me. And that was why it became a goal to become an angel investor for me.
Yeah, I love that because I'm just sitting here thinking, you know, a lot of times I'm gonna come into the wall circle, and there there might be some overwhelm or fear around the stock market. And then when we get past that, they're like, Oh, this is like, not that interesting. I could just pick a fund and then suddenly, I'm invested in hundreds of companies, none that I have a personal experience with. Like if I picked a certain fund, you know, maybe to put lays in there and I eat to put lay but other than that, it's not like I have any say or like value to add to this business. And then when you look at angel investing and choosing a startup that may be women founded is doing something that you will like to see in the world, and you have skills that you can offer and advise that founding team with, it's so much more intentional. So like, it's really like, I think it's why it's called angels, right? Like your little guardian angels have these infant, nascent companies, and you can actually help them as opposed to that stock market fund where you're just, you know, automating some dollars and checking out what checking on the value on occasion, this is so different, like you're going through the experience and that startup journey with these founders. So yeah, what about you, Pam? Cuz I know, you definitely have more than money involved with your angel desires.
Yeah, definitely. I think this is why Maggie and I connected so much when she reached out to me about angel investing, because that lens of sort of values based investing is something that we both share, I think when you are a high earner, and you have disposable income available, you know, to either Angel advice or to invest in paper assets or real estate, there's a lot of sort of, like different ways that you can go with it. And similar to Maggie, I had been in the startup world, the startup world, specially founding teams are very, like, white male dominated. And then as you sort of, like, start to unpack that a little bit, you realize that, partly it's because the investment world is very white male dominated. And as I think about sort of the world that, you know, I want to, like help create, and the society like that means equity, and that means inclusion. And I don't think we can get there with founders who are women with founders who are black or brown, without having investors that are like, very specific about their own mandate of what they are wanting to invest in. So for me, that means investing underrepresented founders, so like, I will only invest in women founders and black or brown founder founding teams. And that's something that's really important to me, because I think historically, the ideas that are really important for like specific parts society, whether it's women, whether it's bipoc, like has not been brought out, or like provided capital for. And so it's really important for me that I use the capital that I have access to because I am a high earner in order to like, bring about that change in the world. Okay,
I'm assuming listeners are fist pumping right now. Cuz I am, at least in my heart palpitations. I could not agree with what you're saying more. And this is why I think it's so important that more women have more money, because look at what you want to do with it. Like it's so intentional. You're sitting here saying, because I'm a high income earner, I want to turn around and use that capital for underrepresented founders. That is why I'm on a mission to have a million women, millionaires surrounding us. Because I truly believe that nothing bad happens when women have more money, only all this goodness, and intentional focus. So let's talk about how you all decided to do an angel deal together. How did how did that go down?
Yeah, so since Maggie and I had were both sort of relatively new angel investors, we, you know, I would message her as we were seeing different deals go through the angel network that were a part of, and I'd say like, Hey, what do you think about this deal? I think what's really interesting about our backgrounds is that they're so different now use data scientists, I work in finance. So we could both like pick each other's brain about like, Hey, here's some of the risks that I see with this deal. Here's the things that I'm excited about. So we actually met on zoom. And I was like, hey, there's a deal that I'm really excited about. And like, I want you to come and like listen to the pitch. And that was actually sort of the first deal that we ended up doing together. Yeah, so
I missed the initial pitch session. I'm so glad that Pam wrote me in the deal specifically for the first one that we did together is a female focus, sexual wellness platform. So it's kind of like, I don't I don't even know if there's a good analogy, because I don't think this exists. But it's as though Pornhub were like very feminist and sort of like represented all different types of, you know, gender non conforming, or gender diversity, racial diversity in their videos, as well as exercises and articles. So it's a really cool platform. I think that the reason that I decided to participate personally was one that the founder had experience scaling up startup operations. She previously worked at a startup that became sort of this multi million dollar national brand second, I really liked the product. I believed in the opportunity and also that I thought the timing was good. I think it's a little taboo still in some of the venture capital circles, but this is why Pam and I felt like we should definitely participate because we've got it more more so than a lot Have the institutional investors. And then also Yeah, like we mentioned previously, it was a team that I want that that some of my experiences could help, and also that I really vibe with the team. And because this is such a personal relationship in such a, a more intimate relationship than again, just being sort of a stockholder, I thought that they were doing great work and that they were the right people to do it.
So okay, you shared kind of what the company is, which definitely sounds like the timing is right, I mean, we're seeing, we're seeing just more taboo topics in general gain traction. And I think for sure, we need way more diversity and options when it comes to sexual health and wellness and what's being promoted there. So I love the concept of the company, can you tell me a little bit more about the actual deal, so any details and and numbers that you can share about what you invested in and what that means?
Yeah, so funny enough, we did this first deal together, which was both our first angel investment, and then the second deal that we have in our portfolio is also the same. So for a little bit, we have like, the exact same angel investment portfolio. So we'll share the numbers for both of those deals. So now you do want to share how much we invested and the valuation caps.
Yes. So in the first deal that I just described, our first investment, we each invested $10,000 with a valuation cap of 5 million, and then a 20% discount rate. The second investment was we each invested $5,000 at a 9.1 million valuation cap. So this company was a little bit further along and had a higher valuation cap, and then also the 20% discount rate, which is fairly standard. So I can sort of break those numbers down if it's helpful, basically, when you're investing in a very early stage company. So these are seed investments, or pre seed investments. In some cases, there's not a set valuation for the company, yet. The instruments are convertible notes, or safe notes. So both of ours are what's called Safe notes, which basically, at this point is worth nothing but converts into equity in the company in future rounds. So if they go, the company makes it to a series A and receives financing, they're built set evaluation, and these notes will convert into equity. Or if there's a liquidity event, so maybe an exit or an acquisition. And the valuation cap, is the highest value that can be used to set a conversion price. So in the first case, we'll have $10,000 of at maximum a $5 million company, or this is and this is kind of complicated, but or if the valuation set at series it, let's say is higher than that, but the discount, we get 20% discount off of that valuation. And so whichever of those two numbers is more beneficial to the investor. So the valuation cap, or the discount off of evaluation, that is the rate at which our notes will convert into equity in the company. And these can kind of get more complicated. The save notes is kind of the or is one of the standards, I will say for startups. But sometimes they're different conditions like pro rata rights. So you maintain the rights to continue investing at later stages to maintain the same slice of equity that you have, or in some cases, they're different triggers for liquidation, and so on. So it kind of like does get complicated, but that's, that's the gist of it. And so these will either be worth nothing if if a company fails, or as soon as it gets to a later stage, we'll have sort of a 20% discount on equity in the company is that most, I think, a top level way of thinking about it. Yeah, and
I would say from the founder perspective, the reason why safe and convertible notes are so great, is because it's very expensive to go get your company valued. So when you're early stage, especially when you're pre revenue, you don't want to waste $10,000 getting company valuation, when you are trying to get angel investors to invest $50,000, right, that's a fifth of the money. So these are great options, so that not only are you not spending money you don't have especially spending the investor money that you need to do other things, but also so that you can keep moving like these are short, simple documents, and they are kind of like just the standard now. Pam, do you have anything to add to that?
Yeah. So I think one thing that's interesting is that he was like walking through that and then to your point about safe notes being much better for founders. Just the Cuz you can just kind of keep moving without worrying about what the valuation is is just like underscores how early it is for a company when they're getting angel investing. And both of the companies that Maggie and I invested in, they are post revenue. So they actually like do have a product and market and they're like selling it to people and making money. But we're not even at the point where it's like, understanding what potentially like the revenue is gonna look like in five years. And that's why it's so hard to get evaluation on this. So just kind of discuss to show how early these companies are. And, you know, you being part of a company early on as an angel investor is really sort of that fuel for them to get to the next level, and start to kind of figure things out, set a valuation and think about what is an exit or liquidity event going to look like for them?
Okay, so I have two follow up questions that listeners might be thinking, What if the company does not go on to raise a series, ABC, anything, what happens then,
then there, you have no equity in the company. Okay. So if they if they don't go and Sorry, just to clarify, so if they don't go to raise a series A, you only have equity in the company such that there is a liquidity event. So that's why you are setting a valuation cap. So like, if the company does sell for something, before they raise a series A, you do get a portion of those proceeds. So it either it's kind of like either or so either you get a valuation when they go to raise that next round, or there's a liquidity event, or the company shuts down, and you have no equity in this company.
All right, and then follow up question, what is your expectation from when they raise this round to when they might raise their next round?
Yeah, so it's pretty company specific, and I'll let my you jump in as well. But it really kind of just depends of how quickly they can get traction. And really, honestly, where they're based in terms of VC activity, we obviously know there's a lot of venture capital, like like in San Francisco, and the West Coast and things like that. And so some companies take two to three years and raise their next round. And then I know one of our portfolio companies is like expecting to raise around next year. So it truly is just dependent on how quickly they get traction, as well as when the right time to raise us because there's a balance between sort of raising money too early in terms of like, Hey, you haven't really proven out the product. And you might get a better valuation if you push down the next round, a little bit out the road. So yeah,
and then final question, you shared how much you both invested in each of those companies. But can you share how much those companies raised total in those Angel rounds.
So I know one of the companies raised a like a 4 million round, which was one of the companies that Maggie and I were like super excited, and which is a pretty sizable seed round, which is one of the reasons that we got excited about their traction. And the other one, what's interesting about investing in ANGEL rounds is sometimes you invest in a company, that's like raising a full round that is like this $4 million example. Or sometimes you're investing in a company where they're kind of just raising sort of throughout the entire year, right, and there's maybe no target, but they're trying to get the product fully to market trying to really prove out the product. And so they might just be raising, you know, once every month, if you will, as they start to get some traction with angel investors,
I just wanted to echo that it really is so highly dependent on the individual company, but those founders typically will communicate, I'm hoping to raise, you know, a $500,000 seed round so that you can get some of a sense of how much you represent of that total round. Or in the case of timing, we're planning to go for our series a, you know, next year at the end of next year, or something like that. That's information that will be communicated to you. But of course, it doesn't always go according to plan. But yeah, I think depends a huge amount on the company and the founding team.
Yeah. And their needs. Yeah, it's really interesting. I have some female friends currently, in the process of raising rounds, one started as she wanted to do an equity round, and then eventually decided to kind of pull that back and raise an angel round beforehand, but then she'd like to quickly follow it up with an equity round. So there's, there's so many options, but I really appreciate you both walking us through your first two investments. And then yeah, I'd really love to know, How do you stay accountable to your goals and your focus on angel investing?
Yeah, so I think that for me, like we talked about earlier, angel investing is not really just about maximizing my rate of return. Because, you know, I could do that for much less risk and other way and much less time and so on. But it's really about exposing myself to new ideas, new ways of thinking. I think of it as a huge source of growth. process for me learning about different pain points and other industries, other regions, building my own skill set and experience. And then also, you know, growing my network by meeting lots of people, whether it's fellow investors or entrepreneurs. So there's a huge component that's just about my professional life and how I see develop those soft skills for the future. As far as the numbers, I'm hoping to invest about $3,000 or $30,000 per year in early stage companies, excuse me. So that is my goal. I it depends on the companies and the deals that I see. But I'm about our I guess, with those two book deals, I'm halfway there, and it's students. So that's good. And then like, Pam, I'm also committed to diverse founders, so the company must have a woman or person of color and the founding team. And I'm also investing 75% of that capital into specifically female led companies. So those are my sort of guardrails for accountability. And then I have less of a sense of how I measuring some of the softer benefits like to my network and to my experience, but that's what I my purpose in participating and my purpose, particularly in actively investing?
Well, I can tell you right now that the qualitative aspects of it probably aren't measurable. But listening to you break down these two deals that you've made this year, after deciding and then becoming an angel investor, like that is infinite knowledge that you've accumulated in such a short amount of time, and it's only going to compound and last you for a lifetime. Not to mention not just understanding how the angel investing industry works, but having access to these founders and being able to share your skills and learn from them. So super cool. Love it. What about you, Pam?
Yeah, so one of the things I've been thinking about a lot lately, especially after having done these two investments is sort of like what is the idea of being a really good angel investor. And so specifically to these investments, now that like money's out the door, I don't want to be super passive with it, I want to make sure that I'm being sort of like a good network for the founders. That's one of the reasons I'm excited about one of the investments that we made, because Maggie has like, a super deep knowledge into some of the things that they might run into. So I've been thinking a lot about as, as it relates to these two investments is how can I be a good supporter of these companies, because, you know, I think you want to be a really valuable investor. So you can continue supporting like founders in their entrepreneurial journey, especially because they're so early on. They're like testing and learning and trying all kinds of new things. So I just want to make sure that I'm leveraging my professional network, and in order to help them grow, and then you know, on kind of a bigger level as it relates to just angel investments, my initial goal was to invest in a dozen companies $10,000 each, so $120,000 total over the next seven years, I'm going a little bit faster than I thought. So I think that might be closer to five years, though, with Maggie, as my accountability partner might go a little quicker than that as well. I love it.
Okay, well, that was really cool to know kind of your thesis with angel investing and how much you're both trying to commit towards that. Is there anything else that you would like to share about either your investi relationship or your wealth circle experience that might help inspire some listeners?
Yeah, I think, first of all about just about our investi relationship, I really can't speak highly enough of having someone to bounce ideas off of I know, Pam and I have talked to each other, sort of into and out of deals over and over and tried to bring both of our expertise to bear. So Pam, with finance, and mine, sort of more on the engineering and deep tech side, I will also add that one of the things that I was struggling with prior to committing to angel investing was after learning about all these different strategies in the wealth circle for building wealth, I was, you know, kind of putting pressure on myself to pursue all of them. And I was like, really, what I eventually realized was, that I should do what really makes me excited what really lights me up. And so that's when I started more shifting directly to focusing this much at least of my resources on angel investing and as much of my time because it's something that's super exciting to me, and I could I could talk about it all day, whereas like, I know that real estate works really well for some people and some people love it, and I just don't know Love it. And so my goal is a huge reason why I've gravitated towards business investing is, is that I love startups. And ultimately, I just want to maximize the amount of time that I'm able to spend doing things that I enjoy. And so I think that I wanted to share that in case people are in the same boat. Like, I think that everyone has a different set of strategies that that work best for them.
I love that because I think that, especially when women come into the wall circle, they're like, Oh, my gosh, there's so many options, I want to do all of it. And as much as we want to share all that can be done, we definitely want you to Warren Buffett focus and move forward with what matches your skill set. So actually love because I know, when you graduated from your wall circle, you were like maybe some real estate investing and you know, different things. And then you found your stride with angel investing. And it's perfect that you've worked in startups that you care about startups that you could talk startup all day long. And so it makes total sense that you are focused on business investing. Yeah, that's
exactly how I felt. And that's exactly my trajectory. So I'm happy with where I ended up. What about you, Pam?
So I think this sort of like investi relationship, for me underscores the power of community and of like, sharing your dreams, I think it's like really easy for both Maggie and I to just have like, haven't really like shared out loud or like publicly that we're interested in angel investing. Like, I'm young, mighty Sarah, for AIDS, I'm 28. I'm an immigrant, like, again, talking about how angel investing just doesn't necessarily look like Maggie and I do. And so I think it's like really easy to let imposter syndrome kick in, like, this isn't something I can do. This is like, I'm too young for this. I'm to blame for this, like whatever that may be. And if I wouldn't have shared, hey, I'm really interested in angel investing, I don't know much. But I've been in the startup world. And I really want to start putting money into this, Maggie would not have been able to reach out to me, and we wouldn't have been able to support each other on this journey. So I think I just like want to encourage you to like, share your like crazy dreams that aren't probably even that crazy, and are very, very doable, especially when you have someone coming alongside you.
I love that you emphasize the power of community. I think that's definitely what factoria and the wall circle offers. Most like anyone can go and learn about angel investing online. Absolutely. You can just look it up and read more about it and get a lot of knowledge. But the fact that you can find other women who are doing it and say this is my big, audacious goal out loud and attract them to you is the reason we are trying to build not the biggest, but the best women's investor network across the US. And now people are like, Oh my God, that's a limiting belief across the globe. But we'll focus on the US for now. So thank you both for sharing your journey to start angel investing. I obviously love that you're investees through factoria. And that you get to be together on this deeper level as each other's confidence and partners. So yeah, I really appreciate all that you shared here today, listeners, if you like learning about angel investing and the idea of having an investi I encourage you to apply to the fall well circle and surround yourself with many more women like Pam and Maggie. Thank you all for coming on the show. Thank you. Thanks for having us.