Manny Fernandez. He’s a Stanford University educated Angel investor, serial entrepreneur and best-selling author featured on CNBC’s Make Me a Millionaire Inventor premier episode. He’s been successfully investing his own ideas as well as taking companies from startup to exit. Recently, he was named by INC magazine as one of the 33 entrepreneurs to watch in 2016.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Think and Grow Rich
What CEO do you follow? – Steve Jobs
Favorite online tool? — LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook
How many hours of sleep do you get?— 6
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? –“Wisdom and experience beats, no matter how [many] great talents you have”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:11 – Nathan introduces Manny to the show
01:51 – Manny’s first company was an investment property
- 02:10 – It was a 6-figure transaction
- 02:21 – Manny decided that he wanted to go from 1 investment to 10
02:39 – One of Manny’s most notable investments is TaskRabbit
02:58 – Manny is the founder of SF Angels which has 32 members
- 03:08 – The deal flow comes from others
03:30 – The funds for an Angel round is $250K per year
03:46 – As an Angel, you’re looking for the deal flow
04:46 – One of the members of SF Angels is an early investor of TaskRabbit and SF Angels was invited
05:00 – Angels can invest as an individual or as a group
05:32 – Everyone has different preferences
06:31 – Some of the investors in SF Angels are successful enough
07:01 – The potential of investing in SF Angels is different from real estate
07:11 – If you’re investing in something that is really working well, results are astronomical
07:47 – Manny suggests to invest only what you can afford to lose
07:56 – Everyone has different financial workflow and abilities
08:31 – Manny has put in greater than normal in angel investing
- 08:49 – Normal is around 2-5%
09:19 – DreamFunded allows everyday Americans to invest as small as $1 into a company
09:35 – DreamFunded is the first platform in Silicon Valley to receive the approval to allow non-accredited investors to invest, so they’re accepting accredited investors and ordinary people
10:03 – Manny has been on the screening community of TiE Angels
10:11 – Manny is good at doing his due-diligence
10:29 – DreamFunded applied as a registered funding portal
11:15 – Manny has personally vetted on the deals on DreamFunded
12:06 – DreamFunded has a legal disclosure where investors can see the minimum amount they have to close to in order to close the transaction
- 12:33 – The information is not readily available on the website
- 13:02 – Investors will get an email telling them the closing dates
13:23 – DreamFunded gets 5% upon closing and the 2%the company is offering
13:50 – There are over 30 companies that have closed deals in DreamFunded
- 13:56 – Over $35M total funds raised
14:07 – The non-accredited investor is still new
14:16 – DreamFunded has not released their total funds raised from non-accredited
14:36 – The first approval for non-accredited was received by DreamFunded in July 2016
14:54 – DreamFunded was launched fall 2014
15:01 – Average team size is 10
15:16 – DreamFunded’s model changes overtime
16:02 – A company can raise its target and at the same time, receive an investment from a big company
17:15 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Invest only on what you afford to lose.
Investing in a company that is already working is smart, but venturing into other investment streams requires your due diligence.
Listen to your mentors, they are mentors for a reason.

Resources Mentioned:

The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you’re doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
Host Gator– The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
Audible– Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

707: Government Gives Him Power to Let Non-Accredited Investors Invest

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