Scott Shane draws on hard data from the Federal Reserve and other sources to paint the first reliable group portrait of the lionized angel investors. Surprisingly, he finds that they are fewer, contribute less, and involve themselves in fewer start-ups than the conventional wisdom suggests. Numbering only 156,000, angels typically still have their day jobs, make investments of $10,000 or less, and take little or no role in management. Few of the companies they put money into arrive at IPOs, let alone massive returns.

An angel investor with the North Coast Angel Fund, and a professor of entrepreneurship at Case Western Reserve University, Scott A. Shane is the author of Illusions of Entrepreneurship, among many other books and articles.

• Chapter 1: What is Angel Investing and Why Do People Do It?


• Chapter 2: How Big is the Angel Capital Market?


• Chapter 3: Who are the Angel Investors?


• Chapter 4: How Many Companies Need Angels?


• Chapter 5: What do Angel Investments Look Like?


• Chapter 6: Who gets Angel Money?


• Chapter 7: How does the Angel Investment Process Work?


• Chapter 8: How Well Do Angel Investments Perform?


• Chapter 9: What are Angel Groups?


• Chapter 10: How do the Best Angels Invest?


• Chapter 11: What Makes a Place Good for Angel Investment?