201 GREAT IDEAS for Your SMALL BUSINESS, Third Edition

GREAT 27 IDEA: Find Yourself an Angel

Bettina Hein is the perfect person to ask about raising angel capital. She's raised $9 million to start two small, high-tech companies—with about $6 million coming from angel or private investors. After founding a speech technology software company in her native Switzerland, she moved to Boston to start another venture, Pixability Inc. (http://www.pixability.com). Pixability helps customers quickly and affordably edit and post high-quality video clips to the Web.

“I do not come from a rich family or have any special connections,” Hein told me. “In fact, I was a young female with no previous business experience. If I can do it, you can do it.”

If your company is too young, too risky, or too offbeat to qualify ...