Start-ups

Investment Criteria

How does Westchester Angels determine which start-ups to invest in? Key criteria include:

You are an early-stage business with strong growth potential

You are located in Westchester or the greater Tri-State region

Your product or service will solve an existing problem, create a new industry, and/or be able to scale for a large exit within, ideally, three to five years

Your product or service has an addressable and well-defined market of over $100 million

You have a strong management team, execution strategy and investment plan in place

The founder(s) of the start-up devote 100% of their time to the business

Once we make an investment, The Westchester Angels provides much more than just funding. We also provide deep expertise, mentorship, and networking within our extensive community of entrepreneurs and investors. We’re here to help transform your vision into a thriving, successful business. Want to see other companies we’ve helped?

View Portfolio

Funding Process

Step 1:

Application

If you are interested in pitching the Westchester Angels, you must submit your application via Gust.

Submit an Application

Step 2:

Pre-Screening

Westchester Angels reviews all submissions and invites the most promising companies to a preliminary screening. At this screening, you have the opportunity to present your idea to our selection committee. The committee asks questions, further evaluates the business, and ultimately decides if you’re ready for the next step: pitching our investors.

Step 3:

Investor Meeting

Start-ups that pass the pre-screening stage are invited to give an eight-minute pitch to investors at our investor meeting. This pitch is followed by an eight-minute Q&A. Your only objective is to continue the conversation and get into Due Diligence.

When preparing your pitch, you should check out The Westchester Angels Pitch Gyde, a comprehensive review to help you nail your pitch!

Step 4:

Due Diligence

Each DD effort takes on a life of its own, depending on logistics and the complexity of your business. We compensate for the risk of angel investing by performed extensive DD and adding value wherever we can.

We do understand how difficult it is raising money from Angels AND running a business at the same time. We always perform our DD in a respectful and efficient manner.

Start-Ups FAQ

How much time do we have to pitch?

8 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of questions and answers.

But, I can't possibly explain my business in 8 minutes…

We don’t expect you to tell us every detail. Focus on the investment opportunity. Remember, you don’t have to cover everything in 8 minutes, but you should be able to pique interest and get people to ask questions.

Your only objective with your 8-minute pitch is not to gain an investment but to simply continue the conversation.

Why do I have to apply through GUST?

GUST is a standard platform that is widely used by many angel groups in the area and across the country. It puts your application in a standard form that makes reviewing startups easier for us. Easier for us is better for you because it allows us to spend more time understanding your business and less time focusing on formatting.

Shhhh, there is another reason that we use GUST: most startups don’t fill out their application well, or at all. The application is an excellent way to separate serious startup from the rest of the pack. If you can’t complete a simple application properly, how are you going to run and scale a business?

Once your application is on GUST, you can also apply to many angel groups in the area and throughout the USA.

What do you look for in a startup?

You should be addressing a problem for a market in a new and innovative way. We need to see a clear problem and understand how your solution is the best option to solve that problem. You should have a plan to scale your business.

We want to see that you have the vision, capacity, and strategy to grow your business well beyond where you are today. Ideally, we want to see a plan to scale your business, to tens of millions in revenue, for an exit in the next 3-5 years.

What is the investment process?

Startups apply to the Westchester Angels for funding on GUST.

Screening
We screen abt 6 to 8 startups either from our review of GUST applications
or from warm referrals from our collaborating angel groups.

Investor Meeting
Our selection committee selects 3 or 4 startups to pitch to our investors.

Due Diligence
If we have enough interest from at least 4 or 5 investors, we then form a DD team. Each DD effort takes on a life of its own and may take weeks or longer depending on logistics and the complexity of the business.

Over 65% of all angel investments will fail across the USA. We compensate for this risk by performing extensive DD in a timely and respectful manor and adding as much value as we can.