Touched by an angel

New research on business angel investment from Stephanie Macht of Newcastle Business School seems to confirm what the angels themselves always say - the biggest benefit isn't so much the money itself as the post-investment strategic assistance.

According to the school's press release, the survey of active angel investors found that:
activities such as formulating strategies impact most positively upon investees' success. The study also concluded that becoming an employee or a member of the company's management team had the least positive effect.
Despite the widely acknowledged importance of business angels to UK small firms, little was previously known about their involvement and impact after they have invested. Miss Macht said she hoped her study would shed light on how growing companies can best work with their angels.

The release doesn't make clear whether the findings are based on the actual performance of the investee companies or the angels' perceptions of their performance - obviously the former would make more rigourous findings.

For a feature I wrote for Real Business last year on how to work with business angels, see here.