We all tell startups to have a well-thought-out process to determine if they should “persist, pivot or perish.” It is just as crucial for mature organizations.

There are many people with the wealth to invest and a keen interest in becoming angel investors. But, some of them are working full-time-plus in their careers. They want to write small checks ($5-25k). They don’t have much time for due diligence assisting the companies. RVI has the opportunity to bring this large group of people into seed-stage investing. If successful, we can significantly increase the amount of funding available to startups, especially local ones.

This requires a pivot. When RVI formed in 2003, it was designed to support the members it had – people who wrote big checks, took their time to decide what to invest in and were actively involved in the startups. Now RVI focuses on speed and convenience. To better reflect this, RVI is making the following changes:

1. We only bring in companies that are already backed by a trusted partner. This saves our members time because they only see deals that are already vetted. It also gives members enhanced confidence because the deal is being assisted post-investment by experienced people whom we trust. Lastly, due diligence is streamlined and led by a member of RVI’s staff. What used to take 30 days now takes a few hours to see pitches and one follow-on conference call per deal.

2. We’ve lowered the minimum investment per deal to $5k, making it easier for members to build a more significant portfolio by backing more companies.

3. Our yearly dues dropped to $1,000, making this a much more affordable membership.

If this is of interest to you, contact us by emailing [email protected].