MicroVentures gives investors access to early stage startups

This sponsored post is produced by MicroVentures.

Startup investing used to be only for the rich, only if you knew the right people, and only in deals in your city. Those factors left many interested investors on the sidelines.

But today, it’s a lot easier to become an angel investor due to crowdfunding, micro lending and investment sites like MicroVentures which allows you to invest smaller sums alongside others and to invest in deals stretching from Boston to Silicon Valley.

Gone are the days where you have to risk $50,000 or more, receive a personal invitation to invest from a friend and only see a limited number of deals from the few available in your area.

MicroVenture helps investors learn about companies they may never have heard of, and to invest smaller sums, which is virtually unheard of with traditional investing.

The service matches companies seeking money with investors looking to invest anywhere from $1,000 to $30,000 or more. MicroVentures helps investors with the initial due diligence process by filtering startups and then providing documents to help investors conduct their own due diligence prior to making a final investment decision.

The key to winning at angel investing, of course, is to invest in the right startups. To get there, you need:

1) Good deal flow, allowing you to spot potential winners from many potential options.

2) The ability to invest in multiple deals so you gain experience.

3) A knack for spotting potentially successful companies, and more importantly, management teams and entrepreneurs that will succeed.

Getting good deal flow is often the stumbling block for the average person looking to get started in angel investing. And it’s one of the reasons Bill Clark launched MicroVentures. He wanted to begin investing, but didn’t have access to good deals.

Like others thinking about becoming angels, Clark wanted to invest smaller sums in more companies, allowing him to spread his risk and also increase his chances of picking a winner. And he wanted access to great companies outside of Austin, his hometown.

Today, Clark invests alongside the more than 3,500 investors from 20 states that have joined MicroVentures. To date, investors have put more than $3 million into 15 companies.

If you’d like to join the more than 3,500 angel investors getting in on new deals via the MicroVentures platform, be sure to put “VentureBeat” in the referral code when you sign up and we will send you a $100 gift card after you make your first investment.