Today we welcome T.J. Eberle back to the podcast.  As you learned last week, T.J. has been involved in the angel community in Charlotte since 2011 when he sold his company NouvEON.

As a recap into last week, T.J. enjoys being the crazy uncle who can come in and mentor and advise company founders but ultimately being able to step aside and watch the founders work through the execution of developed strategies.  T.J. also gave us great insight into three questions he asks of the founders before making an investment – including what are you willing to sacrifice if things don’t go right.

In today’s podcast, we explore more about Charlotte as an investment city with the following questions and more.

  • What strikes you most about the Charlotte angel investor scene?
  • Why should Charlotte area people explore being an angel investor instead of or addition to commercial real estate or other more normal investment options?
  • Does T.J. think small and mid-size business owners identify better with investing in angel type investments?
  • What has T.J. learned from an early stage company he invested in that went on to fail?
  • In T.J.’s role as a lead investor, has he ever had to step in and run the company and what do passive investors have to think about when making investment decisions?
  • Does T.J. believe the city of Charlotte and its citizens need to take a harder look at the startup and investment scene as a greater part of the economic development of the city?
  • What does T.J. think it takes to grow the investor scene here in Charlotte – knowing there is plenty of money in Charlotte to invest in these types of companies?

T.J.’s insights over the last two weeks as an angel investor and entrepreneur in Charlotte was really insightful.  We look forward to having him back on the podcast in the future to talk about successful exits and maybe from Virginia Tech softball!!

Next week we have the first of two podcasts with Jude Colangelo, Founder and CEO of Eat the Bear.  Jude raised $1 million for Eat the Bear last year and did it by leaving Charlotte to find his investors.  We spend the first half talking about Jude the entrepreneur and the second half talking about his experience raising money and the Charlotte scene in general.  As someone who left a large financial institution to start his own company, he’s got great insight into the leap many consider but never pursue.

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