Soon he discovered a way of increasing bit traffic down a single fiber-optic strand by sixteenfold. He tried to peddle this astonishing breakthrough to his employer, got nowhere and quit. A second angel, Kevin Kimberlin, came in a few months later. That was in 1994. During bull markets, they produce extraordinary returns for their limited partners.
Venture capitalists have bad years, too.
Angels could well outperform VCs during the next cycle. The best entrepreneurs, who can raise money from anybody, are coming around to the idea that angels often make better seed investors than VCs. Free from the pressure of producing a return for limited partners, they tend to be more patient with the entrepreneur. They see the striver as a kindred spirit, heroically battling against great odds. Trends like the Internet and the rapidly growing number of technology equity millionaires favor the continued growth and influence of angel financing.