What are your odds of attracting startup capital from angel investors?

Better sit down first.

Ok, are you ready?

According to AngelSoft:

... only 51 companies out of 20,395 that were processed through their system over the last 12 months received funding. The odds of writing a New York Times Best Seller are greater than the odds of getting funded by an angel!

Even though I have been writing about this problem since 1995, I had no idea that the odds could be so poor. The typical numbers are one out of every 500 companies applying for venture capital gets any and perhaps one in every 200. The Angelsoft numbers translate to one in 400.

That's why it's called the Financing Valley of Death. Investors want entrepreneurs to prove their mettle by surviving it before any checks are written.

Don't kid yourself about business plans, Powerpoints, and elevator pitches eliminating this test.

They won't.