Women 2.0 profiles women angel investors in our “This Is What An Angel Investor Looks Like” series.
By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)
Chicago-based Joanne Chang is a healthcare angel investor and advisor with companies in stealth and early-stage mode.
She holds a joint MBA-MS degree in healthcare, clinical sciences and general management from Harvard and MIT.
While Joanne is best known as a Chicago-based healthcare angel investor, she invests in areas outside of Chicago – and in consumer as well. Find out more about the healthcare angel investor below:
Meet Angel Investor Joanne Chang
How and why did you decide to become an angel investor?
“As soon as I was financially able to. I’d always wanted to invest.”Tell us about an invesment you have made?
“Company: Sender One Climbing
Founder(s): Alice Kao, Wesley Chu and Wesley Shih.”Range of initial investments?
“$10k-$25k”What are your investment dealbreakers?
“Red flags: Grammatical or logic mistakes in presentations, no substantive operations experience on founding management team, if they’ve been trying to unsuccessfully raise money for many years. I stay away from industries outside of the healthcare and consumer markets. “What types of companies do you want to invest in?
“Healthcare and consumer.”How has your background played (or not) a role in your angel investing?
“I’ve worked as a management consultant in the healthcare industry, including startups. Real world experience combined with my b-school background has helped me develop my network and develop my investment skills.”One piece of advice to a future angel investor?
“Start as soon as you can, even if it’s with a small amount of money.”One piece of advice to entrepreneurs looking for capital?
“Be very clear about your exit strategy. Your business may be super cool but how is it going to make me money?”How can entrepreneurs find you?
“The entrepreneur should be vetted either because I know you, someone I trust knows you, or you have made it through the diligence of one of the angel groups I am a member of. I am hands off for the most part after the investment is made, I like to updated monthly on progress against plan, risks and mitigation strategies. If there is an opportunity to add value in a specific area, I definitely volunteer, but understand it is the entrepreneur driving the bus. I can only be an adviser.”Favorite quote?
“Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.’ – Lewis Carroll”Random fact?
“I am often mistaken for another Joanne Chang who is also a Harvard grad but is a famous pastry chef in Boston. It is a sad fact that my sticky buns are not as delicious.”
Follow the right Joanne Chang on Twitter at @joannechang.
More perspectives from people changing the ratio in healthcare at XX in Healthcare.
Angie Chang co-founded Women 2.0 in 2006. She currently serves as Editor-In-Chief of Women 2.0 and is working to mainstream women in high-growth, high-tech entrepreneurship. Previously, Angie held roles in product management and web UI design. In 2008, Angie launched Bay Area Girl Geek Dinners, asking that guys come as the “+1” for once. Angie holds a B.A. in English and Social Welfare from UC Berkeley. Follow her on Twitter at @thisgirlangie.
