Angelsoft 3.0 is Angelsoft's most ambitious release ever. In this special release we aimed to better integrate all the bits and pieces of Angelsoft into one seamless web experience.

This release includes 569 improvements, of which 241 are bug fixes, 12 are new features, and 43 are user experience improvements. You can read the full release notes here. Below are the highlights:


GROUP TOOLS

• Deal & Member Search - The search bar in the Group Deals list search will now search across ALL application data including business summary, answers to the questionnaire, management, etc.  The search bar in the Group Members tab will now search across ALL data from the expanded member profiles including bio, investment interests, and more.
  
  
• All Email Links Clickable - All links should now be "clickable" in all Angelsoft emails, regardless of your email program.
  
  
• Bulk Submissions Protection - To help groups with the growing problem of bulk or "spam" entrepreneur submissions, we now label all deals submitted to more than 3 groups as 'Bulk,' and send them to a special Bulk folder under New Submissions. To take a deal out of Bulk, simply move it to another folder.
  
  
• All Members Can Add New Deals - All group members can now add new deals using the same New Deal button that group administrators use. They can also use the New Submissions email.
  
  

• Deal Guests Invitations - When inviting a guest to a deal, the invitation email now includes the name of the deal and a direct link to it.
  
  
• Upcoming Events First - Upcoming Group Events are now sorted from nearest to latest, putting the next event first on the list.
  
  
• Deal List Pagination - Groups with hundreds of deals will be happy to see the new pagination on the Deal List, which shows a max of 50 deals per page and allows for quicker loading and browsing.
  
  
• Movable Dialog Boxes - Pop-up dialog boxes on the Deal Dashboard and elsewhere can now be moved to reveal the text underneath.
  

OPEN DEALS

• Search OPENdeals - Deals in OPENdeals can now be searched by keyword, just like Group Deals.
  
  
• 'Most Referred' on OPENdeals - Deals in OPENdeals can now be sorted by "Most Referred," highlighting the deals that have received the most attention from other groups.
  
  
• Deal Type Dropdown - You can now focus your OPENdeals browsing on deals submitted by entrepreneurs, deals posted by Angel Groups, Incubators, VCs, etc. (This depends on the presence of these deals in OPENdeals.)
  
  
• Investor Self-Accreditation - Members are now required to confirm their status as Accredited Investors, or as Group Administrators before they can access OPENdeals, keeping OPENdeals a secure space for accredited investors.
  
  
• OPENDeals Referral Note - When referring a deal from OPENdeals into your group, members can now compose a quick note to group administrators, letting them know why this deal was referred.
  

PUBLIC WEBSITE INTEGRATION

• New Top Navigation - The new Top Navigation bar integrates all Angelsoft resources into one seamless experience. Drop-down menus allow quick access to every tool on Angelsoft.
  
  
• Group Finders - The new Group Finder tool allows entrepreneurs to quickly locate and target investment groups in their region or area of expertise and start an application. Accredited investors can also use the Group Finder to locate groups in their area and inquire about membership.
  
  
• Logged Out Demo Pages - When logged out, the new public web site shows demo versions of the different tools, with explanations.
  
  
• Industry Insights - Angelsoft's position as the exclusive deal management tool to 400+ angel groups and VC's gives us a unique perspective on the early-stage ecosystem. Our new Industry Insights page gives you a window into some of that activity.
  
  
• Real Activity Map - Angelsoft's home page now includes a live map of activity happening on Angelsoft in real-time. See it for yourself!
  
  
• Unified Login - All users now have a unified login. Simply login on any page, and we'll point you to the right tool set for you.

We hope you'll love the new Angelsoft as much as we do. As always we are eagerly standing by to hear your feedback, requests, and suggestions.

Please comment on this post to sound off!


–The Angelsoft Team

Eran Dror :: Aug.05.2008 :: Release Notes, Uncategorized :: Comments

In this release we wanted to make sure that we delivered some long requested functionality for both investors and entrepreneurs.

This release includes 293 improvements, out of which 214 are bug fixes, 4 are new features, and 23 are user experience improvements. You can read the full notes here.

Below are the highlights:


INVESTMENT TAB

Collaborate with the entrepreneur to track round progress, terms, and investments as they come in.

• Investor-Only Tab - The Investment tab will only show for administrators and members who have committed funds to that deal. It will only show after the entrepreneur has reviewed Investment information.
  
  
• Collaborate on Terms - Deal Terms are often reached through collaboration. For this reason both the Entrepreneur and Group Administrators can update the Deal Terms.
  
  
• Manage Investment Amounts - In this release we are giving entrepreneurs the tool to update investment amounts, and to add Other Investors, to help keep the investment picture up-to-date for all parties.
  
  
• Investor-Only Documents - Entrepreneurs can now upload term sheets, quarterly reports, and other documents that will only be visible to administrators and to members who have set their interest level to Funds Committed or Funds Transferred.
  
  
• Investments Pie Chart - All sides get to see the percentage of this round that their group holds.
  

ENTREPRENEUR COMMUNICATION

These tools for both Investors and Entrepreneurs will help facilitate open communication.

• Edit Declined Note Salutations - You can now edit the salutation and the entrepreneur's name when writing a Declined Note.
  
  
• Share Review Anonymously - Members can now choose to share their rating and review anonymously with an entrepreneur. The new rating will show up on the entrepreneur's new News Feed.
  
  
• Entrepreneur Email Tool - Entrepreneurs can now email groups they've applied to directly from their Application Manager using the Deal Room email.
  
  
• Import Previous Application - Entrepreneurs can now import the data from another Angelsoft application at any point in the process, so groups get better information faster.
  
  
• Entrepreneur's News Feed - The Entrepreneur Funding Manager now includes a news feed that gives the entrepreneur greater visibility into the funding process.
  
  

ADDITIONAL IMPROVEMENTS

Some user requests made it in as additional improvements:

• Reply to New Submissions Notices - From now on, you can reply to New Submission emails, and your email will be sent to the new deal's message forum, group administrators, and interested investors.
  
  
• Optimized Referrals - Deal referrals used to be fast or slow depending on the size of documents and attachments. From now on they should all be instantaneous.
  
  
• Unlimited Folders on Group Documents - Users who have dozens of folders and documents in their Group Documents vault can now more easily move documents with a scrollable drop down menu.
  
  
• Video Hover Issue Solved - Some users have complained that parts of the video would show through some dialogs on the Deal Dash, making them hard to use. This should not happen.
  

We hope you'll find the new functionality useful. As always we are standing by to hear your feedback, requests, and suggestions.

Please comment on this blog to sound off!


–The Angelsoft Team

Eran Dror :: Jun.30.2008 :: Release Notes :: Comments

We're proud to announce Angelsoft 2.7, released on Friday. In this release we're finally fulfilling two of our longest standing user requests. We're starting to give group managers some tools to record, track, and export group information. We've also made some important server upgrades to boost up speed.

All in all we've had 358 improvements, of which 9 are new features, and 197 are bug fixes.

You can read the full list of improvements. Below are the highlights:


DEAL & MEMBER REPORTS

Learn all about your deal flow and member activity with Deal and Member Reports (accessible from the Group Admin tab):

• Select Time Period - Use our built-in calendar to select a Start and an End date for your report.
  
• Customize Report - Use simple radio buttons to select the types of information you'd like to see. Find the answers to these questions:
  
  • How active are my members?
    
  • Who's investing and who's not?
    
  • Which deals are the most active?
    
  • Which deals are the highest rated?
    
  • How much are we investing in each deal?
    
  • How much have we invested in 2008?
    
  • What's the contact information of all recently submitted deals?
    
  • And more...
    

• Sort by Column - Click on any column header to sort report according to that column.
  
• Download for Excel (CSV) - Download either the Full Report, or the Customized Report as a CSV file for Excel.
  

EXPANDED MEMBER PROFILES

Trust is everything in the world of angel investing. Better Member Profiles, visible to other group members, are one way to achieve it. The profiles now include:

• Investor Bio - Members can tell us about themselves in their own words.
  
• Contacts & Secondary Contacts - Never lose touch with your members. Members may use either their primary or secondary email in message forums.
  
• LinkedIn Profile - Encourage members to post their LinkedIn profile on Angelsoft!
  
• Investment Portfolio - Previous investments will show on each member's profile.
  
• Investment Interests - Investors can select industries of interest.
  
• Experience & Expertise - Investors can select industries and areas of expertise.
  
• Participation Preferences - Investors can select group participation preferences, including doing Due Diligence, and Leading Deals.
  
• Admin-Only Notes - Administrators can add notes to any member profile, which will only be visible to other administrators of that group.

ADDITIONAL IMPROVEMENTS

• Angelsoft is F-A-S-T-!! - A server upgrade has noticeably reduced loading times across the board. Try it for yourself!
  
• Share Multiple Deals - Refer or Co-Invest from the Deal List now work for multiple deals selected at once.
  
• New Features Announcements - Click on the New Features link on the top left corner of the page to read new feature announcements on our blog.
  

As always, we look forward to your input on the new features. Tell us how you're using them, or how we can improve them for you!


–The Angelsoft Team

Eran Dror :: May.15.2008 :: Release Notes :: Comments

We try to have every release bring something special and useful to our users - but in our view this last release has been extra special.

For a complete list of updates click here. Below are some highlights:

OPEN DEALS

Deal sharing and syndication between groups has long been a major benefit of working together on Angelsoft, but what if you're not sure who might be interested in co-investing a specific deal? Introducing Open Deals, where Group Managers can post deal notices that any of the over 300 angel groups who use Angelsoft can respond to.

• Post a Deal Notice to Open Deals - Got an interesting deal, but not enough interested investors in your group? Post a notice to the Open Deals space, where over 300 angel groups worldwide can see it. The notice will include the application and a note from you, but none of the attached documents or entrepreneur's contact information. Interested group administrators will be able to contact you directly from the deal page.
  
  
• Browse & Review Deals - Open Deals also has a number of deals submitted directly by Entrepreneurs. Sort by distance, industry, average ratings, or number of views. Watch videos and read business summaries. Rate and review a deal to share your view with the Angel community.
  
  
• Refer a Deal to Your Group - When you see an Open Deal that seems interesting, you can refer it to your group with one click! The deal will be added to a special sub-folder of your New Submissions.
  
  
• Request to Co-Invest - Found a great deal shared by another group on Open Deals? Write a quick note to the group administrator who posted it, and let them know you are interested! In case there's a good fit, they will be able to share the deal with your group with one click!
  
  
• Continue as Usual - Open Deals is an open directory completely separate from your group that you can use to gather additional investment for a deal or augment your dealflow during a quiet month. None of your deals will EVER be displayed there unless YOU submit them.
  

ENHANCED DEAL SYNDICATION

Sharing deals with groups and individuals has been simplified in this release. We added:

• Sharing Options Page - Angelsoft offers a variety of ways to share deals with others: referrals, co-investments, adding guests, and Open Deals. On the new Sharing page, we clearly explain each option.
  
  
• Sharing Drop-down Menu - We have collected all sharing options under a single Share drow-down menu, available on the Deal List and the Deal Dashboard. Now you can share quickly, share easily, and share often!
  
  
• Refer/Co-Invest by State - Referring and Co-Investing now lets you look at the group list according to country and state. Discover groups in your vicinity, and share your deal information with them directly!
  
  
• Co-Investment Improvements - Co-Invested deals from another group will now show your group's logo, and not the logo of the originating group.
  

DECLINED DEAL EMAILS

We believe that entrepreneurs deserve to get an email when their application has been declined. And you deserve an easy tool to send them with:

• Create a Declined Note Template - Create a Declined Note template directly from Group Preferences, and use it as a basis for every declined notice.
  
  
• Send Individual Declined Emails - When moving a single deal to the Inactive folder, you will be given a chance to write a personalized note to the entrepreneur, based on your template.
  
  
• Send Bulk Declined Emails - When moving multiple deals to the Inactive folder, you will be given a chance to write a generic declined note based on your template and send it to all the right entrepreneurs.
  

FULL SPEED AHEAD!

As always, we strive to make Angelsoft faster, more reliable, and more enjoyable for our users. This time we worked on cleaning some old code, to improve speed and responsiveness.

• The Deal Dashboard - The Deal Dashboard now loads faster than ever!
  
  
• Deal Messages and Documents - We have optimized Deal Messages and Deal Documents to allow for faster loading.
  
  

As always, we look forward to your feedback, and hope that you will benefit from these new features!
Please visit our blog and sound off, if you'd like to share your comments with others.



–The Angelsoft Team

Eran Dror :: Apr.07.2008 :: Angelsoft 2.0, New Features, Release Notes, Upgrade :: Comments