The Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN) is dedicated to providing quality early-stage investment opportunities for accredited investors and assisting entrepreneurs by being a vital source for information, educational resources and advisors. CTAN provides a wide range of opportunities for new investors to learn angel investing and expand their portfolio. For experienced angel investors, CTAN provides a great way to increase deal flow and co-invest with passionate angel investors.

CTAN provides a structured forum for investors to cooperatively source and vet deal opportunities. This orchestration includes a full process: From Application to Member Voting to Pitch Night to Due Diligence. All due diligence is driven by the members, utilizing broad and deep experiences across the membership to quickly assess the opportunity. 

CTAN is a member driven organization where your money is your money. There is no fund to subscribe to, nor a staff member that performs the due diligence. When you invest, you are on the cap table as the investor, not CTAN. CTAN does, however, maintain orchestration of the deal and periodically follows up with invested startups on status and progress. 

Key Statistics

  • Over $120M invested into 200+ startup companies since CTAN’s founding in 2006
  • 110+ angel investors – Diversity in countless sectors and significant functional expertise. Backgrounds in tech, financial services, B2B, B2C, healthcare, real estate, as founders, successful exits, family funds, and more
  • Diversified deal flow across multiple sectors ranging from tech to healthcare to B2C
  • Five funding cycles per year, in which startups are formally screened and evaluated by investor members

Benefits of CTAN Membership

  • Networking opportunities with other talented angel investors and entrepreneurs
  • An excellent way to diversify your portfolio and your investments
  • Another vehicle for quality deal flow and exposure to startups
  • A passionate membership organization dedicated to angel investing for new, moderate, and experienced investors
  • Invitations to all CTAN Member Education & Social Events, which include in-person dinners and pitch nights.  All sessions are recorded for those that cannot attend in-person. Currently, CTAN is streaming all of our pitch nights over Zoom Webinar to accommodate a hybrid model desired by the members
  • An opportunity to give back and meaningfully engage with the local entrepreneurial ecosystem and the national investor community of CTAN 
  • With your CTAN Membership, you get an automatic membership to the Angel Capital Association. The association is the largest angel professional development organization in the world. It is a great educational resource for all angel investors
  • Access to our investment platform, Dealum, the online forum we use to evaluate entrepreneur applications, RSVP to CTAN events, and connect with other CTAN members

The Role of CTAN

  • CTAN is a non-profit organization that enables angel investing and startup engagement
  • The network acts solely as a facilitator of the investment process, providing members with a structured forum where members may, individually and cooperatively, meet, view, analyze, and monitor investment opportunities
  • CTAN does not provide investment advice to members, invest in companies, or share in the profits of member investments
  • Prospective investment opportunities are not offered by or endorsed by CTAN
  • Members are responsible for making individual and independent investment decisions, both as to the suitability of an investment and the amount of any investment, based on their own individual evaluation of the merits of the proposed investment offering

Funding Cycle Process

Each Funding Cycle is at least six weeks long. CTAN offers up to five funding cycles each year. Below you will find more details about our funding cycle process.

WEEK 1: MEMBER VOTING 1

CTAN members review entrepreneur applications and vote for companies in which they have the highest interest. The top eight companies that garner the most member interest are invited to proceed to our Screening Pitch Event & Initial DD Review.

WEEK 2: SCREENING PITCH EVENT, MEMBER VOTING 2 & INITIAL DD REVIEW

Selected companies are invited to our Screening Pitch Event on Tuesday of Week 2. The selected companies are also tasked with uploading a completed Due Diligence Checklist to Dealum during Week 2. Member Voting 2 occurs immediately after the screening pitch night. In Initial DD Review, each Due Diligence Checklist (of the Top 4-6 member voted companies) and related materials are reviewed by CTAN’s Investment Committee to ensure that there are no “deal killers” (such as $500k CEO salaries, etc.) that would preclude an applicant from being invited to Pitch Night.

WEEK 3: PITCH NIGHT

Companies that make it through the Screening Pitch Event, Member Voting 2, and CTAN’s Initial DD Review are invited to present to the broader CTAN membership at Pitch Night, which includes a cocktail hour for networking with investor members. If enough CTAN members express continued interest, we’ll schedule due diligence meetings with the team and interested CTAN members.

WEEKS 4-6: DUE DILIGENCE

Selected companies meet with an interested group of CTAN investors for full due diligence. From the interested investors, a Deal Team needs to be created to continue moving a deal through our process. The Deal Team will work with the company to better understand the business model and value proposition. In due diligence, we conduct customer reference calls, competitive analysis, market sizing, team reference calls, etc.

How to Apply for Membership

Interested in becoming a member now? In order to join the network, potential members must:

  • Qualify as an accredited investor
  • Have relevant investment experience and/or be interested in learning from their peers
  • Complete the CTAN Membership Agreement
  • Agree to abide by and sign the CTAN Rules of Membership and Conduct
  • Exhibit a real desire to participate in the startup ecosystem and mentor entrepreneurs
  • Meet with a CTAN Board Member to complete the member qualification process
  • Pay the current annual dues, prorated as applicable.
  • Create a profile on CTAN’s online platform, Dealum, and actively use the platform as part of your membership

Please note that we prorate membership dues based on the month that you join. You can access our application by clicking HERE

Onboarding with CTAN 

As a member driven organization, there are many benefits ranging from learning angel investing, engaging with entrepreneurs, to expanding quality deal flow. Once approved as a member, our onboarding process is quick and simple. Once you join CTAN, all events, investment opportunities, and community information are easy to access online and supported by our wonderful CTAN staff. New member orientation occurs twice annually and it is the best place to learn about CTAN and ask questions.  

For all new members, we encourage you to develop an investment hypothesis that best fits your objectives and passions, and use that as a starting point. Further, we highly encourage you to volunteer throughout the organization, especially for due diligence roles where you will learn about CTAN investment approaches, and the well-documented CTAN templates that help streamline due diligence and investments.