If you are in the market for funding for your new physician business, and yours is a healthcare service or a medical device company, you are in luck!

In an article today in the San Francisco Chronicle highlights the leap in investments made in healthcare ventures by angels in 2006 - up 10.8% in the year, to $25 billion dollars!

Angel investors are typically wealthy private investors seeking a good return on their investments, and unlike venture capitalists, are less likely to need to insert themselves into the operations of the company in which they are investing. They do need to be satisfied, however, that their risk is being minimized by being assured of a sound business plan, a viable set of financials and a solid management team!

I noted this trend in a blog post last year and am happy to see it sustained through the remainder of the year, per the recent report by the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire.

According to the article: 

Dennis Fernandez, managing partner of Fernandez & Associates, a Menlo Park intellectual property law firm, said he has also seen "a modest unleashing of early stage capital," including funding for health care startups.

He said the aging of the Baby Boom generation and the growing reliance on information technology in health care has prompted entrepreneurs to explore new business opportunities.

He cited the trend of making medical records digital and more easily accessible to patients and their health care providers.

"There is an opportunity here to automate and integrate," he said.

"I think there is a screaming need for streamlining the management of patient information." (bolding all mine!)

It strikes me that now is the time to strike, if you are a budding physician entrepreneur with an idea that will serve the Boomer market or the need for seamless medical and personal health information integration and transfer.

With that in mind, I encourage you to take advantage of the complimentary monthly teleclasses I hold for any physician who is eager to acquire the skills and discipline to start a new venture or grow an existing business or practice.

Tomorrow, Wednesday March 21st, our class topic will address how to prepare yourself financially for a new business venture as well as what your funding source options are.

And next month, I will be interviewing Jim Horan, author of The One Page Business Plan, on how to begin the business planning process and how to write a well-thought out plan, on one page. 

Come join us and prepare yourself to claim your share of the huge "angel pie"!