John Garcia of Angel Strategies makes several claims on this video at YouTube:
Here's the transcript of the video you can see right here. It was taped on Dec.14, 2008 at MINC, a business incubator in Malmo, Sweden.
… *The money that we use is money from our own pockets as well as capital from our friends and losing is not an option. *We refuse to lose money.
Some other things about how we are unique. Probably the most important is #4 the hands-on approach that we have. *We are extremely hands-on. If we cannot be involved in the companies we will not invest. *If we can’t open doors for you, we will not invest. *If we don’t know who’s going to buy you down the road, we won’t invest. *If we don’t think that you’re thinking the right way, we won’t invest. *If we don’t believe your family is with you, we won’t invest. These are very important things because the hardest thing you will ever do is try to become an entrepreneur.
I can’t tell you how many physicians that I know who tell me later that it was easier going to medical school than trying to become an entrepreneur. In medical school there were books I could read, there were direct outcomes but to be an entrepreneur there are no rules. I have to figure it out as I go.
Here’s a little history on us. You know us as Innovateur Capital but behind us is a company called Angel Strategies. I’ve been the managing partner of Angel Strategies for 10 years. It’s a 10 year-old, *probably the largest angel group in the world. *It has 226 investors who put in $1 million each *myself included. *The $226 million is what we have to invest every year into the economy. *As a result we’ve been averaging 12 times our money. *I will tell you that we have out-scored every other angel and venture fund in the United States and maybe in the world. We have never disclosed these numbers until last year as we started to break off with a new venture fund under the name of Innovateur.
*An internal rate of 60% is virtually unheard of. *This is 12 times our money which means that sometimes we got thirty times our money back. *We did that with a company called Broadcom. You might be familiar with it they are one of the big chip developers in the world.
*We made 6 billionaires in Orange County at Broadcom as well as at JetBlue Airlines which is one of the big airlines in the United States.
*We have 126 companies so far today and that number is going up we’re probably exiting up to one third of our portfolio. The most important and what I am most happy about is that *not one of these companies has failed. *They are all there. *Either they are just making money if they have not sold they are there. We kind of believe they are like children we don’t want to lose any children or leave any children behind.
This is who I am if you want to learn about me. I have 21 years as an investor. I sold my first company when I was 28 years old. I sold it to a major medical company. *I have been investing ever since mostly in the Silicon Valley. I have been on many boards of directors for non-profits as well as for-profit companies. *I recently have been asked to be on the board of directors of General Motors who *is a client. And recently *I have been invited to do something very high level here in Sweden. I won't share that.
(NOTE: In October Garcia told us that President Obama's team was asking him to be the American Ambassador to Sweden. But his wife Christina told him that she did not want him to do it. Garcia kept the story going and said every time we saw him he had a comment about how he was being vetted by the President and that he had filled out a form or had to send in a photo to the Obama team.)
*My biggest thing is to be able to find the next big thing. *That's the key and that's why I do what I do. I am always trying to find out what's next, what's next. I am really entrepreneur. All of the people around us are entrepreneurs who happen to be investors. We're not investors trained in financial services and then came into the financial world, we're actually entrepreneurs. *I have over 30 startups of my own I have exited. -End of Video Transcript
*There is no proof that this is a true statement. Garcia has been asked about these claims and he always says that he must protect the identity of his investors or that his computer is down and he can't print a report.
Stolen Biographies
Go to the legacy site of Angel Strategies and see the people John Garcia used without permission to prop up his scam. You can start at this link then navigate to the "team" he said was his.
http://tinyurl.com/johngarcia
Here's the homepage as it was and we are told that Nadim did not provide this quote to John Garcia of Angel Strategies.
http://tinyurl.com/JohnGarciaDeceit
Here's Europe Reporting on Garcia
http://eonunreality.blogspot.com
Comment from Los Angeles
Upon reading this blog a top executive at Larta Institute said, "Excellent sleuthing. I smelled a rat years ago. John Garcia is nothing more than a narcissistic charlatan."
