Angel investing: the solution to your midlife crisis

Years ago, when men started getting grays and then spent money on sports cars, new clothes or picked up poetry as a hobby, wives knew the time of the midlife crisis was on hand. They worried most that their man would stray and find a younger partner. From the odd behavior to new gym memberships and more socializing, many red flags were waved and wives across the world feared that the man they had married was morphing into someone unrecognizable.

For the past 3–4 years the changing habits and odd idiosyncrasies that were introduced as a result of the midlife crisis have made way for new specialty: angel investing.

The rise of the Angel Investor

Asia has seen a rise of Angel investing of over 82 percent year-on-year, with percentages in 2014 increasing significantly. There were around 245,000 new tech investors in Asia in 2014 (up from 103,238 the previous year). Oddup expects these numbers to continue to grow significantly. Promised bonuses that never happened at banks, and longer hours with little upside at traditional jobs has led to many from the banking world to step out and venture into the world of angel investing. However, the erratic behavior of a midlife crisis has made many partners across the world concerned.

Easing concerns

Don’t worry wives, girlfriends, and partners — that night event he is going to is the first in a series of lessons on how to be a Ruby on Rails coder. Those drinks he is attending includes a number of successful entrepreneurs bragging about their stripes and scars, and that young woman he has met for the 3rd time over lunch is a founder of a startup he is looking at investing in. The “beer o’clock” drinking sessions are now replaced by investor and startup presentations. The new sporting team is now a syndicate your partner and 10 of his investment banking colleagues have put together. From a distance, even though this behavior may seem like he is having a midlife crisis, he isn’t… he is venturing into Angel investing and he hasn’t been happier!

Embrace it

This new improved midlife crisis behavior has helped thousands of new companies get funded. It has helped entrepreneurs and startups improve and scale their businesses. It has helped bring new life into middle aged men across the world. It has helped them find the spark in themselves that they lost in their 30s. From the many investors whom I have met through their use of Oddup, they speak of new purpose, new promise and excitement about the ability to help companies grow and succeed and at the same time, they can make money doing it. Partners have told us at that Oddup has actually helped improved their relationships significantly.

Who should fear it?

Corporations. Day in, day out I meet full time employees of fortune 500 companies asking how they can get involved, how they can invest first, and how they can join. This is one of the reasons why we created Oddup, to help investors from the sidelines become active investors with intelligence and insight into the startups.

So what should you do?

Ask yourself, as a partner, would you rather see your significant other buy sports cars or recite poetry to you? Or would you prefer to see the light in their eyes flicker with excitement. Angel investing is a chance people have to re-find purpose, to feel young, and to be happy.

Don’t fight it, support it — your partner, your relationship and the lives of thousands of entrepreneur’s across the world are happier because of it.