The angel investing space has transformed as investors have moved from individual deal seeking to more collaborative models of investing. Angel networks are formal investor organizations that pursue investment deals with entrepreneurs, assist with deal screening, and coordinate due diligence. These coordination activities have clear benefits for angel network members, but they also give rise to a dynamic of reliant judgment in which the espoused opinions of network peers are taken as evidence that weighs heavily on the investment decision. In this article, we provide evidence from an experiment set in an angel investment pitch meeting that reveals the positive bias an angel investor shows toward peer opinions. By revealing these potentially hidden forces in angel network deliberations, we raise awareness and, by extension, offer response strategies for angels and angel network directors to properly manage the influence of peer opinion in angel network discussions.

This case is about a for-profit social enterprise in Rwanda named the Rwanda Trading Company (RTC) which purchases coffee beans from coffee growers in the country, roasts the beans and exports them to other coumtries. The company was begun in 2009 by Todd Brogdon who also managed the organization. The primary goals of the company were twofold: (1) Have a positive impact on the poorest of the poor in the country; and (2) To be profitable. RTC has been able to achieve these goals since its founding by working with the Rwandan coffee growers on a multi-year agriculturalo training program. All had gone well until the spring of 2016, when a German company named SRO which owned such coffee companies as Peet's Coffee & Tea and Green Mountain (which was owned by Keurig) decided to change the terms of its contract with RTC. A provision in the contract RTC signed with SRO was that their company would carry 180-day receivables. Brogdon immediately realized that this would lead to a serious cash flow problem that would threaten all of the good work they had been able to perform with the Rwandan coffee growers.