Case Study: How Maine Angels transformed screening efficiency

The challenge: clunky software and missing information 

The Maine Angels are accredited private equity investors who invest in and mentor early-stage companies in Maine and New England. Founded in 2003, they have invested over $39 million in more than 50 companies. Currently, they have around 80 active members and receive 10-15 investment applications per month. 

Before Dealum, Maine Angels used Gust for managing their members and investment applications. Even though the solution had similar capabilities and processes, Elizabeth Mills, the Operations & Investment Associate of Maine Angels says that the user experience was clunkier: “Obviously there were things that we liked but a lot of things just took more time or effort. One of the biggest pain points was that the applying companies never submitted all the required information, there was always something missing. We had to follow up constantly and there was a lot of hand-holding required.” 

The final nudge to look for alternatives came when Gust stopped offering a free plan. Maine Angels formed a working group to find a solution that better supported their processes and needs. 

The outcome: an intuitive platform that you can customize for your needs 

Today, Maine Angels use Dealum for membership management, communication, events,  managing applications and moving them through the investment funnel. Elizabeth says that migration from Gust went smoothly: “The onboarding was really good. 

In hindsight, I only wish I would have known how different the members and the admin screens were. It wasn’t like that at Gust and I didn’t even suspect anything until a few months ago. After I figured out that the members don’t see all the buttons I’m seeing, it was a breeze.

There’s so much more you can do as an admin in Dealum. My favorite hack is making member and company test accounts for yourself so you can fiddle around and validate your changes without disrupting the whole system.” 

Elizabeth says their members have adopted Dealum well: “Our members do a lot themselves and haven’t needed much help setting up their accounts, etc. I think I don’t have to be as hands-on as many other group admins have to be. Almost all of our members are active on the platform – and the few who aren’t are missing out. I think they’ll come on board in no time just to see the event information and such.” 

Maine Angels are also exploring the portfolio management options in Dealum: “We've got a group who's looking into portfolio management. Currently, we’re using Seraf for that, but people are just not using it. From many perspectives, having a one-stop solution would be much better than having two different platforms,” says Elizabeth. 

3 biggest benefits of using Dealum for Maine Angels

1. Faster and more convenient screening processes – Maine Angels receive 10-15 applications each month. Previously, almost all the applications had some information missing, so they had to follow up and collect additional information manually. With Dealum, companies can’t submit incomplete applications and when some required information is missing, the software puts a hard stop to the application altogether. Now they only receive applications with all the required information, significantly saving time and effort. 
2. Better access to information – with Dealum, Maine Angels members have convenient access to company information. Also, a more complete screening process has improved the quality of information. 
3. Saving time on creating events – Maine Angels holds a pitching event each month. With Dealum, they can easily create and duplicate recurring events, having the whole calendar planned until the end of the year with minimum effort. 

The verdict: a very customizable solution that takes user-friendliness to a new level 

Elizabeth says that even though Dealum is pretty intuitive, it has also been a learning experience.

“Dealum is very customizable and you can build any process you need, determine who has access to what, etc. Since every angel group is different, that’s a good thing. And when I have any questions, you guys are so helpful. It would take our previous provider 4-5 days or even up to a week to respond to an issue. You answer so quickly, it’s hugely impressive. I remember a meeting three weeks ago where someone had a question. I managed to get the answer from your customer support right then and there and we could move on immediately. 

I would definitely recommend Dealum to other angel groups. It’s a very user-friendly platform and you can make it into anything you need it to be.” 

Maine Angels Fact Sheet