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Cornerstone Angels
Cornerstone Angels seeks to provide financial capital and mentorship to early-stage companies in the greater Midwest. Our group is a private investment organization composed of highly successful executives, entrepreneurs, and investors. Cornerstone orchestrates a rigorous and disciplined approach to angel investing.
Our goal is to help bridge the widening gap between initial start-up capital and institutional financing. We target investment opportunities ranging from $250K to $2MM with our members often syndicating with other angel or venture capital investors. We also seek opportunities where our members can add value to help our portfolio companies achieve critical milestones.
We are primarily focused on building a dynamic entrepreneurial and investor community in the Midwest, though we will consider selected opportunities across the country.
Cornerstone Angels actively seeks to make contributions to the community and local charities, which includes evaluating socially conscious investment opportunities.
Management
Michael Gruber
Michael Gruber founded Cornerstone Angels and was the Founder and President of Keiretsu Forum Chicago/Midwest, an angel investment group that launched in Chicago in February 2004. Michael has been active as a trusted advisor, executive, entrepreneur, and investor with early stage companies, including a significant number in Silicon Valley. Michael is particularly interested in media & entertainment, financial services and related technologies, healthcare services & medical devices, and food & beverage opportunities. Michael is a Partner in SCIUS Capital, a boutique investment bank focused on early stage companies with offices in Chicago and New York. Previously, Michael was a Director at Taproot Ventures, a seed stage venture capital firm and affiliate of Harbour Group, a private equity and operating holding company. In addition, Michael served as a VP at InsWeb (NASDAQ: INSW), where he was part of the senior management team that brought the company public and prior to that, Gruber was Product Marketing Manager at Intuit Corp (NASDAQ: INTU) where he led the Quicken product line's online financial services, and an Investments and Strategic Alliances Manager at Motorola (NYSE: MOT). Mr. Gruber also has significant experience with Japanese companies having both worked and studied in Japan.
Mr. Gruber holds a B.A degree from University of Pennsylvania, a Certificate in Japanese studies from Nanzan University in Japan, and an MBA degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Michael is an avid outdoor enthusiast and competitive sports player.
Laurence Hayward
Laurence Hayward joined Cornerstone Angels in November 2006. Laurence has been active with early stage companies, and is currently a Partner with SCIUS Capital. Laurence focuses on providing advisory and placement services for early-stage companies in the industrial, clean and information technology sectors. Prior to joining SCIUS Capital in 2003, Hayward was President of Vcapital, a venture-backed startup and private equity exchange that connected entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. Vcapital was acquired by Jesup & Lamont, a NY-based investment bank. Hayward led the firm’s Chicago office and was responsible for early-stage private equity services. From 1992 to 2000, Hayward worked at Arthur Andersen. He was Global Marketing Director of the Enterprise Group, a $500 million global practice serving start-up and venture-backed companies.
Mr. Hayward holds a joint BS/MBA degree from University of Illinois and guest lectures at University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, DePaul University MBA School and his alma mater. He also has been frequently quoted in the press and has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, New York Times and numerous entrepreneurial publications.
Members
Our members are successful executives and entrepreneurs who are looking to become active with early stage ventures, through both direct investment as well as through advisory and director level roles, where their expertise and experience would be valued.
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