W. Daniel Mothersill, President, National Angel Capital Organization

Daniel Mothersill is a serial entrepreneur, serial Angel investor, keynote speaker, and lecturer with hands-on experience in industries ranging from telecommunications, to green technologies, to resources, to IT.  In the last decade, he founded and financed eight companies and spun off four of these as profitable enterprises.

Daniel is president, director, and founding member of the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO) (the national voice of Canadian Angel investors).  He was recently appointed  Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ryerson University and was instrumental in funding and founding Canada’s first alumni-based Angel investor network at that institution to finance student-initiated companies.  He also serves as an advisor and consultant to a number of technology companies, and specializes in organizational and positioning strategy, financing methodologies, communications, and investor relations for several emerging and early-stage North American companies. 

Daniel also created and currently heads the Angel Network Program for Ontario’s Ministry of Research and Innovation.  This program is dedicated to developing core standards for Angel investments in the province as well as seeding the formation and expansion of formal Angel groups.  The program received $2.5 million from Ontario’s Premier to launch this initiative; it has so far been responsible for the founding and funding of 12 Angel investor groups.  Daniel also works with the Federal Government to roll out these standards and best practices across Canada.  On an international level, Daniel has delivered presentations across the European continent on process and paradigms for establishing Angel groups.

Through his newest venture, Newmarkets Partners, and in association with the NACO, Daniel took 24 companies to London, UK, to present to European Angel investors in the first ever London cross-border co-investment summit. He plans on replicating the model in various European countries, and is also working closely with the Canada-Hong Kong Trade Association to encourage Asian investment in Canadian enterprises.

Daniel was chair of the Angel stream for the Canadian Venture Forum, and serves as guest lecturer to the MBA program at Ivey (University of Western Ontario) and to undergrad students at the University of Toronto. He sits on the boards of the CEO Fusion Centre and the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC), where he chairs the SME Committee.  He is co-investment collaborator for Angel investment with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT).  On behalf of the TSX Venture Exchange, he has presented the benefits of the CPC program to Angels and entrepreneurs in major Canadian cities.  He is a regular guest speaker at conferences, and in 2009 spoke at the European Business Angel Network Congress, the Angel Capital Association Summit, and Enterprise Toronto’s Small Business Forum; as well, he moderated the NACO’s webinar on Angel Investing to Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.  In a previous incarnation, Daniel was head of investor relations for Nortel and communications manager for Imperial Oil.

The go-to-market boot-camp paradigm for the Toronto Venture Group was also created by Daniel, and has proliferated across Canada to become a fixture at major Angel and venture forums.  At more than 150 boot camps, through his proprietary presentation-preparation program for entrepreneurs, Daniel has trained some 3,000 SME executives who have gone on to capture more than $2.5 billion in seed and Angel capital.

Daniel studied at York University (political science), The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (finance and accounting), Humber College (journalism) and the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto).