Do You Believe in Angels? Angel investors--and their money--are out there. Learn to catch one.

Getting angel capital for your business was never all that easy.But today, post-dotcom-crash, is there any angel money to be had?In expert circles, opinions differ a bit.

"If you were to characterize early-stage [angel] investingas an intersection, there isn't a red stop light--there's ablinking yellow caution light," says Brian E. Hill, co-authorwith Dee Power of Attracting Capital From Angels (Wiley& Sons) and co-founder of Profit DynamicsInc., an investment consultancy in Fountain Hills, Arizona.Hill notes that the trend of late is for entrepreneurs to do a lotof old-fashioned bootstrapping-spending their own cash and showinga bit of revenue to attract angels. Picking the right angelinvestor for your particular company is vital, so do your researchbeforehand. And, says Hill, start building your network ofinvestors before you actually need the money, because it'lltake time.

To get some of the estimated $30 billion a year in angel moneyout there, you need to be armed with the hard truth: "It'smore difficult than it's ever been," says Don LeBeau, CEOand chairman of Angel Legacy LLC, a company that matches entrepreneursto angel investors.