Founders can rightfully celebrate when they successfully raise their angel round of investment. But now the tough work begins to take the company to the next stage. As an investor my advice for startup founders includes the following:

1. Lay in a plan to hit your key milestones & metrics.

You likely made promises to your angel investors for targets such as number of customers, revenues, profitability, product functionality, key hires, or filing for patents. Meeting or beating those milestones will be critical to raising your next round of funding, because investors will judge the company’s progress against those metrics and promises. Lay out specific plans for the metrics and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) you will track and why, and the actions you will take to ensure you meet those milestones. Use whatever project management tools will work for you -- whiteboard, paper, or online tools. Be prepared at any moment to describe to investors your plan and your progress (good and bad) against it.  

2. Put effective governance in place.

Most post-angel startups would be wise to put a strong board of directors in place to help guide the company. There should be at least one outside director who wi