Business POV

Cornerstone Angels seeks to provide financial capital and mentorship to early-stage companies in the greater Midwest. The group is a private investment organization composed of highly successful executives, entrepreneurs, and investors.

Their goal is to help bridge the widening gap between initial start-up capital and institutional financing. The network targets investment opportunities ranging from $250K to $2MM with our members often syndicating with other angel or venture capital investors. It also seek opportunities where its members can add value to help our portfolio companies achieve critical milestones.

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.