Michael Straza, Angel Investor

Michael Straza is passionate about helping small businesses thrive. A graduate of Illinois State University’s College of Business, majoring in economics, Straza is a seasoned entrepreneur, startup investor, and business management specialist based out of Bloomington/Normal, Illinois. In 1994, Straza began working as a financial analyst. Helearned how to track and analyze financial indicators and observed how banks work (and don’t work) with small businesses. Michael then spent five years as a project manager followed by six years as an operations director for a small business in the healthcare industry, where he immediately discovered and recovered $240,000 in lost funds caused by oversights and errors, leading to financial stability within the company. Straza was later part of the founding team of Zdi, the most credentialed Cisco audiovisual integrator in the United States. Since then, he has worked with dozens of startups in official roles—such as the chief operating officer (COO)—as well as an advisor and mentor to startup founders.