By SARAH KESSINGER

Harris News Service

Salina businesswoman Jan Srack learned she and her husband weren't alone when they sought to start an innovative business a few years ago.¬ 

Through a network of angel investors, they've raised capital and gained valuable advice from business executives and other entrepreneurs in Kansas.

Through a network of supportive Kansas businesses, they've raised capital and received valuable business advice from other entrepreneurs across the state.

Srack spoke this morning at a Hays workshop to launch a new Rural Angel Investor Network promoted by the state and made up of investors and entrepreneurs.

The meeting, at the Hays Welcome Center, was geared toward local economic development directors and featured presentations by business owners, regional investment development leaders and Steve Radley, director of NetWork Kansas, a program seeking to connect businesses with resources statewide.

Speakers offered a picture of what's possible in rural communities with an angel investor system.

Angel investors are people willing to provide money for startup businesses. Unlike a partner, the angel investor usually isn't involved in management but can enhance a business through their contacts and expertise. The concept is a national one, which spread across the United States in the 1990s.

"The networking and contacts are invaluable," said Srack, president and chief executive officer of Matrix Electronic Measuring Inc., which markets a photographic electronic measuring system for the automotive collision repair industry.

She and her husband, Bob, have found business-based networking valuable to their start-up venture.

"It really helps you feel like you're not out here working in a vacuum," Srack said, "that you have other network people that support you and that you can seek advice from."

For more on the angel investor concept and the meeting in Hays, see Friday's Hays Daily News.