Abstract This paper investigates business angel group members’ decision-making from project submission to the final decision. Using a Canadian group’s archival data on 636 proposals, we provide a detailed longitudinal analysis of the decision process. The rejection reasons generally refer to market and execution risk; this finding holds for every step of the process for proposals that pass the pre-screen. Angel group members focus more on market and execution risk than agency risk, similar to venture capitalists. Inexperienced entrepreneurs are rejected for market and product reasons. Decision-making by the studied angel group members differs from that generally described for independent angels.