Hello,
This is my first post here. My wife and I own an engineering and manufacturing business that we started out of our house about four years ago. We are now in our own facility with five employees.

Surprisingly, the recession has been very good to us. We've recently grown the company through a niche that fits our company quite well, and there is plenty of market share for us to capture. I would love to take a big gamble and attack our entire market, but my wife favors a more cautious approach.

My strategy (er, gamble) will require us to take on an angel to provide the necessary capital, but (understandably) the angel wants an equity stake in our company to compensate for his risk.

My question: Is now the time to take a risk like this? Momentum is certainly in our favor...our sales are up, our competitors are hurting (so I've heard), but there is uncertainty in the future of our economy. The "negotiating position" of the angel paints a scary picture, but I tend to reflect on how we've continued to grow through the recent economic conditions. OR, are we better off hunkering down, keeping our equity, waiting out the recession, and attack the market some other day?

My wife and I make these decisions together, so I'd just like the forum's opinion(s) so we can make a more educated decision. Thank you for anybody's insight/advise!