Angel Insights | Your guide to angel investing

Keith Wallace is a Partner @ The Investors Club, Keith is a Scotsman with a passion for Europe. After graduation he started his first consulting company and ended up in the heyday the DotCom. When the Internet bubble burst , he moved to New York with a new mission: to help fellow-entrepreneurs avoid the “burn-rate” trap he himself had fallen victim to. Together with friends, Keith started investing and soon became a part of one of the Netherlands largest networks of informal investors, leading him to found De Investeerdersclub – “Hollands most informal investors club”, together with Martijn Blom and Gert van Veldhuisen. Keith has extensive experience is setting up companies, bootstrapping, coaching, and pre-seed capital and financing.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) Now I would love to kick off today’s show by hearing how you made your way into the world of investing to become as you call an informal investor? How did the bubble burst really affect you and your mindset on the market? Now can you explain to me what an informal investor is really?

2.) Now you are a partner at de invesdeers club, the most informal angel group in the Netherlands so talk to me a little about that, what your mission is, any sector or stage preferences? Having partner on this, you clearly believe group investing is extremely beneficial for investors, what do you think are the key benefits? What makes one individual a particularly good member of the group?

3.) Moving out slightly from the club, what are your views on the European tech market as a whole today? Many cite a lacking exit funnel for bn dollar exits with little acquirers and an IPO market that is not producing the goods.

4.) On the fundraising side of the business now, you have said before that too many startups look to funding, subsidies or investors for money. Instead, they should look to their customers, why do you say that? Are there any caveats to this? As an angel, would you recommend for a follow on they look to their crowd in a reddit style way?

5.) You have also said that Dutch people are not particularly good at pitching? Why? What do they do wrong and then what do you want to see in the pitch?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode:

Keith Fave Book: Effectual Entrepreneurship

As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here:

www.syndicateroom.com

and see Keith's latest tweets here:

www.twitter.comkaldw

and see The Investors Club's tweets here:

www.twitter.com/deinvestclub

I am delighted to welcome Alexandre Covello to the show today. Alexandre is an active tech investor and startup mentor. He is the Founder and CEO of AngelsCube, an innovative investment platform dedicated to institutional investors focused on technology investments. He is a Member of the Board of the Harvard Business School Angels Club of London where he co-chairs the screening committee.

Prior to founding AngelsCube, and for the past 15 years, Alexandre advised institutional investors on their global private equity allocations.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Alexandre made his entry into the tech world? What was it that attracted Alexandre to the world of investments?

2.) As an angel you are at the very beginning stages of a companies life cycle so what is your deal sourcing looking like these days? Does this differ to how you source deals for the AngelsCube platform?

3.) What are the key activities that Angelscube engage in to ensure their companies are ready for the VC funding stage? What are the requirements?

4.) As Co-Chair of the Screening Committee for HBS Angels Club London, what metrics or KPI’s does it take to impress Alexandre and progress through the screening phase?

5.) What are Alexandre’s thought on crowdfunding? How has Alexandre seen crowdfunding disrupt the early stage startup funding environment?

6.) What would Alexandre say your biggest challenge is as an angel and then for AngelsCube as a platform and how do you attempt to combat it to minimize the effects?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode:

Alexandre’s Fave Book: Homer, Illiad and The Oddysey, Bluffer’s Guide To Running Your Own Business

Alexandre’s Most Recent Investment: eRevalue

As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here:

www.syndicateroom.com

and see Alexandre's latest tweets here:

www.twitter.com/Angels_Cube

Julian Ranger has been an Angel Investor since 2007 and an entrepreneur since he formed his first business, STASYS in 1986.

Which he sold to Lockheed Martin in 2005. Julian was responsible for the growth of STASYS to a £17M+ business with 230 staff, with subsidiaries in USA, Germany, Australia and Malaysia prior to sale to Lockheed Martin. Julian Left Lockheed Martin in June 2007, and has been an angel investor in many businesses, mainly technical in focus, including such successful businesses such as Astrobotic, Hailo and Datasift. If that wasn’t enough Julian also founded an Innovation Hub, iBundle, which has been responsible for a number of new businesses, and is the current Founder and Chairman @ Digime.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Julian made his entry into the tech world? What was it that attracted him to the world of investments?

2.) Having spent years in the operations business, how has this affected Julian’s investing style?

3.) What does Julian think about part time angel investors? Does he think the most successful angels are those that are full time and why? Julian now runs Digi.me and has stopped accepting inbound investments, why is that, do he miss the angel investing aspect?

4.) How was the fundraising process for Digi.me having been an investor for several years prior, what was it like for Julian being on the other side of the table?

5.) Julian was a seed investor in Hailo back in 2011, so how did that come about, what stage was the business at, what got you excited about the offering?

6.) Talking about getting excited by companies and metrics, are there any KPI’s in particular that you like to deep dive on to determine the growth potential of a company? Any that concern you?

Items Mentioned In Todays Show:

Julian’s Fave Blog: AVC by Fred Wilson

As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here:

www.syndicateroom.com

and see Julian's latest tweets here:

www.twitter.com/rangerj

Paul Dowling is the Founder and CEO at Dreamstake, which is a major funding platform for tech startups their vision is to democratise the whole tech startup process by harnessing the web to link entrepreneurs with the support and funding they need. Dreamstake provides startup education through the free Dreamstake Academy and funding through syndication on the platform. They are advocates of The Lean Startup methodology and believe in supporting startups as they go through the various stages. We support funding up to approx. $2M. If that wasn’t enough, Paul is also the Co-Founder at Hoxtech Angels an investment club for techstartups that we discuss in much greater length in today’s interview. So without further ado it gives me great pleasure to welcome Paul Dowling, Founder and CEO at Dreamstake.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Paul made his entry into the tech world? What was origin story for DreamStake?

2.) When Paul first meets a founder, what is his line of questioning? What does Paul look for in that first meeting that shows they have the potential to be a very successful company essentially?

3.) What metrics does Paul use to determine whether a startup is ready for investment? How does Paul decide how much a startup should raise?

4.) What is Paul’s vision for the space in the next few years? What are the areas we can expect to see disrupted?

5.) What is the mission with Hoxtech Angels? Why should angels come and see for themselves?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode

Paul’s Fave Book: War and Peace

Paul’s Fave Blog or Newsletter: Mattermark

As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here:

www.syndicateroom.com

and see Paul's latest tweets here:

www.twitter.com/paulmdowling

James Routledge is most definitely a founder at heart having founded MatchChat and Seedcamp incubated NowNative. However, he has made the move into the investing world and is now Partner at one of the UK’s largest AngelList Syndicate’s, the famous Doug Scott’s potential syndicate, who invest in extremely early stage companies. In the episode we discuss their investing thesis, their DD process, why startups now need 2 seed rounds and much more.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How James made his entry into the investing world? What was it that attracted him to investing?

2.) What is the background of the Potential Syndicate? How does it run? What is the average investment? Are there any preferred sectors or locations?

3.) As a syndicate what does Potential’s deal sourcing look like? At such an early stage how do Potential find and hunt the best deals and entrepreneurs?

4.) What are the KPIs that Potential deep dive on? What metrics get them excited?

5.) What does James think makes a great investment lead? What are the benefits are of this collaborative model of investing? What are the challenges?

6.) As a syndicate and thinking of angels also, how can angels and syndicates work with VCs to encourage further development in the ecosystem?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

James’ Fave Blog: Fred Wilson: AVC, Paul Graham, Paul Smith: Ignite

As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here:

www.syndicateroom.com

and see James' latest tweets here:

www.twitter.com/jdroutledge1

Heather Cabot is Co-Founder of GeekGirl Rising, which aims to unleash the power of women in tech, she is also an active angel investor and a former ABC News correspondent and anchor with more than twenty years of experience as an on-air reporter. Since 2007, she has served as a digital trends expert for Yahoo!, appearing regularly on TV including, "Today", CNN, MSNBC. If that was not enough Heather is also a Professor at Columbia Journalism School and you can find her writing at www.heathercabot.com and you can learn more about geek girl rising at www.geekgirlrising.com.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn;

1.) How did Heather get into the investing world?

2.) Where does Heather see the future of media and journalism? What does Heather make of the emerging revenue models in media with the ever disappearing ad dollar.

3.) With the likes of Buzzfeed we are seeing a lot of disruption. What does Heather make of this movement? Are we heading to a shorter form of media consumption?

4.) What prompted the creation of GeekGirlRising and ultimately what is Heather’s vision for the organisation? What more can be done to encourage gender equality in both the tech and investing scene?

5.) What is Heather’s attitude to the emerging model of syndicated investing? What does Heather feel is the benefits of these networks?

6.) Now I would love to delve into a good old war story from investing. What went wrong and how has Heather’s approach or strategy altered as a result?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode:

Heather’s Fave Blog: The MashUp Americans

If you liked today's episode with Heather, we would love for you to share the episode on Twitter by clicking here (http://ctt.ec/BbX95)

“Angel Insights would like to thank Plantronics, who kindly supply the Voyager Edge UD headsets that our investors use during interviews”

As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here:

www.syndicateroom.com

Peter Cowley is an entrepreneur and very active angel investor with a degree in Engineering/Computing from Cambridge University, Peter has founded and run technology and construction businesses for 35+ years and, since then, has angel invested in over 45 start-ups in Cambridge and London. He is a non-executive director of five of those. Peter is also a board member of the Cambridge Angels, and has mentored countless entrepreneurs. He setup and now runs the Martlet start-up investment fund of Marshall of Cambridge and is a Fellow in Entrepreneurship of the Cambridge Judge Business School.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Peter made his entry into the investing world and what it was that attracted him to investing?

2.) What are Peter's most effective methods of deal sourcing? How does he find the great companies in his portfolio?

3.) Does Peter have a criteria for investment? What does his DD look like prior to investing in a company?

4.) Once invested does Peter believe angels have a moral obligation to follow on? If so, why?

5.) What are Peter's thoughts on flat rounds? What are the signals that an investor should look for to show that enough has been done to make the flat round worth investing in?

6.) Are there any signs that an investor should take as reason to be worried and not invest in the round?

7.) How do investors make sure, once they have decided to invest in a flat round that the founders stay motivated and keep the team motivated?

As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here:

www.syndicateroom.com

Ron Petersen is the Co-Founder and Investment Partner @ Longbow Capital where he provides management assistance to portfolio companies, while reviewing new business opportunities and investment portfolios. With more than 4 decades of industrial management experience and 20 years managing global businesses, one would be hard pushed to find someone with more knowledge or experience than Ron.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Ron made his way into the investing world?

2.) How can angel investors provide genuine management experience to portfolio companies?

3.) How does Ron believe the crowdfunding industry needs to be regulated?

4.) What does Ron believe it will take for the universe of crowdfunding and it’s investors to continue to grow? Is there a chance it might not, if so, what might happen?

5.) Is there a pressing need for exits from the crowdfunding industry to prove the effectiveness of the model or does Ron think the progression to follow on rounds is enough?

6.) How does Ron personally feel towards the syndicated investment model? What are the benefits of co-investing with other people?

7.) Ron reveals a good old war story, went wrong and how his approach or strategy has altered as a result?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Calon Cardio (https://www.syndicateroom.com/about-us/success-stories/calon-cardio)

As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here:

www.syndicateroom.com

“Angel Insights would like to thank Plantronics, who kindly supply the Voyager Edge UD headsets that our investors use during interviews”

Paul Townsend is currently Managing director at Vitesse PSP and a Non Executive Director with Saxo Bank, following over 20 years’ experience in mainstream banking with Warburgs and Bank of New York, plus 15 years in electronic payments with Earthport plc, Neteller, Envoy and Worldpay. Before co-founding Vitesse, Paul was Founder and COO of Envoy Services Ltd. He is also a prolific angel investor with investments in the likes of Kwanji, veridu, proxama and many more.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How did Paul make his entry into the world of angel investing?

2.) With such strong experience in banking, how does Paul view the seed stage Fintech environment?

3.) What are Paul’s thoughts on bitcoin and why are banks so skeptical to it’s mass adoption?

4.) With extensive experience in the mobile payments space, where does Paul see room for innovation in mobile payments? Is it a monopoly market with the likes of Square and Izettle?

5.) Paul is also an LP to MMC Ventures, so why are institutional investors in the UK more skeptical to fund allocation towards VC, than say the states? What can be done to improve this distortion?

6.) Paul reveals some war stories from his past investments and how they have altered his strategy to investing?

Items Mentioned In Today's Episode:

FlyPay (http://flypay.it) , MMC Ventures(http://www.mmcventures.com), Veridu(https://veridu.com), Kwanji (https://kwanji.com), Gousto (https://www.gousto.co.uk)

If you enjoyed the show today please do share the episode on Twitter by simply clicking this link: http://ctt.ec/gYXb1

As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here:

www.syndicateroom.com

“Angel Insights would like to thank Plantronics, who kindly supply the Voyager Edge UD headsets that our investors use during interviews”

Clifford Dennett was the Founder & CEO at SoshiGames, where he secured commercial deals with the band Queen, Universal Music and Sony, led a team to create online and mobile experiences with over 1.3m users, raised £1.3m in funding, tripled revenues per paying user and built a strong pipeline of future business. Despite these many successes, with the ever increasing competition in the gaming market and significant changes to Facebook and social media algorithms, Soshi Games went into liquidation earlier this year. In today’s interview with Cliff we discuss the changing landscape of tech and gaming, the failure of startups in general and with Soshi and then how to handle investors when dealing with the liquidation of a company.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) Clifford explains the origins of Soshi Games and his a-ha moment for getting the company started?

2.) What were the fundamental determinants that caused the demise of Soshi?

3.) How prominent were the likes of Facebook algorithms to the success of Soshi’s business?

4.) How was the fundraising experience for Soshi? Were there any surprising or challenging elements?

5.) How does it feel as a founder to have a failed venture with investor money?

6.) Is there anything that Clifford wished someone had told him at the beginning of the journey? What would Clifford have done differently if he were to start Soshi again?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Cliff’s Fave Blog or Newsletter: Brainpickings (https://www.brainpickings.org)

Soshi’s Musical Partnerships: Lawson, Queen

As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here:

www.syndicateroom.com

and see Harry Stebbings' latest tweets here:

www.twitter.com/HarryStebbings