Angel Insights | Angel Investing | Crowdfunding

Gale Bowman is the founding director of IrishAngels, has grown the group to 150 investors and managed 15 investments totaling over $5.5 million in seed and Series A capital. Her previous work experience includes market research consulting at Nielsen and corporate strategy at Orbitz. She has consulted many startups on customer research, marketing, and funding strategy. Bowman sits on the Board of the C200 Scholars Network and is a member of the Irish Entrepreneurs Network. In Today’s Show We Discuss: How did Gale make her way into the angel ecosystem? What are the fundamental differences between an institutionalised angel fund and a more casual network of angel investors? What are the most common and biggest mistakes Gale sees when it comes to founders approaching the fundraising process? What advice does Gale give most often to new angels to the ecosystem? How do Gale’s return expectations differ from the likes of larger more instituional funds? Learn more about SyndicateRoom: www.syndicateroom.com

Jonathan Hakakian is the Managing Director and Co-Founder of the SoundBoard Angel Fund with Richard Magid. Jonathan raised capital for the fund, directed the diligence process into a growing portfolio of 20 companies, and coached many of the portfolio's entrepreneurs on their journeys. His professional background also includes tech, sales, construction, and management. Most recently he graduated from the Kauffman Fellows Program (Class 19) where he focused his studies on being an innovative venture investor. Locally, Jonathan is a board member of New Jersey Entrepreneurial Network, an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) at Stevens Institute of Technology Venture Center, and an advisory board member of MCW (a non-profit focused on empowering current and future leaders to better their local communities). In Today’s Show We Discuss: How did Jonathan make his way into the angel ecosystem? What is Jonathan’s approach to valuation and ownership at such an early stage? What level of ownership is required to generat

Deb Kemper is the Managing Director of the Boston chapter of Golden Seeds. Her involvement includes deal flow, membership, education, and operations. She is an active early-stage investor, mentor to entrepreneurs, and board member. Prior to Golden Seeds, Deb spent many years in management consulting at McKinsey & Company where she served clients in the healthcare, energy, and electronics sectors. In Today’s Show We Discuss: How did Deb make her way into the angel ecosystem? What has caused the huge rise of Boston’s startup ecosystem? What are the required components for successful ecosystems to thrive? How important is intellectual property for Deb when considering a prospective investment? What advice does Deb give most often to new angels to the ecosystem? Does Deb agree that all angels have a duty to follow on in investment rounds if they have backed early rounds? Learn more about SyndicateRoom: www.syndicateroom.com

Nick Lyth is a founder at the Green Angels Syndicate, the only angel investment syndicate specialising in investments to benefit the green economy. As for Nick, prior to Green Angels, Nick has spent over ten years building up a new applied research institute in the eco and environmental arena, with the international status to attract innovation to its door. He has also contributed to forums advising Scottish Government the Northern Irish Government and the European Parliament in Brussels. In Today’s Show We Discuss: How did Nick make his way into the angel ecosystem? Why have we seen such a lack of investment in the energy space from the perspective of angels and VCs? What are the inherent investment barriers that need to be overcome? How has the onboarding process been for Nick in entering the angel environment? What was the biggest shock to Nick in the investment world? How does Nick ensure that his voice is heard as an angel? What makes a good board member and non-exec director? What advice would Nick

Thatcher Bell is a venture partner @ Gotham Ventures and Thatcher has spent more than a dozen years in the startup community as a venture capitalist and operator. Prior to joining Gotham Ventures, Thatcher was a Senior Analyst at North Hill Ventures, the venture capital affiliate of Capital One Financial. Before joining North Hill, Thatcher held business and corporate development roles at OpenPages (acquired by IBM) and SharkTank. If you love the show with Thatcher today and want to hear more, head over to syndicateroom.com where you can find more articles, podcasts and resources. In Today’s Show We Discuss: How did Thatcher make his way into the angel ecosystem? What were Thatcher’s biggest takeaways from his operational experience? How does that lend to his investment role? Do all investors need to have operational experience? What is required to make the transition from operator to angel? How does Thatcher look to split his time between portfolio companies? Where does he spend the majority of his time

Meghan Cross is the Managing Director @ Red Bear Angels which she joined with nearly a decade of operating experience launching and growing media & software companies in New York and Silicon Valley. As an early Director at StyleCaster Inc., Meghan led the digital media conglomerate’s marketing team through the business’ exit to She Knows Media. Before that, Meghan was in PR, helping to build Skype and Foursquare into household names. She also draws venture experience from working with Bowery Capital, Foundation Capital, Metamorphic Ventures, and StarVest Partners. Megan is also the founder of Cross Venture Services LLC, a launch advisor to such commerce platforms as Sailo (TechStars ’15), Shareswell, and Thursday Boot Co. Learning process In Today’s Show We Discuss: What angels really look for in VC partners? How Megan approached the learning process of becoming an angel investor? What were Meghan’s biggest takeaways in working with Foursquare and Skype as they entered hypergrowth mode? How does Meg

Elizabeth Galbut is a Founding Partner @ Sogal Ventures, the first female led cross border venture capital firm and Prior to finishing business school, she founded A-Level Capital, the first student-led venture capital firm powered by Johns Hopkins students. Before graduate school, Elizabeth was a strategy & operations consultant at Deloitte Consulting focusing on large healthcare clients. Outside of her client-facing work, she contributed to business development efforts that led to over $200M of new work. If you love the show today then you can head over to syndicateroom.com and see all the previous episodes as well as accompanying angel articles and resources but for now I am delighted to hand over to Elizabeth Galbut, Founding Partner @ Sogal Ventures. In Today’s Show We Discuss: How Elizabeth made her way into the investing world? How Elizabeth looks to establish pattern recognition as a recent entrant to the VC community? What does Elizabeth look for in her co-investors? What does Elizabeth’s di

Jon Lerner is a Managing Director @ Smedvig Capital where he actively looks for the best tech enabled business in the UK and currently sits on the board of Mediamorph and Captify. Prior to Smedvig, Jon was a Senior Consultant at Bain in London and Toronto. If you love the show today then you can head over to syndicateroom.com and see all the previous episodes as well as accompanying angel articles and resources but for now I am delighted to hand over to Jon Lerner, Managing Director @ Smedvig Capital. In Today’s Show We Discuss: What angels really look for in VC partners? What are the most common elements of contention and disagreement between angels and later stage VCs? How does Jonathan look to harness the early angel ecosystem to provide him with a strong incoming quality of dealflow? How does Jon approach valuation and ownership? Does he adopt the Sheryl Sandberg approach of it does not matter where you sit as long as you have a seat on the rocketship? What would Jon like to see more of in the earl

Simon Bichara is an active angel and advisor with investments in the likes of Jinn, Ignite, Fit Gurus and many more incredible companies. He is also the founder of Hired By Me, the tool that helps contractors get hired faster. Prior to being immersed in the world of startups and investing Simon spent several years at Barclays before seeing the late and moving to the tech space. Now if you enjoy the show and would like to see more information then you can head over to www.syndicateroom.com where you can find the investor academy with more articles podcasts and information. In Today’s Show We Discuss: How did Simon’s financial background lend to his role now as an angel? What elements of a founding team gives Simon confidence? How does Simon view of the maturation of the early stage investing environment? Is all money good money? In what cases is dumb money a problem? How does Simon analyse the current levels of valuation? How does Simon determine valuation at the earliest of stages with no measurable dat

Francesca O'Brien is Head Associate at SyndicateRoom where she is responsible for management of dealflow and liaison with entrepreneurs. In today’s episode we take a deep dive into the DD process and reveal how exactly Fran sources companies, how those companies are viewed once in the investment pipeline and what an investment community want to see in an investment opportunity. You can also find further resources on the show and investing articles on the site at syndicateroom.com. Today We Discuss: What is Fran’s preference on founders? Single or co-founder? How big does a market have to be for it to be an investable proposition? Does this vary if you are an angel as opposed to a VC? Is too much dumb money a bad thing for the ecosystem? How can founders optimise for this and avoid potential pitfalls? What do investors in the platform most like to see in an investment proposition? What would Fran most like to see change in the early stage funding environment in the UK? Learn more about SyndicateRoom: w

Now for today’s show we thought we would go for something slightly different, as it is August and the investor holiday season is upon us. We thought we would compile some of our favourite quick fire rounds containing the resources that the best investors utilise, giving you the ultimate resource collection so you can head off on your holidays prepared. Discussed In The Show Today: 1.) What is Tim Mills (British Business Bank) morning daily read? 2.) Who does John Spindler (London Co-Investment Fund and Capital Enterprise) say are must follows on Twitter and why? 3.) What does Collette Ballou (Ballou PR) feel are the main benefits of reading fiction? What are here favourites? 4.) What is Tom Britton (Syndicate Room) must read? Learn more about SyndicateRoom: www.syndicateroom.com

Now for today’s show we thought we would go for something slightly different, I have had many emails from people asking about how to get into the world of investing in startups and we thought today we would take some our favourite entrance stories and show you a collection of how they did it. The ultimate guide to how to make your way into the world of early stage startup investing. Discussed In The Show Today: 1.) How Tim Mills came into the industry from the world of banking and came to be at The British Business Bank? 2.) What was John Spindler’s start in the angel investing industry and what is his route to where he is today with the London Co-Investment Fund and Capital Enterprise? 3.) How did Dominic Wilson make the transition from the world of property to the world of property tech investing, now being Managing Director @ Pi Labs. 4.) Every startup founder needs a mentor, so when did Jonathan Pfahl appreciate the importance of mentors and being the founding of Rockstar Mentoring? 5.) Like mentoring,

Collette Ballou is the Founder and President of Ballou PR, one of the leading European public relations that works with high-growth technology and technology-enabled companies, as well as technology investors. Colette has worked with the likes of Facebook, Whatsapp, TransferWise, Eventbrite, Evernote just to name a few. Alongside this incredible operational journey, Collette is also an active angel investor and has mentored with the likes of 500 Startups and Seedcamp. In Today’s Episode with Colette we discuss: 1.) How did Collette make her way into the world of angel investing? 2.) In the proliferation of content for marketing, is a contrarian approach the right way to go for cutting through the noise? 3.) What does Colette make of the increasing personalisation of VCs and angels? 4.) How can investors balance their own personal brand with the brand of their fund? 5.) What does Colette make of the rise of Twitter? To what extent should it be used as a marketing tool? How does Colette react to tweet st

Dominic Wilson is Managing Partner @ Pi Labs founded on the thesis of becoming of the centre of innovation in the property ecosystem creating scalable businesses that will disrupt the property sector. As for Dominic himself, he has a wide background in Private Equity Real Estate having worked with both AEW Europe and Savills Investment Management and transacted over €3bn of deals across Europe. You can also find further resources on the show and investing articles on the site at syndicateroom.com. Today We Discuss: How Dominic made his way into the world of early stage investments? What are the pros and cons of operating in a largely antiquated incumbent heavy industry? How does Dominic view the early stage angel network in London? How does he look to work with them? With the rise of tax reliefs, this has spurned many more angels, is this money ‘dumb money’? If so, is all dumb money bad for the ecosystem? How does Dominic view the wider macro economic effects of Brexit? What does he predict for both t

Paul Arnold is the founder of Switch Ventures, a seed stage venture capital firm focussed on identifying the most talented startup entrepreneurs by taking a very data-driven approach to founders. Paul was a senior executive at AppDirect, helping build it from a small startup into the unicorn ($1bn+ valuation) it is today. He oversaw company-wide operations, built and led multiple teams, and learned what it takes for a startup to scale rapidly. Prior to AppDirect, Paul was with McKinsey & Company in Silicon Valley. He worked with C-suite, Board, and frontline employees to drive changes. In Today's Episode with Paul We Discuss: 1.) How Paul made his way into the world of tech and early stage investing? 2.) When examining the data on founders, what elements of pattern recognition has Paul found with regards to founders? 3.) What is Paul's take on follow on funding? Is it always obligatory for seed investors to follow on with their investments? 4.) How has Paul's investment decision making process changed

Tim Mills is an Investment Director at the newly formed British Business Bank and also leads the investment activity and operations of the Angel CoFund. Tim started his career with Merrill Lynch where he became an Associate Vice President in the technology group at Merrill before moving to Barclays Capital to work on the integration of the firm's expanding global operations. In the past Tim has worked with a leading credit analytics consultancy and one of the UKs largest hedge funds.Prior to the creation of the British Business Bank, Tim spent 5 years with Capital for Enterprise, leading investments into venture capital funds as well as launching various funds, including the Angel CoFund. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Tim made his way into he world of tech and investing? 2.) How Tim has applied his learnings from investing in funds to investing in startups? 3.) What does Tim look for in co-investors? What are the optimal traits that Tim assesses? 4.) How has Tim seen the early stage investing

Jonathan Pfahl is the Managing Director @ Rockstar Mentoring. The Rockstar Mentoring Group is the UK's Number 1 mentoring organisation for entrepreneurs looking to grow or raise finance. To date, they have helped over 8,000 business owners to gain the insights they need to succeed through tailored and personalised mentoring. Their mentors have sold their own companies for an average of £18 million. In Today's Show We Discuss: 1.) How Jonathan came to found Rockstar? 2.) Why we should care about mentoring? Is it not just another buzzword? What are the tangible benefits? 3.) Why is it imperative to pay your mentor? Why does this create the incentive in the mentored to pursue the activity with passion and rigour? 4.) What are the important things to remember when starting the process of being mentored? Why is it so important to be goal and data driven from the offset? 5.) How should individuals view the mentor personality fit? What should they look for and what should they be wary of? As always, you can lear

John Spindler is the CEO of Capital Enterprise and a key player in establishing a culture of innovation and investment in the blossoming London tech scene. John has had over 15 years’ experience as an entrepreneur and business advisor/consultant and as well as being responsible for the day to day management of Capital Enterprise is also a director and co-owner of audio designer and manufacturer Ferguson Hill. Today We Discuss: 1.) How John made his way into he world of early stage tech investing? 2.) What does it take to establish a culture of entrepreneurialism and innovation? What comes first, startups or funding? 3.) What further challenges does London face to become the central hub for tech? What can be done to further the progress made in the last few years? 4.) How will Brexit affect the London tech and investing scene? Why is John concerned about the potential of Brexit? 5.) What is the roadmap for John with the London co-investment fund? What is John looking for in potential investments? How has hi

Katie is the investment Manager for the 3 innocent drinks founders Rich, Adam and Jon at their Venture Capital/Angel Investment firm JamJar Investments. Katie’s role involves sourcing, managing deal process and working with the portfolio post deal to add strategic insight. JamJar focuses on consumer facing high growth businesses looking for seed/round A funding in both digital and non tech. Katie has previously held roles at Innocent Drinks, the BBC and Hamilton Bradshaw Venture Partners. In the show today we discuss the importance of consumer brand, how to differentiate in a proliferated consumer product market, the benefits of investor specialisation and more. As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

Henry Joseph Grant has extensive experience both in startup operations and mentoring. Having started working as a paperboy at 11, he then went on to work with the likes of Virgin, JustEAT (where he saw the company's hyper growth phase from seed to Series D) to where Henry is today with UNIDays. Alongside this impressive operational career Henry has also been a startup mentor and advisor at the likes of SeedCamp and PiLabs. Due to this connection, he has also made several angel investments adding the strategic value that has been gained from his time in operations. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Henry made his way into the world of Tech and what made Henry want to start angel investing? 2.) What were the main lessons for Henry in watching JustEat scale into hyper growth mode? What did they do right and what did they do wrong? 3.) When comparing Henry's angel investing strategy with other angels in the ecosystem, how does his differ? What does Henry make of hyper aggressive super angels? 4.) How