Super Angel Kirsten Connell talks to us about her career, both before angel investing and since, and the lessons she's learned along the way that have led to her becoming one of the top business angels in the UK with a particular focus on cybertech.

Angel investing lessons learned with Kirsten Connell

Today we had the privilege of chatting with Caroline Halliday, from the Green Angel Syndicate. Caroline has a wealth of experience working with environmentally-minded businesses and investing in cleantech startups. Listen in to learn how she approaches a cleantech investment opportunity.

Investing in Cleantech with Caroline Halliday

Denzel Walters, co-founder for Community Growth Ventures, sat down to chat with us about his professional experience, his approach to angel investing, and the gap in the market in backing diverse founders that led to the founding of Community Growth Ventures.

Backing diverse founders with Denzel Walters

Dr. Silvia Mah, PhD, MBA, is a founding partner of Ad Astra Ventures, Stella Angels, Stella Labs and Women's Venture Summit, and is a prolific angel investor.

The parallels between Molecular Marine Biology and Angel Investing

The incredible Mac Conwell discusses how he got into VC and what drives Rarebreed Ventures. From investor product fit to the value of twitter for networking, and what the next steps are to get more diverse founders backed.

Mac Conwell on what drives Rarebreed Ventures

Matt Lerner is an angel investor, founder of Startup Core Strengths, and tech industry legend. In this episode we delve into what he's learned from helping to build some of the biggest names in the game (Paypal being one), mentoring countless companies scale during his time at 500 startups, and investing in many others.

Matt Lerner - Successful companies do things differently

Nick Jenkins, the founder of Moonpig.com and a former member of BBC's Dragon's Den, joins us on Angel Insights to share what he's learned and how he invests.

From Moonpig.com to Dragon's Den, Nick Jenkins talks angel investing

Srin Madipalli seems to have tried a bit of everything before turning his attention to building a startup. Fortunately all of the insights he'd picked up as a geneticist, lawyer, MBA and self-taught coder came in handy and he ultimately founded Accomable which he then sold to Airbnb. Since his departure from Airbnb he's focused his time on angel investing and mentoring startups. Today he shares some of the lessons he's learned along the way.

Srin Madipalli - Lessons from selling Accomable to Airbnb

Andy Ayim MBE joins us on Angel Insights to discuss all things angel investing and how he finds time to balance family, work, and purpose. From product manager to entrepreneur, to angel investor,  and opening his own angel investing school, Andy is on a mission to make the angel investing pool as diverse as the entrepreneurs starting companies. Andy's journey is filled with drive, self-discovery and a number of insights he shares with us in the episode. Always learning, authentic, humble, and a force of nature for good, if you'd like to learn more about Andy do follow him on Twitter, you will not be disappointed by the knowledge he imparts.

More from SyndicateRoom
The Access EIS fund
Information on EIS
Investing in startups

Andy Ayim MBE chats Angel Investing and Purpose

Hannah Leach, Partner at Houghton Street Ventures & Co-founder at VentureESG, joins us on this exciting episode of Angel Insights where we delve into ESG and what it really boils down to when it comes to startups and Venture Capital.

https://www.syndicateroom.com/eis

Hannah Leach on ESG and why so many get it wrong

David Hickson, part of the founding team at Founders Factory, joins us to give a bit of background on Founders Factory and why they are starting a new Pre-seed B2B SaaS programme and fund when so many others thought B2B SaaS was saturated.

David Hickson on Angel Insights

Join us as we speak all things Hydrogen fuel and climate-tech related with James Milner, CEO of Access portfolio company Wild Hydrogen. Learn how the hydrogen fuels industry has evolved, where it's headed, and why it's such an exciting time to be in the space.

James Milner, CEO of Wild Hydrogen, on Angel Insights

Cocoon was formed through the ⁠⁠Carbon13⁠⁠⁠ venture building programme with the desire to tackle the emissions produced by the world's second most consumed good, concrete.

Eliot Brooks, CEO and Co-founder, joins us to share more about Cocoon's journey and how its product uses a byproduct of steel production to reduce emissions in concrete manufacturing.

If you enjoyed the episode please like and subscribe and head to ⁠⁠www.syndicateroom.com⁠⁠ for more information.

Please note, investing in early-stage companies is risky. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong.


How Cocoon is tackling 7% of global carbon emissions

While carbon dioxide (CO2) often dominates climate discussions, methane plays a disproportionately large role in global warming.
"Methane is a bit like the ugly duckling compared to CO2. It's between 28 and 84 times more potent, which means when it's in the atmosphere, it absorbs much more heat."

We had the privilege of speaking with Louise Parlons Bentata, the CEO and co-founder of Bluemethane. The conversation revealed the surprising scale of the methane problem and how Bluemethane is pioneering innovative solutions to tackle it, turning it from a warming agent into a clean energy.

Find out more about the ⁠Carbon13 SEIS fund⁠ which backed Bluemethane and many companies like it.


Methane: the super warmer gas that everyone's overlooked —and the startup turning it into clean energy

On today's episode, we are joined by Aled Phillips, Co-Managing Director at ⁠Niche Private Clients,⁠ who helps us take an in-depth look at the ⁠Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS)⁠ and ⁠Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS)⁠, their similarities, differences, and when they might be right for your investment strategy.
It's a fascinating discussion that we hope you enjoy. Please do leave a comment or question and we'll do our best to reply.


SEIS or EIS? It shouldn’t be a question of one over the other...

Sonny is a seasoned sales and business development executive with 15 years experience in helping grow technology companies. Sonny is currently Chief Commercial Officer at BitPay, the largest processor of bitcoin in the world. Prior to BitPay, Sonny was VP of Sales at Jumio and is currently an advisor at Lumia Capital. If that wasn’t enough Sonny is also a serial investor himself having invested in TubeMogul at the seed stage up until their IPO in 2014, Narrativ, Jumio, Getaround and many more. 

In today's amazing interview with Sonny we deep dive into 
1.) How Sonny sources potential investments?
2.) What Sonny looks for in co-investors?
3.) How does Sonny deal with the fear of missing an investment?
4.) How has Sonny's investing strategy changed over time?
5.) What is Sonny's favourite investing resource?

As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here:
www.syndicateroom.com

Sonny Singh - missed opportunities and being an active angel

Temperate: The startups building tech that beams heat into space and aims to disrupt the trillion-dollar cooling market
Air conditioning consumes 10% of the world's electricity, a figure set to double by 2050. Is there a better way?
I got the chance to speak with Charlie, founder of Temperate, a UK startup that has developed a revolutionary cooling technology up to 20 times more efficient than standard AC. Their system uses no refrigerants and works by converting heat into light and beaming it directly into space.
Listen to learn how this deep-tech solution, built with materials from a supermarket, is targeting the multi-trillion-dollar data centre and HVAC markets, and why it represents a massive opportunity for early-stage investors.

Temperate: The Tech Beaming Heat Into Space to Disrupt the Cooling Market

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

It Is Time For The Democratisation Of Funding with Paul Dowling @ Dreamstake

Max Kelly is Managing Director of Techstars London for those of you that are not so familiar with Techstars, Techstars is the leading global ecosystem for entrepreneurs to bring new technologies to market helping to create the next generation of amazing startups and prior to joining Techstars, Max had a long background running innovation and entrepreneurship at Virgin. While there, he was responsible for the strategy of the group and for starting several companies which eventually exited for over $500M. Alongside his Virgin commitments, Max also co-founded lastsecondtickets.com which had a successful exit in 2014. 

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.)How did Max make his way into tech and investing? How was his time at Virgin? 
2.) What is Techstars and what is the fundamental differentiator to the plethora of other accelerators that exist? 
3.) What does Max think of Sam Altman’s recent article on the damning nature of incubator hopping? Does he agree? In what situations is it acceptable?
4.) With many companies graduating from Tectstars every batch, how does Max retain the same quality control and level of mentorship for every company?
5.) What is the most common sector prospective Techstars companies are looking to enter? What is the least common? 
6.) How do the VCs play a role in the process? Do some get exclusive access to prior to demo day? What do the best VCs do to make the most out of Techstars? 

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:
            
Fave book: Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Most used app: Citymapper, Voxer, Headspace, 
Fave Blog: CB Insights, The Daily Shop, Exponential View

As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here:
www.syndicateroom.com

and see Max's latest tweets here:
www.syndicateroom.com/maxkellyuk

How Angels Can Optimise The Accelerator Process with Max Kelly @ Techstars London

Russ is an angel and venture investor and non-executive director of a number of high growth businesses. He is also a limited partner in Ariadne Capital’s ACE Fund and an investor in and advisor to Amazing Media Group. Russ is also a board member of the Tech City Advisory Group. Previously, Russ was Vice President & General Manager at Skype with responsibility for its mobile division globally. Russ exited when Skype was sold to Microsoft. Before Skype, Russ was at Telefonica, where he was the Global Innovation Director. This included managing a venture fund and an internal ‘incubation’ initiative. Prior to this role, he was with Telefonica’s O2 mobile business, as Marketing Director, responsible for initiatives such as The O2 venue in London.

In Today’s Episode You Will Hear:

1.) How Russ made his entry into the investing world? What was it that attracted 
2.) What were Russ’ big takeaways from his career investing institutionally? How does he allocate his portfolio in terms of differing asset classes? How much of his angel capital pool does Russ set aside for follow on rounds?
3.) What does Russ believe are the right reasons for founders to be raising money? What does Russ want to hear founders spending angel money on?
4.) How has Russ’ investment decision making process changed when approaching prospective startups to invest in? 
5.) What is the TLA? What is the main purpose and function? What more can London do to become and be seen as the hub of tech behind Silicon Valley that we all so desperately want it to be?  

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Fave startup or investing blog? Huff Post, Tech City News


As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here:
www.syndicateroom.com

and see Russ' latest tweets here:
www.twitter.com/RussShaw1

Investing For The Long Term with Russ Shaw, Founder @ Tech London Advocates

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

'We specialise in product': The Benefits of Specialisation with Katie Leviten @ Jamjar Investments

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 his approach to pattern recognition altered over the last few years?

As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

and John's twitter page here: www.twitter.com/capenterprise

How Will Brexit affect London's Tech & Investment Scene with John Spindler @ Capital Enterprise

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 learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

The Benefits of Mentoring & Why You Should Have One with Jonathan Pfahl @ Rockstar Mentoring

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 ecosystem evolve and develop over the last 10 years? 
5.) What is the English tech environment doing well at and what does it need to improve on?

As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

What Is A Reasonable IRR For Angel Investors with Tim Mills @ British Business Bank

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 with time and with larger cheque sizes? As a result, how important is valuation to Paul when deciding whether to make an investment?
5.) How does one's mindset shift when moving from angel to VC? What are the challenges and what does one need to remember?

As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

and Paul's twitter page is here: www.twitter.com/paul_arnold

Taking A Data Driven Approach To Founder Evaluation with Paul Arnold @ Switch Ventures

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 the macro-economy and the wider economy?

As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

and see Dominic's twitter page here: www.twitter.com/Dom7Wilson

The Maturation of The Seed Funding Environment with Dominic Wilson @ Pi Labs

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

The Ultimate Investor Resource Kit (Series Highlights)

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: www.syndicateroom.com

Angel Insights

What Do Investors Want To See In An Investment Opportunity with Fran O'Brien

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 early stage angel ecosystem in London?

Learn more about SyndicateRoom: www.syndicateroom.com

How To Harness An Early Angel Ecosystem with Jon Lerner, Managing Director @ Smedvig Capital

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 diligence process look life for prospective investments? How do this differ from deal to deal?

What was the hardest element in establishing SoGal Ventures? What would Elizabeth most like to change about the early stage investing world?

Learn more about SyndicateRoom: www.syndicateroom.com

How To Establish Pattern Recognition Entering Investing with Elizabeth Galbut @ SoGal Ventures

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 Meghan view investor value add? Is all money green? 

What would Meghan like to see more of in the early stage angel ecosystem in NYC?

Learn more about SyndicateRoom: www.syndicateroom.com

Why Having A Flexible Cheque Size Can Help In Early Stage with Meghan Cross @ Red Bear Angels

John Alexander is the founder of CBORD group, the world’s leading provider of campus and cashless card systems, food and nutrition service management software, nationwide student discount and off-campus commerce programs, housing and judicial process management software, and integrated security solutions. John founded CBORD in 1975 and led it right through to it’s sale in 2008 which is when he made the move into angel investing. However, John did have venture experience having got involved with Cayuga venture fund as early as 1994. Ernst and Young selected Mr. Alexander as the Upstate New York Technology Entrepreneur of the in 2002. Cornell selected Alexander as its 2012 Entrepreneur of the Year. For more information on John’s incredible career see here (http://www.rbangels.com/team/john-alexander/)

In Today’s Show We Discuss:
How did John make his way into the angel ecosystem?

What does John look for in his co-investors? What gives him confidence when he looks at the cap table?

At what stage does John tend to invest? What does John make of the desire to label every round with specific naming tags? Do they have any meaning?

What level of return would John consider to be reasonable and then what would be a big success? How does John approach exit time horizons?

Do angels have a commitment to follow on? At what stage does this commitmment stop?

Learn more about SyndicateRoom: www.syndicateroom.com

Do Angels Have A Commitment To Follow On with John Alexander @ Red Bear Angels

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?

When an investment is not working, how does Thatcher convey that to the entrepreneur? What does the feedback process look like?

Learn more about SyndicateRoom: www.syndicateroom.com

How To Make The Successful Transition From Operator To Investor with Thatcher Bell

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 give to other angels starting out in the ecosystem? What should they look to learn and what should they try and avoid?

Learn more about SyndicateRoom: www.syndicateroom.com

How Angels Can Ensure Their Voice Is Heard with Nick Lyth @ Green Angels Syndicate

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

The Core Components To Build A Startup Ecosystem with Deb Kemper @ Golden Seeds

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 generate the desired Alpha?

What is Jonathan’s return expectations? How does this differ from sector to sector? How does this differ from the $Bn return expectations of large VCs?

How does Jonathan approach team formation? What does he look for in early stage founders and their team?

What Jonathan looks for in his co-investors? What gives him confidence? What makes him nervous?

Learn more about SyndicateRoom: www.syndicateroom.com

What Happens If The Valuation Is Too High At Angel Stage with Jonathan Hakakian

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

What Is The Difference Between An Institutional Angel Fund & An Angel Network?

In addition to having an enviable angel portfolio, super angel Chris Mairs CBE has held various executive roles at Metaswitch Networks, including a long stint as CTO. He's been the Chairman of Magic Pony Technology, Curon Medical, Phoelex, Board Member at Raspberry Pi, Venture Partner at Entrepreneur First and is a Fellow at the Royal Academy of Engineering.

We had the chance to sit down with Chris and discuss his incredible experience in both his professional life and angel investing.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1) The angel investing trends we should look for in 2021
2) Is there appetite for UK startup from external investors?
3) The difference between working with UK/US tech companies
4) The biggest lessons learnt from having a large portfolio

As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here:
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Angel investing lessons learned with Chris Mairs CBE

We had the opportunity to chat with Super Angel Simon Thorpe about his career, before angel investing and since, and the lessons he's learned along the way that have led to him becoming one of the top business angels in the UK.

Angel investing lessons learned with Simon Thorpe

Angel Insights takes you inside the world of angel investing. Join our host Tom Britton as he chats with the world's most successful investors, to understand their investment strategy, approach to due diligence, and tips that can dramatically improve your approach to investing. 

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Angel Insights

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