Angel Insights | Angel Investing | Crowdfunding

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sarah Turner, co-founder of the incredible Angel Academe, joins us today to discuss the changes she has seen in the angel investing ecosystem over the last decade and shares thoughts on what more needs to be done to bring more women into angel investing.

Dr. Silvia Mah, PhD, MBA, is a founding partner of Ad Astra Ventures, the Director of the Center for Peace & Commerce at the University of San Diego, and a prolific angel investor.

Peter Cowley started life as an engineer but quickly developed a passion for entrepreneurship which has stuck with him his entire career. He fell into angel investing before he really knew what it was all about and soon became a true student of the game.

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.

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.

We had the opportunity to chat with Super Angel Kirsten Connell about her career, 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.

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.

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: www.syndicateroom.com

Beyond being an incredible angel investor, Ros has built an enviable career in telecoms and IT, having been COO at Relish Networks, the Managing Director for broadband at three, and now acting Chair of the UK5G advisory board. We had the chance to sit down with Ros and discuss her incredible experience in both her professional life and angel investing. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1) How to transition into angel investing 2) Should you always invest in what you know? 3) The red flags to look out for when considering investment 4) How is Covid-19 affecting the investing space? As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

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 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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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 data? Learn more about SyndicateRoom: www.syndicateroom.com

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

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, all startups need fantastic PR. So how did Colette Ballou, make her way into the world of angel investing from founding one of Europe’s leading startup PR agencies in Ballou PR? 6.) David Rose is a serial entrepreneur, prolific angel investor, Ted Speaker and multiple author, but how did he first become an angel investor? 7.) An appropriate finish, what is the founding story of Syndicate Room from Tom Britton and what was it about the space that made Tom so excited? Learn more about SyndicateRoom: www.syndicateroom.com

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 storms? Learn more about SyndicateRoom: www.syndicateroom.com and see Colette's twitter here: www.twitter.com/coletteballou

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

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

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

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

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

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 has his time in operations equipped him with the perfect skills to be the strategic advisor to startups? Where do startups most need his help? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Henry's Fave Blog: TechCrunch: Steve O'Hear (http://techcrunch.com/author/steve-ohear/) Henry's Most Recent Investment: Splittable (https://www.splittable.co) As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Henry's twitter page here: www.twitter.com/speirin

Joining me today is our very own Tom Britton, Co-Founder & CTO @ SyndicateRoom, one of the UK’s leading equity crowdfunding platforms having raised £40m in funding for startups last year and having recently raised their own round on their own platform, so a big congrats to them for that and in the show today we discuss the future for crowdfunding in fluctuating credit cycles, why one business is more suitable for crwdfunding than another and the effect of Title III, will it have the ramficiations everyone is expecting? 1.) How did Tom come to co-found SyndicateRoom from a little office in Cambridge? 2.) How will crowd investing perform during a different part of the credit cycle? Does Tom think crowd investing will do well when interest rates rise and defaults rates increase? 3.) What makes a business suitable for crowdfunding vs suitable for VC, and in which case should a business do something like Beaulah did and utilise both? How does Tom compare SyndicateRoom to Angelist? 4.) With the recent announcement of Title III in the US, a friend Ryan Caldbeck, Co-Founder @ CircleUp told me that unaccredited investors would get the worst dealflow as the best startups go to VCs and get funded, those that do not get rejected by them, then go to angels, then go to HNW’s and then when everyone else has rejected them then they go to unaccredited giving them the worst dealflow. What are Tom's thoughts on this and how can we solve for this? 5.) Does Tom see institutional capital entering crowd investing at any point? Would Tom be averse to this? 6.) What does the roadmap look like for the crowdfunding space as a whole in the next 10 years? What are Tom's predictions? Items Mentioned In The Show Today: Tom's Fave Book: Talk Like Ted by Carmine Gallo Tom's Fave Blog: CB Insights, Both Sides Of The Table As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Tom's twitter page here: www.twitter.com/tombritton

Orson Stadler is an investor @ mustardseed. mustardseed seek to enable the creation of world class businesses that generate positive and sustainable outcomes and they do this by connecting influential investors with socially driven entrepreneurs. Orson himself is a former associate at Blackrock and now at mustardseed his responsibilities include fund strategy and operations, as well as an array of other biz dev roles. If you like the show then headover to syndicateroom.com where you can find a whole host of past episodes and articles from the show. Discussed Today: 1.) How Orson came to be an investor in early stage social impact startups? 2.) Why is there so much skepticism towards the ability for both impact investing and LP returns? How does Orson respond to this? 3.) What needs to change in the public's perception of impact investing? How has crowdfunding affected both the seed and impact investing scene? 4.) How mustardseed look to measure the impact their companies are making? What are the metrics that suggest success? 5.) Where does Orson believe the next wave of impact investing will take place? Items Mentioned: Fave Investing Resource: Crowdsurfer Most Recent Investment: Beulah London (https://www.syndicateroom.com/beulah?tab=0#deal) As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Orson's twitter page here: www.twitter.com/orson_stadler

Avin Rabheru is the Founder and CEO of Housekeep (https://housekeep.com), London’s top rated cleaning service which allows you to find and book a local and trusted house cleaner in minutes. Prior to being an entrepreneur, Avin worked in venture capital at Smedvig Capital in London, investing in early stage, high growth companies with an investment range of £2-15m. Throughout both Avin’s operational and VC experience, he has been a prolific angel investor having made over 40 direct investments in the likes Zipcar, Crowdcube and Kabbee just to name a few. In Today's Episode You Will Discover: 1.) How did Avin make his way into the world of startup investing? How did Avin’s mindset alter when comparing his angel investments to his VC investments? 2.) How does Avin decide his capital allocation profile? Does he set aside an initial pool of capital and have a set investment range and set portfolio size he is looking to achieve? 3.) How does Avin look to differentiate himself in the ever increasing angel market? What is the value add? Is the brand important for Avin? 4.) How does Avin go about sourcing companies to invest in? Is Avin a hunter? A referrer? What has Avin found to be the optimal process for deal sourcing? 5.) How does Avin approach the due diligence process of the deal? How does Avin look to deep dive into companies and their teams? Founder evaluation is probably the most important skill an angel can have, how does Avin approach this and how has Avin honed this with time? 6.) What are the biggest mistakes and challenges that Avin has made and faced? How did he combat them and learn from them? How did they influence his thesis? As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Avin's latest tweets here: www.twitter.com/AvinRabheru

David Rose is the Founder & CEO @ Gust, the platform that has allowed $1.8bn to flow through Gust to startups. David himself is a serial entrepreneur having personally raised millions in VC funding and being named a ‘world conquering entrepreneur’ by BusinessWeek. David is also a prolific angel investor himself having invested in over 70 early stage companies and having founded and chairing the New York Angels. It has to also be said that David is a master of the VC pitch and you can check out his incredible Ted talk here. Topics Discussed Today: 1.) How did David make his way into the world of investing in tech startups? 2.) What were David’s biggest lessons from watching the success and achievements of his entrepreneurial father and grandfather? 3.) How has David seen the startup and investing ecosystem evolve over the last few decades? 4.) Is entrepreneurship itself an element that can be taught or is it an innate being within an individual? 5.) What are the commonalities amongst the great angel investors David has worked with and been invested in? Items Mentioned In The Show Today: David’s Fave Investing Resource: Gust.com David S. Rose: Sayings From My Father Angel Investing: The Gust Guide To Making Money and Having Fun Investing In Startups The Startup Checklist: 25 Steps to a Scalable, High-Growth Business As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see David's latest tweets here: www.twitter.com/davidsrose

We have a very special show for you today both in terms of people and organisation. Firstly, we have two guests joining us today in the form of David Barrie, David has created and managed several ventures that have been credited with raising £300m+ of new investment through public-private partnerships. In 2013, David proposed to the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea a seed investment in the foundation of the new Wild Blue angel investment network. David is joined by his investment director Deepali Nangia, who has enjoyed a career spanning the heights of Wall St to the financial hub that is London to founding a business in India. Now the second element that is slightly unusual today is the organization that David founded, Wile Blue Cohort an angel investment network with a specific hyper location focus on West London investing in business close to home. Today's Episode Covers: 1.) How did David and Deepali make their move into the world of investing? 2.) What was the impetus behind the founding of Wild Blue? What were the benefits and then once decided, what were the steps to take to legitimize the process? 3.) A group is like a product, the value is in the users, so how did David and Deepali attain the initial user base? What were the member acquisition channels? How important was the hyperlocality to the success of the angel network? Can you have long distance angel networks that are super effective? 4.) What is the investment thesis, with the social responsibility aspect, how do David and Deepali manage to balance the financial returns with social impact? 5.) What does success look like to David and Deepali with Wild Blue? What potential pitfalls will be encountered and how will David and Deepali combat them? Mentioned Today: Deepali and David's Fave Blog: CB Insights, Term Sheet by Dan Primacy Wild Blue Most Recent Investment: HomeTouch As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

Chris Mairs (https://twitter.com/Chris_mairs) is the chief scientist at Metaswitch where he has seen the company exponential growth over the last few decades including the raise of their first vc money in 2008 with the likes of Sequoia and Francisco partners investing, he is also a prolific angel investor and has an immense portfolio with the likes of MagicPony, SmartUp and Adbrain all being investments of Chris’. Chris is also the chair of Code Club and the UK Forum for Computer Education. Finally to cap it all off he is also a Fellow of the British Computer Society and a Fellow of The Royal Academy of Engineering. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1. How Chris made his way into the world of tech and then later angel investing? 2. What were the lessons that Chris took from his communications with Sequoia and Jim Goetz, that he has applied to his angel investing thesis? 3. Which element of the Metaswitch journey was Chris favourite time of the experience to work in? 4. How was the scaling process for Chris and Metaswitch in terms of hiring and maintaining the Metaswitch company culture? 5. Does Chris apply the same educational focussed hiring strategy to his founder assessment approach when he is angel investing? What does Chris look for in the founders he backs? Items Mentioned Today: Chris' Investments: MagicPony, Adbrain, Tractable As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Chris' latest tweets here: www.twitter.com/Chris_mairs

Simon is an active angel investor in UK companies with a focus on the technology sector. His current portfolio consists of twenty companies and to date has achieved four exits, including the likes of SwiftKey to Microsoft. Simon is also a member of Cambridge Capital Group (CCG) and Angel Academe (a predominately female network), where he is on the advisory board. He participates as a mentor for the University of Manchester, Cambridge Judge Business School's Accelerate Cambridge programme and Angel Academe's female entrepreneur programme. In Today’s Episode We Dive Into: 1.) How Simon made his entry into the investing world? What was it that attracted him to the world of startup investments? 2.) With 4 exits in the last 12 months, how has this affected you mindset to investing? What have been the commonalities when looking at those investments? 3.) At what point can an angel decide not to follow on in a round without providing a negative signaling function? Does it matter if you are the cornerstone investor? 4.) On the flip side of the 4 exits, what has been the most common reason Simon has seen startups fail? What attributes lead to a startup not reaching their potential? 5.) Where do Simon lie on the relationship between growth and revenue? Is revenue always required or can the sole aim of a company be growth? When does a company have to start considering monetisation? Action Points for Today: Fave blog or newsletter: Ben Evans As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Simon's latest tweets here: www.twitter.com/thorpesi

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

Jonathan is a General Partner at Indicator Ventures, however, Jonathan has not always been an early stage investor! After graduating from Yeshiva University, Sy Syms School of Business, Jonathan was the Director of Marketing at Sheets Brand Energy and Sleep Strips, helping launch their national advertising campaign in over 50,000 retail locations. He parlayed his experience into founding Socialosity, a digital marketing agency connecting brands with top-tier celebrities and influencers (LeBron James, Serena Williams, Pitbull, Chris Paul, etc.) through social media. Most recently, he was Co-founder of Kodiak Samurai, a NYC-based social media agency catering to complex global brand clients including Amazon’s Audible.com, Rolling Stone Magazine and Polaroid, among others. In Today’s Episode We Discuss: 1.) How Jon made his way into the world of early stage investing? 2.) What does the Jonathan make of the evolution of social with the rise of the mobile? What does Jonathan think will be the platform for social in the future? 3.) How can angels use social media to assert their presence and thought leadership in an industry? 4.) How can angels bridge the divide of being a thought leader in one industry without losing the deal flow from another? 5.) How can angels build better relationships with current portfolio company founders through different social platforms? Does taking the conversation off email make the relationship deeper? 6.) Tell us about a war story, can you give us a little detail on an investment that went awry, what went wrong and how you changed your style as a result Shopping Basket For The Show Today: Favourite investing blog or newsletter: Launch, Strictly VC Most recent investment: Wade and Wendy As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Jonathan's latest tweets here: www.twitter.com/Struhl

Nancy Fechnay is a Partner @ Flight Ventures where Nancy runs the UK syndicate which now has over 430,000 comitted to the syndicate and Nancy moved to London from Silicon Valley in 2014, having spent time with the likes of Kleiner Perkins and GE Ventures. Now in the UK, Nancy is the Interim Director at Techstars London as well as an advisor to several select UK and U.S. based startups and has a soft spot for wearables and other digital hardware plays, but invests across all sectors. Contained In Today’s Episode: 1.) How Nancy made her entry into the tech and investing world? What was it that attracted Nancy to the world of investments? 2.) Having working in both the US and UK venture scene now, when comparing the US and European scenes what are the biggest differences? Do the entrepreneurs have a fundamentally different mindset? Are UK entrepreneurs more risk averse, as is always suggested? Are investor expectations different in the US? 3.) Does the narrow exit funnel for European startups not concern NancySome suggest that startups must go to the valley if they are to be acquired for $bn plus or have a successful IPO. Does Nancy agree? 4.) Why did Nancy agree to setup Uk Technology by Flight Ventures with Gil Penchina? What is the mission? What is the average investment? Is there a plan to be investing further in Europe in time? 5.) At a talk with the Chicago Angels Network Nancy said that European investors are much more KPI led, in comparison to US investors who follow the passion of the team and the vision? Which side does Nancy fall on and what are the pros and the cons? 6.) What have been Nancy’s biggest takeaways from working with Gil Penchina? Shopping List From Today’s Show: Favourite book and why: Machine Learning: The Art Of Science & Algorithms That Make Sense Of Data by Peter Flach Fave blog or newsletter: The Memo, Term Sheet Most recent investment and why: Lystable As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Nancy's latest tweets here: www.twitter.com/NancyFechnay

Ruzbeh Bacha is the CEO and Founder @ CityFalcon and has worked in finance and strategy roles at KPMG, Nokia, Skype and Microsoft and With more than 15 years of investing and trading experience, he looks for parallels when investing in start-ups, and has invested in more than 10 start-ups since 2013. He also runs London Value Investing Club where members discuss stock investment opportunities and share their investing views and theses. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Ruzbeh made his entrance into the world of startups and investing? 2.) What were the biggest takeaways from working at Skype and how Ruzbeh has applied them to his role at CityFalcon? 3.) What were the hardest elements of starting and then building CityFalcon? What are Ruzbeh’s thoughts on the progression of London’s ecosystem as a fintech hub? Where are we doing well? How could we improve? 4.) What made Ruzbeh want to make the move into the investing world? How has his operational background impacted your investing perspective? 5.) What was the most challenging aspect about making the foray into the world of angel investing? How did Ruzbeh attempt to develop some form of pattern recognition when starting out investing? 6.) How has Ruzbeh honed his investment decision making process over time? Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode: Favourite blog or newsletter: Linkedin NewsFeed Most recent investment: Lobster Media As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Ruzbeth's latest tweets here: www.twitter.com/ruzbehb

Sara is a seed-stage investor in consumer startups at Maven, where she works with 20+ companies in the Maven portfolio and manages the Maven mentor network. Prior to joining Maven, Sara ran early-stage startup programming at The Idea Village, an entrepreneurship engine in New Orleans. While at The Idea Village, she built and managed a team of over 40 employees, contractors, and mentors to deliver direct services to over 1,200 companies. An enthusiastic supporter of entrepreneurs, Sara launched her own business in 2014 to help founders and investors launch and build networks that help startups thrive. She shares some of these experiences in her TEDx talk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uR4-aEk5lQ). In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Sara made her way into the world of tech and investing? 2.) What does Sara believe is the most important value add to startups and portfolio companies? How can investors differentiate themselves from fellow angels? 3.) What does Sara make of the importance of startups for being located in a tech hub? Does it really matter? What are the disadvantages, what are the advantages? How does it affect startup valuations? 4.) What are the determinants of a successful incubator? How can incubators differentiate themselves in the sea of incubators on the west coast? 5.) How can entrepreneurs learn to not get confused and disheartened by the famous investor whiplash? Is it right to hear feedback and not react to it? 6.) What does Sara believe is the optimal way for angels and incubators to act? How can angels get the most from the accelerator process? 7.) What Sara make of Sam Altman’s famous incubator hopping essay, where do Maven stand with regards to multiple accelerator startups? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Fave book and why: The Alchemist Fave Blog or Newsletter: Mattermark Daily Most recent investment and why you said yes: HomeMade As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Sara's latest tweets here: www.twitter.com/saraannet

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

Sean was on the Founding team at Trulia (acq Zillow for $2.5bn), Sean was also the founder and CEO at Sequoia funded, Crunched (acquired by ClearSlide). On the investing side he is an investor at Correlation Ventures and a prominent angel investor in several marketplace companies including SeatGeek, NerdWallet, Zeel, Paintzen, Peach and the home improvement app Smith. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Sean made his start angel investing in startups? 2.)How startups can deal with the mass of advice on offer to them today? What makes a great mentor? What should they look for and what should they be wary of? 3.) What are Sean's views on accelerator alumni? How can investors get early access to accelerator companies pre demo day? 4.)What does Sean make of companies attending multiple accelerators? What are the good reasons and what are the bad? 5.) As an angel investor now, how does Tom determine the 'eye of the tiger' within the entrepreneur? Having worked with many at Techstars, what are the commonalities amongst the successful entrepreneurs? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Sean's Fave Book: Robert Cialdini: Influence Sean's Fave Blog: CB Insights Sean's Most Recent Investment: NerdWallet As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Sean's latest tweets here: www.twitter.com/SeanBlack

Edward Lando is an active angel investor and the founder of Horizons, the coding bootcamp that teaches you to code real products before you graduate. Edward must be considered one of the youngest angels being only 23 years old giving him a unique insight and perspective into the current market. In today’s episode we discuss the pros and cons of having an operator background as an investor, what metrics early stage investors should be honing in on and the commonalities of successful consumer products and for the accompanying article of todays show head on over to synducateroom.com where you can find our investor academy. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Edward made his way into the world of investing and tech? 2.) As a 23 year old investor, what are the benefits of being so young and investng? How does it differentiates Edward? Does it pose any challenges in terms of commanding respect from higher tier VCs or Founders? 3.) What does Edward look for in potential investments? What metrics does Edward focus on when determining the investability of a product? 4.) What are the pros and cons of being both an operator and an investor at the same time? What does Edward find to be the most challenging element? 5.) What are Edward’s thoughts on successful consumer products? What are the commonalities in those that are successful? How important is branding in creating a successful consumer product? As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

Robin Voogd talks about his decision to invest in Racefully. As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

Chris is an active angel and tech entrepreneur as the founder of Voodoo Ventures, a platform that invests in companies and builds out their own products he has invested in several companies across a range of sectors at the very early stage. Furthering this, in 2009 Chris co-founded Launch Pad, a community that provides workspace, mentor network, and educational events to develop the talent in the New Orleans ecosystem. Prior to LaunchPad, Chris also co-founded Flatstack, a software development company with offices in Kazan, Russia and New Orleans that builds applications for clients worldwide. Before we dive into the show do not forget to check out the accompanying article to the show today discussing the 2 different types of angels and what works best for what type of company. It is a fascinating read and you can find that on syndicateroom.com. However, enough from me so it is now time to welcome the man himself, Chris Shultz, Founder @ LaunchPad. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Chris made his way into the world of investing and startups? 2.) What are the main benefits for Chris of collaboration both in the working space and the investing realm? Is there anything that can be done to maximize the effectiveness of this type of working from the investor perspective? 3.) What is Chris’ investment strategy? How does he approach deal flow? What is his filtering methods? 4.) In the past Chris has discussed 2 different types of investors, engineers vs financiers. What are these two different types of investors? Which one is right for which business? 5.) Chris has written about the abundance of solutions provided to white people problems. What does he mean by this and where does he see potential for true problem solving ability on a much wider scale? 6.) Finally I would love to discuss one of my fave topics in the world of pitching and investing and that is FOMO. So how does Chris create it for the investor as an entrepreneur and how does he as an investor stay cautious and aware that FOMO can misguide him when investing? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Chris’ Fave Startup Investing Resource: Paul Singh, 500 Startups Chris’ Most Recent Investment: 86co As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Chris' latest tweets here: www.twitter.com.cschultz