Podcasts about syndicateroom

Jonathan Milner's second Invested Investor podcast details his experience as Cambridge Angel. Since he began in 2002 he has invested in forty different companies, very often leading deals as well. In this episode he shares his most important tips learned from an extensive entrepreneurial and investing history: from shouldering the burden of turning around a company in dire straits, to simplifying the decision of who to invest in.  To read the podcast transcription please CLICK HERE - Powered by Speechmatics Jonathan, co-Founder and currently Deputy Chairman of Abcam plc, is an entrepreneur and investor and is passionate about supporting UK life science and high-tech start-ups. He has provided considerable investment and support to over 40 companies and has assisted three technology companies to IPO on the London AIM Stock exchange. Jonathan gained his doctorate in Molecular Genetics at Leicester University after graduating in Applied Biology at Bath. From 1992–95, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Bath, following which he worked at the University of Cambridge in the lab of Professor Tony Kouzarides researching the molecular basis of breast cancer. He identified the market opportunity for supplying high-quality antibodies to support protein interaction studies, and in 1998, founded Abcam with David Cleevely and Professor Tony Kouzarides. Jonathan is also a non-executive director of Repositive, HealX and Syndicate Room. He is also Chairman of Axol Bioscience, Cambridge Allergy Therapy, and PhoreMost. In 2015 Jonathan, with Professor Tony Kouzarides, co-founded the Milner Therapeutics Institute at the University of Cambridge. Also in 2015 he co-founded, with Professor Laurence Hurst, the Milner Institute for Evolution at the University of Bath. Produced by Mark Cotton, Twitter. Podcast links: Cambridge Angels - a leading UK business angel network with international connections. Abcam - assay kits, reagents, and antibodies. An innovator in reagents and tools, they provide the research and clinical communities with tools and scientific support. SyndicateRoom - connecting ambitious investors with the country's most trailblazing companies. The Milner Therapeutics Institute - at the University of Cambridge is dedicated to the conversion of groundbreaking science into therapies. Milner Centre for Evolution - a unique, cross-faculty research centre atthe University of Bath bridging biology, health, and education. About Peter Cowley Peter Cowley, a Cambridge university technology graduate, founded and ran over a dozen businesses in technology and property over the last 40 years. He has built up a portfolio of 75 angel investments with nine good exits (including one that is 107X his investment and returned all the cash he has invested) and thirteen failures. He is a board member of the Global Business Angel Network (GBAN), President Emeritus of the European Business Angel Network (EBAN), former chair of the Cambridge Business Angels and was UK Angel of the Year 2014. He has mentored hundreds of entrepreneurs and is on the board of nine startups. In 2011, he founded and ran Martlet: a Corporate VC, investing (currently £10M) from the balance sheet of Marshall, a £2.5bn revenue Cambridge engineering company. He is a fellow in Entrepreneurship at the Cambridge Judge Business School and is on the investment committee of the UK Angel Co-fund. He has also had 16 years' experience as chair, treasurer and trustee of the boards of seven charities. With his son, Alan, Peter is sharing his and others' experience and anecdotes in order to educate angels and entrepreneurs via The Invested Investor which publishes two books and 75+ podcasts. A selection of Invested Investor podcasts are republished here on the Entrepreneurship and Leadership channel on the NBN. This is one of them. Peter is a public speaker on entrepreneurship and angel investing throughout the world. Linkedin Peter's webpage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/entrepreneurship-and-leadership

Jonathan Milner's second Invested Investor podcast details his experience as Cambridge Angel. Since he began in 2002 he has invested in forty different companies, very often leading deals as well. In this episode he shares his most important tips learned from an extensive entrepreneurial and investing history: from shouldering the burden of turning around a company in dire straits, to simplifying the decision of who to invest in.  To read the podcast transcription please CLICK HERE - Powered by Speechmatics Jonathan, co-Founder and currently Deputy Chairman of Abcam plc, is an entrepreneur and investor and is passionate about supporting UK life science and high-tech start-ups. He has provided considerable investment and support to over 40 companies and has assisted three technology companies to IPO on the London AIM Stock exchange. Jonathan gained his doctorate in Molecular Genetics at Leicester University after graduating in Applied Biology at Bath. From 1992–95, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Bath, following which he worked at the University of Cambridge in the lab of Professor Tony Kouzarides researching the molecular basis of breast cancer. He identified the market opportunity for supplying high-quality antibodies to support protein interaction studies, and in 1998, founded Abcam with David Cleevely and Professor Tony Kouzarides. Jonathan is also a non-executive director of Repositive, HealX and Syndicate Room. He is also Chairman of Axol Bioscience, Cambridge Allergy Therapy, and PhoreMost. In 2015 Jonathan, with Professor Tony Kouzarides, co-founded the Milner Therapeutics Institute at the University of Cambridge. Also in 2015 he co-founded, with Professor Laurence Hurst, the Milner Institute for Evolution at the University of Bath. Produced by Mark Cotton, Twitter. Podcast links: Cambridge Angels - a leading UK business angel network with international connections. Abcam - assay kits, reagents, and antibodies. An innovator in reagents and tools, they provide the research and clinical communities with tools and scientific support. SyndicateRoom - connecting ambitious investors with the country's most trailblazing companies. The Milner Therapeutics Institute - at the University of Cambridge is dedicated to the conversion of groundbreaking science into therapies. Milner Centre for Evolution - a unique, cross-faculty research centre atthe University of Bath bridging biology, health, and education. About Peter Cowley Peter Cowley, a Cambridge university technology graduate, founded and ran over a dozen businesses in technology and property over the last 40 years. He has built up a portfolio of 75 angel investments with nine good exits (including one that is 107X his investment and returned all the cash he has invested) and thirteen failures. He is a board member of the Global Business Angel Network (GBAN), President Emeritus of the European Business Angel Network (EBAN), former chair of the Cambridge Business Angels and was UK Angel of the Year 2014. He has mentored hundreds of entrepreneurs and is on the board of nine startups. In 2011, he founded and ran Martlet: a Corporate VC, investing (currently £10M) from the balance sheet of Marshall, a £2.5bn revenue Cambridge engineering company. He is a fellow in Entrepreneurship at the Cambridge Judge Business School and is on the investment committee of the UK Angel Co-fund. He has also had 16 years' experience as chair, treasurer and trustee of the boards of seven charities. With his son, Alan, Peter is sharing his and others' experience and anecdotes in order to educate angels and entrepreneurs via The Invested Investor which publishes two books and 75+ podcasts. A selection of Invested Investor podcasts are republished here on the Entrepreneurship and Leadership channel on the NBN. This is one of them. Peter is a public speaker on entrepreneurship and angel investing throughout the world. Linkedin Peter's webpage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonathan Milner's second Invested Investor podcast details his experience as Cambridge Angel. Since he began in 2002 he has invested in forty different companies, very often leading deals as well. In this episode he shares his most important tips learned from an extensive entrepreneurial and investing history: from shouldering the burden of turning around a company in dire straits, to simplifying the decision of who to invest in.  To read the podcast transcription please CLICK HERE - Powered by Speechmatics Jonathan, co-Founder and currently Deputy Chairman of Abcam plc, is an entrepreneur and investor and is passionate about supporting UK life science and high-tech start-ups. He has provided considerable investment and support to over 40 companies and has assisted three technology companies to IPO on the London AIM Stock exchange. Jonathan gained his doctorate in Molecular Genetics at Leicester University after graduating in Applied Biology at Bath. From 1992–95, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Bath, following which he worked at the University of Cambridge in the lab of Professor Tony Kouzarides researching the molecular basis of breast cancer. He identified the market opportunity for supplying high-quality antibodies to support protein interaction studies, and in 1998, founded Abcam with David Cleevely and Professor Tony Kouzarides. Jonathan is also a non-executive director of Repositive, HealX and Syndicate Room. He is also Chairman of Axol Bioscience, Cambridge Allergy Therapy, and PhoreMost. In 2015 Jonathan, with Professor Tony Kouzarides, co-founded the Milner Therapeutics Institute at the University of Cambridge. Also in 2015 he co-founded, with Professor Laurence Hurst, the Milner Institute for Evolution at the University of Bath. Produced by Mark Cotton, Twitter. Podcast links: Cambridge Angels - a leading UK business angel network with international connections. Abcam - assay kits, reagents, and antibodies. An innovator in reagents and tools, they provide the research and clinical communities with tools and scientific support. SyndicateRoom - connecting ambitious investors with the country's most trailblazing companies. The Milner Therapeutics Institute - at the University of Cambridge is dedicated to the conversion of groundbreaking science into therapies. Milner Centre for Evolution - a unique, cross-faculty research centre atthe University of Bath bridging biology, health, and education. About Peter Cowley Peter Cowley, a Cambridge university technology graduate, founded and ran over a dozen businesses in technology and property over the last 40 years. He has built up a portfolio of 75 angel investments with nine good exits (including one that is 107X his investment and returned all the cash he has invested) and thirteen failures. He is a board member of the Global Business Angel Network (GBAN), President Emeritus of the European Business Angel Network (EBAN), former chair of the Cambridge Business Angels and was UK Angel of the Year 2014. He has mentored hundreds of entrepreneurs and is on the board of nine startups. In 2011, he founded and ran Martlet: a Corporate VC, investing (currently £10M) from the balance sheet of Marshall, a £2.5bn revenue Cambridge engineering company. He is a fellow in Entrepreneurship at the Cambridge Judge Business School and is on the investment committee of the UK Angel Co-fund. He has also had 16 years' experience as chair, treasurer and trustee of the boards of seven charities. With his son, Alan, Peter is sharing his and others' experience and anecdotes in order to educate angels and entrepreneurs via The Invested Investor which publishes two books and 75+ podcasts. A selection of Invested Investor podcasts are republished here on the Entrepreneurship and Leadership channel on the NBN. This is one of them. Peter is a public speaker on entrepreneurship and angel investing throughout the world. Linkedin Peter's webpage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-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: 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

This week, Daniel Stack, Head of Engagement at Innovate Finance chats to Tom Britton, Co Founder at SyndicateRoom. Tune in every Friday for the latest episode of Coffee with Innovate Finance! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/innfin/message

Goncalo de Vasconcelos is the co-founder of SyndicateRoom, a multi-award winning UK online equity investing platform. In this podcast, Goncalo talks openly with Peter Cowley about growing SyndicateRoom using the philosophy 'hire slowly, fire fast', why Invested Investor's are paramount to each company's listing on the website and the advice he has to entrepreneurs looking to raise funding.  Gonçalo is the CEO and co-founder of multi-award winning online investment platform SyndicateRoom and was considered one of the Top 10 most influential people in tech in the UK at the Tyto Tech 500 Power List, as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in fintech in Europe. He is a contributor for Forbes, a speaker and panellist at leading industry events on topics including equity crowdfunding, entrepreneurship, fintech, corporate finance, business angel investment and venture capital investment. Goncalo regularly contributes or is featured in the media including BBC, Forbes, Financial Times and The Sunday Times amongst others. A serial entrepreneur himself, Gonçalo is only too aware of the long path leading to a successful funding round which is why he is so determined to help entrepreneurs achieve their full potential. Gonçalo pioneered the investor-led™ model in the UK, opening up access to exclusive deals that professionals are investing in. SyndicateRoom is an equity investment platform that allows investors to access companies throughout their entire equity journey, from early stage private companies to premium segment listings on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. His leadership of SyndicateRoom is driven by his vision for fair and transparent access to investments by all investors – big and small, institutional and private investors.  Gonçalo is an alumnus of Imperial College London (awarded distinction) and has an MBA from Judge Business School, University of Cambridge where he was awarded awards for academic and professional achievements. In his spare time Gonçalo cycles long distances, plays tennis and, when in warmer climates, sails with his wife whenever there is half a chance. Produced by Mark Cotton.

Tom Britton, CTO and Co-Founder of SyndicateRoom talks about Fund Twenty8 - A unique Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) tracker fund which uses technology to harness investment decisions. The USP of the fund is - it is open for retail investors and offers tax relief. The other key topic discussed is “rise of the growth hunters” - a report which talks about the huge wealth creation in the UK in 2018 from investing in early stage companies. #Fund Twenty8, #SyndicateRoom, #EIS, #fund, #investing, #markets, #MasterInvestor, #UK

James Faulkner, Editorial Director at Master Investor informs Tip TV CEO Nick Batsford about Jim Mellon’s bearish view on the UK housing market. Jim Mellon, arguably the UK's most successful private investor, is an author at Master Investor and sees a 20% fall in the housing values - pretty much across the board but more so in London. Faulkner also talks about the featured article of the month, which is centered on a company called Syndicate Room. Listen to the full show to know what’s in the offing in the latest issue of Master Investor. #MasterInvestor, #JimMellon, #trading, #investing, #UK, #housingmarket, #London, #SyndicateRoom

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

David Ford has been an active investor in the public markets. However, in the past 12 months David has been gaining experience angel investing in a variety of startups from the £2m-£10m valuation range. Prior to becoming a full time angel investor, David worked for a leading global leveraged finance investor, backing a variety of LBOs and investing across a range of asset classes, including Senior Debt, High Yield bonds, and PIK securities. He was latterly Head of Credit Research for Europe, as well as sitting on the European, AsiaPacific, and US Investment Committees. David also got an early taste for the tech ecosystem, in the early 2000s David was on secondment to the San Francisco office and experienced first hand the boom and bust of Silicon Valley! In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How David made your entry into the investing world? What was it that attracted you to the world of investments? 2.) What was David’s primary method of deal sourcing as a hobbyist angel and how has that transitioned now he is a full time angel? 3.) How has David found the transition coming from a professional investing background? What is the biggest surprise for David on entering the industry full time? 4.) What does David believe makes a great lead investor? What is required to carry out the round successfully? 5.) When looking back at the experience starting out what were the biggest pitfalls David faced? How did he overcome them? 6.) What have been the biggest takeaways from David’s 1st year full time angel investing? How has David’s strategy and investing thesis changed over the year? Items Mentioned In The Show Today: David’s Fave Blog: Biotech and Money (http://biotechandmoney.com) David’s Most Recent Investment: Smart Surgical (http://smart-surgical.com) As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

Jake Gibson is a prolific angel investor in SF whose investments include the likes of Datafox, Meadow, the new on demand delivery service for marijuana and TripleByte, the amazing recruitment platform for engineers co-founded by YC’s own Harj Taggar. Prior to his transition into investing Jake co-founded NerdWallet, a startup focused on offering price-comparison tools for financial products where he is to this day an advisor and if that was not enough he is also a mentor with our good friends, 500 startups. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Jake made his way into entrepreneurship and made the transition into the world of investing? 2 2.) Why did Jake decide not to take external money when growing Nerd Wallet? What does Jake think are the pros and cons of bootstrapping? 3.) What was it that attracted Jake to the world of investing? In the opening days, how did Jake operate as an angel? What was Jake’s deal sourcing like? 4.) Why has Jake decided to have a sector diverse approach when it comes to investing? Does Jake think investor specialization can be beneficial? 5.) Looking back at your time investing, has there been a pareto’s principle happening? Has 20% of the work produced 80% of the results? If so, what 20% was that and how do you plan to further increase this segment? 6.) How does Jake aim to differentiate himself from the mass of other angels? How important do Jake believe angel personal branding is? Has differentiation been the hardest aspect of the investing experience for Jake? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Jake’s Fave Book: Leaving Microsoft To Change The World Jake’s Fave News Source: Twitter Jake’s Most Recent Investment: Meadow As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Jake's latest tweets here: www.twitter.com/iamjakestream

Ben Wiener is the Managing Partner @ Jumpspeed Ventures, self proclaimed to have raised one of the smallest first funds ever with a first fund of $251,000. Due to the immense success of Ben’s first fund he has gone on to raise a further fund 10X the size of the 1st fund. Today is a super interesting interview with Ben in revealing the benefits of having a very tailored and niche approach to investing and choosing one particular segment of the market and nailing it and Ben has clearly done that with Jumpspeed. Do not forget to head over to the site at www.syndicateroom.com to read the accompanying article from our episode with Ben. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Ben made his entry into the investing world? 2.) Why did Ben decide to be so location focused? Does he fear missing out on deals outside of Jerusalem? How is the current tech market in Jerusalem? 3.) When investing at such an early stage, what does Ben look for in prospective investments with very little KPI’s to go on? 4.) Why did Ben choose to adopt the Betaworks model of a startup studio entrenched within a venture fund? 5.) How important does Ben believe proximity to his investments is? Can long distance investments be sustainable and efficient? 6.) Ben reveals a war story, where he reveals what is going wrong, how it has altered his investing style and how he plans to resolve the situation? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Ben’s Fave Book: Traction by Gabriel Weinberg, The European Discovery of America Ben’s Fave Blog: Mattermark Daily, CB Insights, Jerry Newman, Leo Polovets, Mobile Fix by Simon Andrews Ben’s Most Recent Investment: Exigence As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Ben's latest tweets here: www.twitter.come/BeninJLM

Keith Wallace is a Partner @ The Investors Club, Keith is a Scotsman with a passion for Europe. After graduation he started his first consulting company and ended up in the heyday the DotCom. When the Internet bubble burst , he moved to New York with a new mission: to help fellow-entrepreneurs avoid the “burn-rate” trap he himself had fallen victim to. Together with friends, Keith started investing and soon became a part of one of the Netherlands largest networks of informal investors, leading him to found De Investeerdersclub – “Hollands most informal investors club”, together with Martijn Blom and Gert van Veldhuisen. Keith has extensive experience is setting up companies, bootstrapping, coaching, and pre-seed capital and financing. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) Now I would love to kick off today’s show by hearing how you made your way into the world of investing to become as you call an informal investor? How did the bubble burst really affect you and your mindset on the market? Now can you explain to me what an informal investor is really? 2.) Now you are a partner at de invesdeers club, the most informal angel group in the Netherlands so talk to me a little about that, what your mission is, any sector or stage preferences? Having partner on this, you clearly believe group investing is extremely beneficial for investors, what do you think are the key benefits? What makes one individual a particularly good member of the group? 3.) Moving out slightly from the club, what are your views on the European tech market as a whole today? Many cite a lacking exit funnel for bn dollar exits with little acquirers and an IPO market that is not producing the goods. 4.) On the fundraising side of the business now, you have said before that too many startups look to funding, subsidies or investors for money. Instead, they should look to their customers, why do you say that? Are there any caveats to this? As an angel, would you recommend for a follow on they look to their crowd in a reddit style way? 5.) You have also said that Dutch people are not particularly good at pitching? Why? What do they do wrong and then what do you want to see in the pitch? Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode: Keith Fave Book: Effectual Entrepreneurship As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Keith's latest tweets here: www.twitter.comkaldw and see The Investors Club's tweets here: www.twitter.com/deinvestclub

I am delighted to welcome Alexandre Covello to the show today. Alexandre is an active tech investor and startup mentor. He is the Founder and CEO of AngelsCube, an innovative investment platform dedicated to institutional investors focused on technology investments. He is a Member of the Board of the Harvard Business School Angels Club of London where he co-chairs the screening committee. Prior to founding AngelsCube, and for the past 15 years, Alexandre advised institutional investors on their global private equity allocations. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Alexandre made his entry into the tech world? What was it that attracted Alexandre to the world of investments? 2.) As an angel you are at the very beginning stages of a companies life cycle so what is your deal sourcing looking like these days? Does this differ to how you source deals for the AngelsCube platform? 3.) What are the key activities that Angelscube engage in to ensure their companies are ready for the VC funding stage? What are the requirements? 4.) As Co-Chair of the Screening Committee for HBS Angels Club London, what metrics or KPI’s does it take to impress Alexandre and progress through the screening phase? 5.) What are Alexandre’s thought on crowdfunding? How has Alexandre seen crowdfunding disrupt the early stage startup funding environment? 6.) What would Alexandre say your biggest challenge is as an angel and then for AngelsCube as a platform and how do you attempt to combat it to minimize the effects? Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode: Alexandre’s Fave Book: Homer, Illiad and The Oddysey, Bluffer’s Guide To Running Your Own Business Alexandre’s Most Recent Investment: eRevalue As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Alexandre's latest tweets here: www.twitter.com/Angels_Cube

Julian Ranger has been an Angel Investor since 2007 and an entrepreneur since he formed his first business, STASYS in 1986. Which he sold to Lockheed Martin in 2005. Julian was responsible for the growth of STASYS to a £17M+ business with 230 staff, with subsidiaries in USA, Germany, Australia and Malaysia prior to sale to Lockheed Martin. Julian Left Lockheed Martin in June 2007, and has been an angel investor in many businesses, mainly technical in focus, including such successful businesses such as Astrobotic, Hailo and Datasift. If that wasn’t enough Julian also founded an Innovation Hub, iBundle, which has been responsible for a number of new businesses, and is the current Founder and Chairman @ Digime. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Julian made his entry into the tech world? What was it that attracted him to the world of investments? 2.) Having spent years in the operations business, how has this affected Julian’s investing style? 3.) What does Julian think about part time angel investors? Does he think the most successful angels are those that are full time and why? Julian now runs Digi.me and has stopped accepting inbound investments, why is that, do he miss the angel investing aspect? 4.) How was the fundraising process for Digi.me having been an investor for several years prior, what was it like for Julian being on the other side of the table? 5.) Julian was a seed investor in Hailo back in 2011, so how did that come about, what stage was the business at, what got you excited about the offering? 6.) Talking about getting excited by companies and metrics, are there any KPI’s in particular that you like to deep dive on to determine the growth potential of a company? Any that concern you? Items Mentioned In Todays Show: Julian’s Fave Blog: AVC by Fred Wilson As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Julian's latest tweets here: www.twitter.com/rangerj

Paul Dowling is the Founder and CEO at Dreamstake, which is a major funding platform for tech startups their vision is to democratise the whole tech startup process by harnessing the web to link entrepreneurs with the support and funding they need. Dreamstake provides startup education through the free Dreamstake Academy and funding through syndication on the platform. They are advocates of The Lean Startup methodology and believe in supporting startups as they go through the various stages. We support funding up to approx. $2M. If that wasn’t enough, Paul is also the Co-Founder at Hoxtech Angels an investment club for techstartups that we discuss in much greater length in today’s interview. So without further ado it gives me great pleasure to welcome Paul Dowling, Founder and CEO at Dreamstake. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Paul made his entry into the tech world? What was origin story for DreamStake? 2.) When Paul first meets a founder, what is his line of questioning? What does Paul look for in that first meeting that shows they have the potential to be a very successful company essentially? 3.) What metrics does Paul use to determine whether a startup is ready for investment? How does Paul decide how much a startup should raise? 4.) What is Paul’s vision for the space in the next few years? What are the areas we can expect to see disrupted? 5.) What is the mission with Hoxtech Angels? Why should angels come and see for themselves? Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode Paul’s Fave Book: War and Peace Paul’s Fave Blog or Newsletter: Mattermark As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Paul's latest tweets here: www.twitter.com/paulmdowling

James Routledge is most definitely a founder at heart having founded MatchChat and Seedcamp incubated NowNative. However, he has made the move into the investing world and is now Partner at one of the UK’s largest AngelList Syndicate’s, the famous Doug Scott’s potential syndicate, who invest in extremely early stage companies. In the episode we discuss their investing thesis, their DD process, why startups now need 2 seed rounds and much more. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How James made his entry into the investing world? What was it that attracted him to investing? 2.) What is the background of the Potential Syndicate? How does it run? What is the average investment? Are there any preferred sectors or locations? 3.) As a syndicate what does Potential’s deal sourcing look like? At such an early stage how do Potential find and hunt the best deals and entrepreneurs? 4.) What are the KPIs that Potential deep dive on? What metrics get them excited? 5.) What does James think makes a great investment lead? What are the benefits are of this collaborative model of investing? What are the challenges? 6.) As a syndicate and thinking of angels also, how can angels and syndicates work with VCs to encourage further development in the ecosystem? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: James’ Fave Blog: Fred Wilson: AVC, Paul Graham, Paul Smith: Ignite As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see James' latest tweets here: www.twitter.com/jdroutledge1

Heather Cabot is Co-Founder of GeekGirl Rising, which aims to unleash the power of women in tech, she is also an active angel investor and a former ABC News correspondent and anchor with more than twenty years of experience as an on-air reporter. Since 2007, she has served as a digital trends expert for Yahoo!, appearing regularly on TV including, "Today", CNN, MSNBC. If that was not enough Heather is also a Professor at Columbia Journalism School and you can find her writing at www.heathercabot.com and you can learn more about geek girl rising at www.geekgirlrising.com. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn; 1.) How did Heather get into the investing world? 2.) Where does Heather see the future of media and journalism? What does Heather make of the emerging revenue models in media with the ever disappearing ad dollar. 3.) With the likes of Buzzfeed we are seeing a lot of disruption. What does Heather make of this movement? Are we heading to a shorter form of media consumption? 4.) What prompted the creation of GeekGirlRising and ultimately what is Heather’s vision for the organisation? What more can be done to encourage gender equality in both the tech and investing scene? 5.) What is Heather’s attitude to the emerging model of syndicated investing? What does Heather feel is the benefits of these networks? 6.) Now I would love to delve into a good old war story from investing. What went wrong and how has Heather’s approach or strategy altered as a result? Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode: Heather’s Fave Blog: The MashUp Americans If you liked today's episode with Heather, we would love for you to share the episode on Twitter by clicking here (http://ctt.ec/BbX95) “Angel Insights would like to thank Plantronics, who kindly supply the Voyager Edge UD headsets that our investors use during interviews” As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

Peter Cowley is an entrepreneur and very active angel investor with a degree in Engineering/Computing from Cambridge University, Peter has founded and run technology and construction businesses for 35+ years and, since then, has angel invested in over 45 start-ups in Cambridge and London. He is a non-executive director of five of those. Peter is also a board member of the Cambridge Angels, and has mentored countless entrepreneurs. He setup and now runs the Martlet start-up investment fund of Marshall of Cambridge and is a Fellow in Entrepreneurship of the Cambridge Judge Business School. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Peter made his entry into the investing world and what it was that attracted him to investing? 2.) What are Peter's most effective methods of deal sourcing? How does he find the great companies in his portfolio? 3.) Does Peter have a criteria for investment? What does his DD look like prior to investing in a company? 4.) Once invested does Peter believe angels have a moral obligation to follow on? If so, why? 5.) What are Peter's thoughts on flat rounds? What are the signals that an investor should look for to show that enough has been done to make the flat round worth investing in? 6.) Are there any signs that an investor should take as reason to be worried and not invest in the round? 7.) How do investors make sure, once they have decided to invest in a flat round that the founders stay motivated and keep the team motivated? As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

Ron Petersen is the Co-Founder and Investment Partner @ Longbow Capital where he provides management assistance to portfolio companies, while reviewing new business opportunities and investment portfolios. With more than 4 decades of industrial management experience and 20 years managing global businesses, one would be hard pushed to find someone with more knowledge or experience than Ron. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Ron made his way into the investing world? 2.) How can angel investors provide genuine management experience to portfolio companies? 3.) How does Ron believe the crowdfunding industry needs to be regulated? 4.) What does Ron believe it will take for the universe of crowdfunding and it’s investors to continue to grow? Is there a chance it might not, if so, what might happen? 5.) Is there a pressing need for exits from the crowdfunding industry to prove the effectiveness of the model or does Ron think the progression to follow on rounds is enough? 6.) How does Ron personally feel towards the syndicated investment model? What are the benefits of co-investing with other people? 7.) Ron reveals a good old war story, went wrong and how his approach or strategy has altered as a result? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Calon Cardio (https://www.syndicateroom.com/about-us/success-stories/calon-cardio) As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com “Angel Insights would like to thank Plantronics, who kindly supply the Voyager Edge UD headsets that our investors use during interviews”

Paul Townsend is currently Managing director at Vitesse PSP and a Non Executive Director with Saxo Bank, following over 20 years’ experience in mainstream banking with Warburgs and Bank of New York, plus 15 years in electronic payments with Earthport plc, Neteller, Envoy and Worldpay. Before co-founding Vitesse, Paul was Founder and COO of Envoy Services Ltd. He is also a prolific angel investor with investments in the likes of Kwanji, veridu, proxama and many more. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Paul make his entry into the world of angel investing? 2.) With such strong experience in banking, how does Paul view the seed stage Fintech environment? 3.) What are Paul’s thoughts on bitcoin and why are banks so skeptical to it’s mass adoption? 4.) With extensive experience in the mobile payments space, where does Paul see room for innovation in mobile payments? Is it a monopoly market with the likes of Square and Izettle? 5.) Paul is also an LP to MMC Ventures, so why are institutional investors in the UK more skeptical to fund allocation towards VC, than say the states? What can be done to improve this distortion? 6.) Paul reveals some war stories from his past investments and how they have altered his strategy to investing? Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: FlyPay (http://flypay.it) , MMC Ventures(http://www.mmcventures.com), Veridu(https://veridu.com), Kwanji (https://kwanji.com), Gousto (https://www.gousto.co.uk) If you enjoyed the show today please do share the episode on Twitter by simply clicking this link: http://ctt.ec/gYXb1 As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com “Angel Insights would like to thank Plantronics, who kindly supply the Voyager Edge UD headsets that our investors use during interviews”

Willie Biggart is the Chairman @ Spoonfed, a startup on the cusp of 2 extremely hot sectors, SaaS and food. Spoonfed offers a new way for catering companies and restaurants to take advantage of the growing corporate food drop off market. They are currently raising a £500,000 round on SyndicateRoom, which you can check out here! With regards to Willie himself, Willie founded his own business, BD Network in 1990 and exited in 2002 and BD Ntwk is now one of Europe’s largest marketing agencies. Since 1990 Willie has started, developed and sold 3 businesses. CLICK TO PLAY In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Willie make his move into the entrepreneurial path and come to be Chairman of Spoonfed? 2.) Why does Willie believe it is more beneficial to have SaaS based businesses rather than people based businesses? 3.) Often the hardest problem for SaaS businesses is finding their first customers, how did Willie go about getting Spoonfed's initial user base? 4.) What strategies did Willie undertake to try and understand what features his customers wanted and then how to attract them? 5.) Why does Willie believe the food tech space has seen explosive growth, both in the UK and the US? 5.) Having invested and raised money in the seed round of the funding cycle, both as investor and operator, what advice would Willie give for founders entering a seed round. Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: SpoonFed's Current Fundraising Campaign on SyndicateRoom Willie's Fave Book: Eric Ries: The Lean Startup, The E-Myth Revisited Willie's Blog or Newsletter: Kenny Fraser, Sunstone Communications As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC, Ashish and LawTrades on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Instagram here!  

Clifford Dennett was the Founder & CEO at SoshiGames, where he secured commercial deals with the band Queen, Universal Music and Sony, led a team to create online and mobile experiences with over 1.3m users, raised £1.3m in funding, tripled revenues per paying user and built a strong pipeline of future business. Despite these many successes, with the ever increasing competition in the gaming market and significant changes to Facebook and social media algorithms, Soshi Games went into liquidation earlier this year. In today’s interview with Cliff we discuss the changing landscape of tech and gaming, the failure of startups in general and with Soshi and then how to handle investors when dealing with the liquidation of a company. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) Clifford explains the origins of Soshi Games and his a-ha moment for getting the company started? 2.) What were the fundamental determinants that caused the demise of Soshi? 3.) How prominent were the likes of Facebook algorithms to the success of Soshi’s business? 4.) How was the fundraising experience for Soshi? Were there any surprising or challenging elements? 5.) How does it feel as a founder to have a failed venture with investor money? 6.) Is there anything that Clifford wished someone had told him at the beginning of the journey? What would Clifford have done differently if he were to start Soshi again? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Cliff’s Fave Blog or Newsletter: Brainpickings (https://www.brainpickings.org) Soshi’s Musical Partnerships: Lawson, Queen As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Harry Stebbings' latest tweets here: www.twitter.com/HarryStebbings

Josh Maher is the president of Seattle Angel, with 20 years of experience investing, building and growing technology startups. Recently, Josh has released his new book, Startup Wealth: How The Best Angels Make Money In Startups (http://www.amazon.com/Startup-Wealth-Angel-Investors-Startups-ebook/dp/B0149G02NA), where Josh interviews 23 of the world's best investors including the likes of Brad Feld and Mark Suster, in order to find out their tactics, tips and investing strategies. More of Josh’s profiles of great investors can be found online at startupwealth.com. You can find his writings on building companies and investing at joshmaher.net and you can always find him on Twitter @joshmaher. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) Josh welcome to Angel Insights, I would love to start off by hearing how did you get into investing? 2.) I want to dive straight into your new book, Startup Wealth: How The Best Angels Make Money In Startups, for the book you met with some incredible investors in Brad Feld, Mark Suster and many more. What was your biggest takeaway from your time spent with them and what aspects of their character make them such good investors? 3.) When comparing the meetings with investors was there any patterns or commonalities in their approach to investing? Their approach to due diligence? 4.) If there was one thing that surprised you most from your meetings with the investors what would it be? Who were you most impressed by? 5.) As the President of Seattle Angel, a prominent angel investment network in Seattle, why do you think networks are so important? What can investors do to maximize their network? What can individuals do who are looking to join a network? As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

Modwenna Rees Mogg is an experienced corporate financier turned entrepreneur, as the founder of www.angelnews.co.uk, the leading private investor news service with the goal of improving transparency and accountability in the early stage investment market to enable it to grow and create win:win situations for all concerned. Modwenna has also recently Co-Founded CrowdRating, the ratings agency for equity crowdfunding. In today’ episode we delve into why now is the best time to be an angel investor, what separates a great angel from a good angel and how to utilize your investing network for maximum dealflow. For your chance to win a signed copy of the legendary Venture Deals by Brad Feld all you have to do is click the click to tweet: http://ctt.ec/e0zkG In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Modwenna get into the investing world? 2.) Why is now the best time to be an angel investor and what has changed over the last few years that has made this happen? 3.) What does Modwenna think separates the incredible angel from the less useful investor? 4.) What does Modwenna think of the syndicated model of angel investing? Has Modwenna seen a rise in the amount of angel due to crowdfunding platforms increasing accessibility? 5.) If a startup has more than one angel on the cap sheet, who should be the lead investor? What are the characteristics of a great lead investor? 6.) Modwenna tells us a little about Crowdrating, what the site does and how CrowdRating (http://www.crowdrating.co.uk) assesses whether a project is a solid investment or not? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Modwenna’s Fave Investing Resource: CB Insights (https://www.cbinsights.com) As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

For a chance to win a signed copy of Brad Feld incredible best-selling book Venture Deals all you have to do is click the link below and tweet, for your chance to be entered into the competition. http://ctt.ec/KtRDd Ben Luntz (https://angel.co/ben-luntz) has really experienced it all on both sides of the table having been an incredibly successful entrepreneur with the acquisition of his company Apex Exposure, Ben started making angel investments and born was his passion in investing and working alongside startups to today where Ben is now managing Co-Founder and Managing Partner @ Indicator Ventures, an early stage digital venture fund in NYC. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Ben get into investing in startups? 2.) Having been a successful entrepreneur prior to his investing career, how did Ben’s entrepreneurial origins impact his investing strategy? 3.) At the very seed stage of the funding environment with very few metrics, what metrics does Ben look for and secondly if they are not available how does he evaluate potential investments? 4.) What inspires confidence in Ben when he sees the names of fellow investors? Is it track record? Connections? Funds? Current job title? What does Ben like to see in co-investors? 5.) What is the worst investing war story Ben has experienced? What went wrong and how has Ben’s approach or strategy altered as a result? 6.) What sectors or industries is Ben particularly excited by? What is the next industry to be disrupted and why? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Ben’s Fave Investing Resource: CB Insights (https://www.cbinsights.com) Ben’s Most Recent Investment: Bond (http://hellobond.com/) Anand’s interview with The Twenty Minute VC (http://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/anandsanwal/) As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

Alicia Syrett is the founder and CEO of Pantegrion Capital (http://www.pantegrion.com), an angel investment firm that focuses on seed and early stage investments. With over 10 years’ experience in the financial industry, Syrett is a member of several angel networks, including Golden Seeds and NY Angels. She presently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of HeTexted, and is also on the Advisory Boards of Beauty Booked and I-ELLA. Before starting Pantegrion Capital, Ms. Syrett was the CAO, Managing Director and very first employee of a multi-billion dollar private equity firm. She established numerous operational areas, including payroll, insurance coverage, healthcare and retirement platforms, vendor services and much more. Alicia Syrett is a frequent speaker on panels for various startup organizations in New York City as well as for entrepreneurship programs at NYU and Columbia. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Alicia get into the investing world? 2.) Having been first employee at a milti billion dollar private equity firm, what were Alicia’s biggest takeaways from this experience? 3.) How important is it for angels to have an entrepreneurial background? Does Alicia ever get the desire to rejoin the startup world as an entrepreneur? 4.) In the very competitive world of seed and angel funding that exists today, how does Alicia look to stand out as an angel? 5.) What are Alicia’s thoughts on boards at the very early stage? Are they an absolute requirement? How many members should there be? What makes a good board member? What should founders be wary of in their board? 5.) How important does Alicia believe networks can be as a source of deal flow for angel? What advice would Alicia give to someone looking to join a network? 6.) How does Alicia feel the female angel investing ecosystem is going? What can be done to encourage more females to enter the world of investing? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Alicia’s Favourite Investing Resource: Feedreader (http://feedreader.com) Alicia’s Most Recent Investments: iFunding (https://www.ifunding.co) As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

Bjorn Evers has over 15 years of experience from positions as CEO, board member and investor across multiple online industries such as management consulting, eGaming, online identification, payments, music and dating. Bjorn is the first investor in Jumio and the original inventor of Jumio’s identification product. In addition to this Bjorn built Jumio’s sales team from the start to establish Jumio’s products as the standard for identification online and the billion-dollar business it is today. If that wasn't enough Bjorn is an early investor and board member of many successful innovative internet companies such as Betable, Skiomusic, Ever Adventure (Slotser), 7Heaven, Devcode Payments and GreenZorro. If you love the show, share the love on Twitter by clicking here: http://ctt.ec/04343 In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Bjorn get into investing? 2.)How important does Bjorn feel it is for angels to have prior experience in the operator industry? What would Bjorn consider his key value add to be? 3.) With regards to reviewing new business opportunities, what is entailed in Bjorn's due diligence? What metrics does Bjorn find himself really honing in on? 4.) Looking at your investment portfolio as a whole now, past and present, do you believe that your investment strategy has altered over the years? If so how and why do you think that is? 5.) Looking back over your investments do you find you have been very sector and stage specific, when it comes to investing in startups? 6.) What are Bjorn's thoughts on the syndicated model of investing? Does he like co-investing with people? 7.) When investing with people, what characteristics does Bjorn expect those people to have. 8.) Bjorn describes an investing war story, explaining what went wrong and how his approach altered as a result? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Bjorn's Most Recent Investment: SkioMusic (https://angel.co/skio-music-1) As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

Andy Mcloughlin was co-founder of London-based Huddle, a leading enterprise content collaboration company. Under Andy’s leadership, Huddle became one of Europe’s most awarded and well-known technology startups, raising over $80M of venture funding. Andy has been a prolific active angel investor since 2010 and has built a portfolio covering 35+ pre-seed / seed stage investments. His companies include innovative SaaS businesses like Tray.io, Buffer and Pipedrive, as well as retail plays including Postmates, Secret Escapes and Zesty. Andy is now a Venture Partner with SoftTech VC, one of the most active seed stage investors in Internet, SaaS and mobile startups. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Andy get into Angel Investing? 2.) Why does Andy believe Europe has the capacity to create amazing entrepreneurs? 3.) What is your Andy’s approach to deal sourcing? 4.) What is Andy’s approach to accelerators and demo days? 5.) In such a competitive market, how does Andy differentiate between startups? 6.) How important is portfolio diversity for Andy? 7.) What are Andy’s thoughts on group investing? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Silicon Valley 2nd Episode: The Down Round Fave Blogs: Hunter Walk, Hiten Shah, Launch Ticker Productivity Tool: Evernote As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

Dr. Alicia Robb, a Senior Fellow with the Kauffman Foundation. Alicia is also a Visiting Scholar with the University of California and the University of Colorado. She is also a prolific author on the topic of entrepreneurship. In addition to numerous journal articles and book chapters, she is the co-author of Race and Entrepreneurial Success published by MIT Press and A Rising Tide: Financing Strategies for Women-Owned Businesses by Stanford University Press. She serves on the Board of the National Advisory Council for Minority Business Enterprise, the Advisory Board for Global Entrepreneurship Week, and is a guest contributor to outlets such as Huffington Post and Forbes. If you like today's show we would be so grateful if you would share the episode on Twitter by clicking here: http://ctt.ec/5ldX2 In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Alicia get into angel investing? 2.) What are the biggest problems Alicia faces in recruiting further female investors? 3.) How does Alicia select her lead angels? What does Alicia look for? 4.) How does Alicia and her program approach deal sourcing? 5.) What makes a startup investable? What is required? 6.) What does Alicia think of the entrepreneurial community in Boulder? 7.) How does Alicia approach startup valuations? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Alicia’s Favourite Newsletter: The Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship Alicia’s Deal Sourcing Tools: AngelList, WeFunder, CircleUp As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

Kelsey Lynn Skinner invests in technology startups with thoughtful ambitious people. She works in venture capital at Imperial Innovations in London and has a small (mostly US) angel portfolio in addition to serving on the screening committee of several UK angel groups. Here she discusses some of the similarities and differences in venture and angel investing as well as some of the most important lessons learned from her time in investing. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Kelsey got into investing? 2.) Is operational experience important for investors to have? 3.) What are the differences between VC investing and angel investing? 4.) What does Kelsey look for in co-investors? What investor motivations concern Kelsey? 5.) How does Kelsey’s strategy alter between making VC compared to angel investments? 6.) What level of engagement does Kelsey expect from her startups? 7.) What does the optimal portfolio look like? 8.) What are Kelsey’s biggest problems with regards to deal flow and how does she overcome them? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Kelsey’s Blog Article: Funding For Startups (https://medium.com/innovation-insights/funding-for-startups-find-some-grey-hairs-e6693ff70efe) Kelsey’s Favourite Book: Mindset by Carole Dweck (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1780332009/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1780332009&linkCode=as2&tag=thtwmivc03-21) As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

Marty Zwilling is the Founder and CEO of Startup Professionals, a company that provides services to startup founders around the world. His background includes a 30-year track record as an executive in general management, computer software development and product management. However, Marty is now in what he calls "give-back mode" as a mentor to startup founders, and an Angel investor. His experience with investors includes roles on the selection committee of two local Angel groups, and working from the other side of the table with several VCs in Silicon Valley. In addition to blogging, Marty has recently released his first book titled “Do You Have What It Takes To Be An Entrepreneur?” If you enjoyed the show, click here! http://ctt.ec/YivR2 What Will You Learn In Today’s Show: 1.) How Marty got into the world of angel investing? 2.) What are the benefits of consulting and mentoring for investors in terms of deal value and value add? 3.) As an investor, what does Marty believe to be more important, the product or the team? 4.) When investing what does Marty look for in founders? 5.) How important is geographic proximity when investing? 6.) How metrics does Marty use to evaluate a startups valuation? 7.) What should angels look for specifically in a business plan? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Marty’s Fave Book: The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

Michael Blakey is a director at Avonmore Developments, one of the leading seed and early stage funds with over 21 investments and several successful exits. Michael is primarily responsible for Avonmore’s deal sourcing and marketing. Prior to Avonmore, Michael was heavily involved with the roll-out of “Sainsbury’s To You” internet shopping and managed several projects including IT re-platforming of all Sainsbury’s HR and payroll systems. Whilst working at Sainsbury’s Michael made a number of early-stage investments and this lead him into joining Avonmore full time in 2002. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Michael made his move into the angel investing world? 2.) How has the angel investing landscape changed since Michael started in 2000? 3.) Why is it important to be an angel full time? 4.) What are the most beneficial ways angels can actively support their investments? 5.) How can angels act like VCs? 6.) What metrics does Michael focus on prior to making an investment? 7.) Does Michael like to invest alongside people and if so what characteristics does he look for in co-investors? 8.) A war story of one of Michael’s investments and how he developed through the experience? Items Mentioned in Today’s Show • Mark Suster: Both Sides of The Table (http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com) • Fred Wilson: AVC (http://avc.com) • MyDoc: The HealthCare Communication Service (https://www.my-doc.com) As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

Philip Wilkinson is a Serial Web Entrepreneur, Angel Investor, and explorer of new, world-changing ideas. Philip’s entrepreneurial career began when he was 21 years old by building the UK's first ever price comparison site, Shopgenie. After securing £150k ShopGenie merged with the French company Kelkoo in 2000. Kelkoo was sold to Yahoo in 2004 for $540m. Since then Philip has co-founded a venture business that invested in and grew businesses such as BroadbandGenie (broadband and mobile comparison site), Crowdstorm (long tail price comparison), and Kopi (coffee subscription club). If that wasn’t enough Phil was also a co-founder and product director of a high end group buying site called Keynoir.com which secured funding from Index Ventures back in 2010. Keynoir eventually sold to Time Out. Phil’s investment portfolio includes the likes of InstaCart, Thread, Uncover and many more which can be found at www.philipwilkinson.co In Today’s Incredible Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Philip got into Angel Investing? 2.) What stage does Philip like to go in and what role does Philip take with his investments? 3.) What level of return does Philip look for when entering an investment? 4.) How does Philip handle deal flow and ensure he receives quality deal flow? 5.) Does Philip like investing with co-investors, if so what characteristics does he look for in his co-investors? 6.) What metrics does Philip look at when potentially investing in a startup? 7.)Are valuations much higher for accelerator alumni from prestigious organisations, such as, Techstars or YC? 8.)How does Philip determine the valuation of startups? Items Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Philip’s Fave Angel Investing Resource: Jason Calacanis: This Week In Startups (http://thisweekinstartups.com) Phil’s Most Recent Investment: Uncover (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/uncover-londons-best-restaurants./id920033081?mt=8) As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

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

Alex Dunsdon is an entrepreneur and Investment Director, and founder of The Bakery London, an ad-tech accelerator aiding big brands in the integration of technology into marketing strategies. The Bakery has partnered with numerous big brands including BMW, Panasonic and Heinz. Alex is also Investment Director at SaatchInvest, a seed fund in London that backs truly great entrepreneurs solving big human problems. Their portfolio includes the likes of CityMapper, Dojo, Ometria and many more. As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

Samer Karam is an angel investor and startup advisor, and founder of StartUp Megaphone, an organization tasked by Banque du Liban to manage the international image of Lebanon’s startup ecosystem. Prior to founding StartUp Megaphone, Karam founded, Seeqnce, whoch started off as a founder collective providing advisory events and organizational workshops, however, due to their immense success, in 2012 Seeqnce opened their accelerator programme and are now the advisors to the central bank of Lebanon’s $400m sovereign startup fund. Samer’s own investment stretch the globe with 10 in the Middle East, 3 in the US, 1 in Scandinavia and 1 in Asia. As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

I am so excited to welcome Darren Mulvihill to the 3rd episode of Angel Insights where we uncover the tips and tricks of the most prominent angel investors. Today, Darren, previously Head of Seed Investing at Lucey Fund, walks us through the three elements that all angels must deep dive on before making the investment. As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

It is with great pleasure that we welcome Elizabeth Kraus as our 1st guest of Angel Insights. Elizabeth is an entrepreneur and angel investor, and founder of the Impact Angel Group. Prior to founding the Impact Angel Group, Kraus ran her own startup, myUsearch.com, and has been founding, working for and consulting for startups for her entire career. She is an active angel investor, startup mentor and advisor, and she has been very active in the state and national effort to improve the entrepreneurial ecosystem and mobilize angel investors. As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

I am thrilled to welcome Jos Dirkse, to the 2nd instalment of Angel Insights. Jos is an entrepreneur and angel investor, having sold his company he made his move into the world of angel investing. Today, Jos shares his incredible insights into funding startups describing the difficulties for angels to remain in companies for the long run and what can be done to ensure this does not happen to you. As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com

Tom Britton is Co-Founder and CTO of Syndicate Room, an equity crowdfunding platform that allows it's members to co-invest alongside professional investors. To date Syndicate Room have raised an incredible £20m for 30 companies. Prior to Co-Founding Syndicate Room, Tom was a professional football player playing in a number of countries including the US and UK. Items Mentioned in Today's Show: Nesta Report: Crowdfunding Page 52 Crowdcube Ego Airplanes Inn Style Salty by Simon West In today's episode you will learn: 1.) How Tom got into the technology industry and then moved into the very early concept at the time of, equity crowdfunding? 2.)How does SynidcateRoom operate and does their process differs from the likes of Crowdcube? 3.) How much of the £19m was invested by people on the Syndicate Room network rather than the anchor angels?  4.) Does Tom believe with the rise of crowdfunding in recent years, the crowd are a competing finance model to the traditional VC model?  5.) Having witnessed numerous successful campaigns to date, what does Tom believe are the recipes for a successful crowdfunding campaign? 6.) For startups contemplating raising funds for their business, what are the largest benefits of raising seed capital through SyndicateRoom? 7.) CrowdCube is the No 1 equity crowdfunding site in the UK, how does SyndicateRoom treat this competitive threat?   The episode will then finish with a quick fire round where we hear Tom's plans for the next 5 years, the hardest obstacles Tom has faced in building Syndicate Room and the 3 companies that Syndicate Room has funded that Tom is most excited about?