Reading pitch decks, business cases or investment proposals is energising. It doesn’t matter what they are called, or if they are poorly articulated, poorly presented or expressing a truly rubbish idea – I’ll still see something stimulating. And it’s just as well, as I must......
Every other month, we sit down as a team for a day to review each of our portfolio of investments – 23 businesses now. It’s a chance for the Investor Director in each business to gather some views from the rest of the team that......
Our approach to EIS & SEIS investing is different to other investors. It’s been very deliberately designed by my business partner Paul Soanes & I, based on insight from 14 years of angel investing together and our experience from entrepreneurial, corporate and consulting careers in......
New Year. Often the time we take stock of our lives. When we think about what we value and whether our current career paths are leading us to where we ultimately want to be. For many it’s when our dreams of creating a business take......
When I chat to leaders of large companies (amongst others, I help IKEA and AB InBev with innovation) the thing they most envy about start-ups it the ability to move fast. But that is a generalisation. It is not all small businesses that move fast.......
Creating a useful product or service is only part of the challenge for a growing business. To get customers to try your offer you are going to have attract the attention of potential customers with a well thought-out approach to marketing. Despite not being a......
A innovative platform for tradespeople and their customers, creating trust between both parties by automating paperwork and payments and resolving disputes. Founders: Phillip Daneshyar, Robert Gallagher & Richard Fleeman Company: TradeSmart Description: A secure escrow payment solution to help tradespeople to get paid on time,......
Fair to say that 2019 was a challenging year for start-up funding. General investment has slowed down in the face of uncertainty, from Brexit and the political maelstrom in Westminster. Then particularly for tax advantaged Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) & Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS)......
We had a great day yesterday hanging out at the annual VCT & EIS Investor Forum – the UK’s number 1 event for investors and advisors considering the tax-efficient products. As proud sponsors of the show, we were delighted to meet so many new faces......