It’s been an incredibly busy couple of days with pitching sessions in both Lincoln and York. We’re full steam ahead pulling syndicates together before the end of the year, so that businesses can kick start their 2020 growth plans!
Category: Latest News
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Leeds!
Yesterday was our Leeds pitching session and what an event it was. We had 4 fantastic and innovative businesses pitch, all of which Angels marked an interest in – so we’ll be setting up follow on meetings for these this week.
Exciting times ahead for these businesses, we can’t wait to see where their funding journey takes them.
Well done to the businesses who pitched with us yesterday over at our Hull Angel Group – it was another fantastic session. Thank you as always to our Hull partners Andrew Jackson Solicitors LLP and Smailes Goldie Group for supporting and hosting the sessions. We’re looking forward to the next event!
Well done to the businesses who pitched with us yesterday over at our Hull Angel Group – it was another fantastic session. Thank you as always to our Hull partners Andrew Jackson Solicitors LLP and Smailes Goldie Group for supporting and hosting the sessions. We’re looking forward to the next event!
What does 2020 look like for your business?
Have you considered what securing Investment would do for your growth plans? Maybe you’re looking for more than Investment, perhaps you need someone to introduce you to the right contacts and help you avoid the common pitfalls. On average, if a business receives Investor interest we find it takes 3 months from pitching to securing the funding. So, if you’re thinking of scaling your business in the New Year you need to consider this timing and plan accordingly.
On that note, we are planning our biggest pitching session to date this December! We are inviting our Angel members from across all of our groups to come together for our Christmas pitch event – and we’re looking for businesses with high growth potential to pitch.
If you’re looking to start your funding journey, just get in touch. We would love to hear from you and chat through your funding options. Alternatively, if you know someone who might be, please point them in our direction.
Make 2020 the year you achieve your business goals
A business came to us a couple of months ago who ran a luxury holiday villa rental company, seeking £1.2 million investment to scale and grow this already successful business. After pitching at just 2 of our events, one of our Angels then went on to invest as part of the overall raise – a significant amount. This deal was completed last week in full. This business is now in the position to achieve their growth potential and we can’t wait to follow their progress and achievements. Well done!
A quote from the business on their experience with angelgroups: “I particularly enjoyed the positive and friendly approach – both from the Angels and the participants – this was a breath of fresh air and a welcomed differentiator for angelgroups”
The most obvious answer being “to secure the funding they are looking for”, but our feedback might surprise you, it did us. For a lot of our SME clients they perceive the most value is from the feedback given by the Angels.
When a business pitches at one of our events, we ask the Angels to score the business in various areas, mark an interest – so they are included in all syndicate discussions and provide comments/feedback.
We pass on all comments to the business – good, bad and indifferent. We are of the firm opinion that all feedback is useful. It helps businesses to shape future pitches and focus on delivering key messages.
There is nothing worse (or so we’ve heard) than a business pitching to a room of Angel Investors, to then leave but receive little to no feedback on how their proposition was received by the Investors.
We believe that if someone decides not to invest then the business should know why. If it’s that the business was not in their sector of expertise, or they just weren’t excited by it, then altering their pitch is unlikely to change the outcome. However, what if the Investors were confused by what your product did, they didn’t see the opportunity or were distracted by the delivery? Would taking these comments on board give the business a better chance of securing funding the next time they pitched?
We find that refining a pitch following the good, bad and indifferent feedback to be really effective in gaining interest at the next pitching session. That is why we contract with our SME clients for a minimum of 2 pitching sessions, giving them a much better chance at securing funding.
If you’re looking for funding, we still have lots of pitching sessions before the end of the year – just get in touch.
It’s not often we are treated to samples, but today over at our Leeds pitching session we are lucky enough to have a Vietnamese Coffee shop pitching and that only means one thing… Coffee samples! Just look at it – doesn’t it look Devine?
A comment we get a lot from our Angel members – “The businesses who pitched today were all so different”.
Variety is the spice of life is it not? We pride ourselves in being different to other funding organisations, and one of our key differentiators is that our Angels don’t just invest in Tech (which is great – we want those too!) but all sectors. Our Angel members come from very mixed backgrounds spanning all sectors and industries. We endeavor to mix up our pitching sessions and never have 2 businesses with a similar concept pitch at the same event. This is not only a lot fairer on the businesses, but our Angels give us really positive feedback on how refreshing it can be to mix it up.
We still have lots of pitching sessions before the end of the year, so if you’re looking to begin your funding journey – just get in touch.
Since the summer break we have been full steam ahead with pitching sessions, which has led to several syndicates already coming together. We are also just days away from some of our summer deals being complete – which is fantastic news for our businesses! We aim to have as many deals complete by the end of the year as we can, so businesses can start the new year with the funding and support they have worked so hard to secure.
We had a fantastic day over in Sheffield yesterday at the Cutlers’ Hall for the Pitch at Palace 12.0. We met with some incredible people and fantastic Entrepreneurs – a great day with some brilliant speakers.
Yesterday was our Leeds pitching session and what a brilliant session it was! A big well done to all the great businesses who pitched, we had some fantastic feedback and interest from the Angels. We’re excited to see where it goes for them.
