Angels Den Blog

We’ve all experienced the frustration of calling the customer services department of a major organisation to discover that their attitude and effectiveness bares no resemblance to the title of their team. Often we get through to a call centre that simply has the role of putting you on hold with some irritatingly jingly music and then instead of dealing with your query they merely act as a messaging service for colleagues who may get back to you later if you’re lucky! While this sort of despicable practice seems to be acceptable for many multinational organisations, if you’re looking for funding investors in business will look for something very different from an SME or start-up.

Investors in business know that the service that is offered to every single customer is what can build a reputation, the loyalty of a client base and a profitable venture. They also know that even a single lapse can crush a new company’s chances at greatness. So investors in business today are looking for the sort of commitment to customer service from entrepreneurs that seems to have been forgotten by some large organisations.

Maybe it’s because I’ve got more cynical with age, but I have come to expect poor customer service. It’s a sorry state of affairs, but we seem to accept the rudeness and the lack of help, the broken promises and the poor attention to detail from companies that we deal with. That’s why, when you find that rare individual who actually deals with your query with diligence, speed and solution, it almost comes as a shock.

Every entrepreneurial book worth its salt does more than just mention the importance of keeping your customers happy, but how can you make sure that your company excels at this all important function?

And the survey says?
Until you’ve asked your customers how they found your levels of service you can only guess at what they’ve thought. Investors in business will have great respect for any firm that asks the right questions of their customers to improve the way they present themselves. It proves a willingness to take on board comments and change, to better meet the needs of their customers and therefore increase business prospects.

Proper training and standards
Recently I called a company that one of the UK’s most prestigious store groups recommended for the repair of the equipment they sell. This is how the conversation started:

Person who picked up the phone – “…Yes”
Me – “Er, hi. Is that …..?”
Person who picked up the phone “[mumble] wait a moment”
Someone else – “Yeah”

Now this is not uncommon, but because of the unprofessional manner in which the phone was answered and my query dealt with, my impression of the company was equally poor. What’s worse is that I’m likely to mention this to others and this is how a poor reputation is born and how investors in business loose the shirts. With proper standards established and a little training for everyone who answers the phone, meets customers face-to-face or represents the company in any way, employees will know how to present their firm in its best light.

A little extra time
We all remember a store for the shop assistant who takes the time to smile and ask how our day is going. We all remember the multinational conglomerate for the customer services officer who finds a solution to our issue. Unfortunately we also remember every obnoxious little oik that reads out a pre-approved speech explaining why they can’t help, every sales person too bored to sell you anything, and every individual you speak to at the other end of the phone who somehow gets cut off while you’re talking to them.

Canny investors in business will canvass opinion from customers to see what the general impression of a company’s customer service is. After all investors in business will not wish to be associated with a poorly-regarded organisation that could be to the detriment to their reputation as well.

The mystery is in the shopping
Mystery shopping is a well-established business these days ¬¬– instructing teams of people to phone, pop into offices or shops or order online to see what the customer service is like throughout the buying process. They may be instructed by the owners of a company or those considering becoming investors in business. The reports these days can be quite detailed and can indicate where the customer experience is lacking, so changes can be made.

In conclusion
Problems happen, mistakes are made and people sometimes just like to complain. But effective customer service is about listening to the question or query, solving issues rapidly and effectively, and delivering on your promises. Every interaction with a customer, whether it starts for a positive or negative reason, can be your opportunity to prove that you are on the ball, that your company is different from the rest, and that you can provide a service memorable for the right reasons. For investors in business the importance of this is second only to profitability.

A new tax-efficient Fund launches today which will invest in early stage private companies with high growth potential.

The Best of Angels Den Fund is a joint venture with one of Europe’s largest Angel Networks, who attract around 5,000 early stage businesses each year. The Fund will invest in a portfolio of companies with high growth potential which are going through the Angels Den process and looking for funding within a tax efficient Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) structure.

The Fund will help them to grow, ensuring that they are appropriately backed and manage them through to the point when another company buys them or they are growing sufficiently fast to consider a listing on the Stock Market. It allows the investor to enjoy the same exposure to companies that wealthier investors follow, but without devoting large amounts of time and money.

The fund will be managed by specialist EIS manager, Pre-X Capital Management.

Angels Den came to prominence in 2007 and has attracted the attention of the media with its unique ‘SpeedFunding™’ events, a similar concept to Speed Dating. Its investor base numbers over 3,000 business angels, with links to thousands more via syndicates, making it one of Europe’s largest Angel networks. At its SpeedFunding™ events, investment-ready entrepreneurs are able to pitch to investors on a one-to-one basis. (It is the only company to offer this service). 90% of entrepreneurs, on average, gain interest from at least one angel and some have as many as ten from a single event.

Bill Morrow, founder of Angels Den said: “We have created a world class network of qualified investors and Britain’s brightest, new companies and it’s time to allow other investors to reap the rewards of these fantastic investment opportunities. Being a business angel can be extremely rewarding but it takes up a lot of time and money. This Fund allows the investor to enjoy the same exposure to companies that wealthier investors follow, but without devoting large amounts of time and money and doing it in a tax efficient fashion.”

He added: “We’re determined to professionalise the process of investing and managing an investment in start-up companies where the returns can be spectacular.”

Pre-X is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and is run by a team of experts familiar with both the unquoted market and fund management in the UK. The Fund Manager has assembled an Investment Committee comprising experts in a range of sectors to help them screen and evaluate companies seeking investment.

The closing date for investments in The Angels Den EIS Fund 2010 is 4 April 2010.

For further information visit www.angelsden.co.uk/fund.

For further information, photography or interviews, please contact Frances Knox on 01582 713890 or frances@angelsden.co.uk .

Notes to Editors:

• The Fund Manager’s aim is to invest selectively in such companies to produce capital gains within a period of three to five years while managing risk. The investments will be in both established businesses as well as selected early stage businesses all of which qualify for EIS* tax relief.
• Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) – the tax breaks

With the 50% income tax band nearly upon us, the EIS provides a useful tax planning vehicle and capital gains made over the previous two years can be deferred using an EIS fund.

Tax Incentive - Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS)
Income tax relief – 20%
Amount that qualifies for income tax relief – £500,000
Qualifying holding period – Three years
Inheritance Tax Relief – 100% IHT relief after two years
Capital Gains Tax Deferral – 100% CGT can be deferred on tax due from other capital gains whilst you hold the fund (from gains made in the past 3 years*)
Capital Gains Tax Relief – No CGT to pay on your fund gains
Loss Relief – Up to 52% offset against income tax or CGT liabilities (60% for 2010/11)

About Angels Den

• All that most people searching for investment need is a little divine inspiration from an Angel to provide the funding needed to help their businesses grow and flourish.
• Angels Den is passionate that every business, with a good idea and a sound business plan, should have the opportunity to access funding. It is a straight-forward, transparent, cost-effective and fast service connecting entrepreneurs with potential investors.
• Angels Den is seeing a surge of interest from entrepreneurs, as banks are increasingly cautious about investing in fledgling businesses
• It has one of the largest Angel networks in Europe
• It provides a direct route to an Angel investor and is the only company to offer individual, one-on-one pitches, which it says are less intimidating and more rewarding for both the person pitching the new business concept and the angel investor at its regular SpeedFunding™ events (a similar concept to Speed Dating).
• It provides it entrepreneurs with an excellent service to get them ‘investment-ready’ in order to give them the best possible chance of securing funding.
• Over 3,000 individual pitches, on average, take place a year between entrepreneurs and investors
• At a single SpeedFunding™ event an average of 225 one-to-one pitches are made. 90% of entrepreneurs, on average, gain interest from at least one Angel and some have as many as eight from a single SpeedFunding event
• Angels Den does not vet companies looking for funding and it has no minimum funding requirement

About Pre-X Capital Management

Pre-X is a fund management and broking service which makes investments in growing companies that are 12-18 months away from listing their shares on a stock exchange. This area of capital raising represents a major hurdle for companies and an investment opportunity for private investors.

Pre-X was founded by John Blowers in 2005 and is FSA authorised as a fund management company, with operations in London and Guernsey.

For those interested in finding out more about a sucessfull entrepreneur raising funding with Angels Den, then have a listen to Stphen Eyeson from GetProBasketball.com and our very own Lois Cook appearing on BBC Three Counties Radio.

You can listen here.

Despite Alistair Darling’s attempts to appease the entrepreneurial section of our population, a recent survey has suggested that up to 10% of all entrepreneurs are considering the benefits of quitting the UK in favour of more appreciative shores for their ventures.

The current issues that seem to be focusing the minds of British entrepreneurs on far-off lands are the business investors needed to replace a practically non-existent bank lending system for SMEs, and Darling’s failure to convince the country of his commitment to helping SMEs despite the policy announcements he made back in December last year.

The truism that there are always more business investors needed than ventures needing their help is just a fact of financial life, but we’ll cover that later in this article.

Back in the long distant past of December 2009, Alistair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report set out a number of initiatives to support entrepreneurs in their activities. He promised £500m to a capital growth fund to support small businesses and proposed an extension to the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme (EFG) to 31st March 2011. His tax incentives were to delay the increase of some SMEs’ corporation tax, to extend the property rate relief on some properties, and to prolong the life of the “time to pay” scheme, all to encourage SMEs to develop their ventures here in the UK.

Unfortunately the proposed increase in National Insurance and the bounce back of VAT to 17.5% counter any good that could have come from these initiatives.

The Government also seems to be doing little – as we may have mentioned once or twice before in this blog – to encourage bank lending to businesses. SMEs have been hung out to dry, and it is only the efforts of those who respond to the call “business investors needed” that have kept many a small business alive and kicking throughout this banking drought.

The Government seem to be throwing their hands up in surrender; a Treasury paper has just been sent out asking businesses to give their suggestions on ways that small firms could raise the funds they need to launch, develop and grow. Maybe they should have thought about asking that question before they spent countless billions in taxpayer’s money on a banking system that seems unwilling to help!

Angel investing has helped, but the number of business investors needed to support the demand for funds by SMEs is massive and although growing in numbers, Angels are just not a force strong enough alone to fill the vacuum left by an inactive banking system.

To keep our home-grown entrepreneurial talent at home we must encourage the Government to make the UK a more appealing place to launch and pursue a venture adventure. And we must also encourage those wealthy individuals already successful in their own enterprises to bolster the ranks of the business investors needed to support the recovery of our economy.

© Emilio Labrador

Invest by midnight on 31st January 2010 to take advantage of 1% discount and breathe Fire into Britain’s Start-Ups

The Best of Angels Den EIS Fund 2010 allows anyone to become a ‘dragon’ and invest in Britain’s brightest, new companies.

The Fund will invest in a portfolio of the most attractive companies with high growth potential which are going through the Angels Den process, within a tax efficient Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) structure.

It gives anybody, with £5K or more to invest, the opportunity to invest in a spread of established businesses as well as selected early stage businesses, all of which qualify for EIS tax relief.

The investment portfolio is designed to generate opportunities for substantial capital growth. The Fund will help them to grow, ensuring that they are appropriately backed and manage them through to the point when another company buys them or they are growing sufficiently fast to consider a listing on the Stock Market. It allows the investor to enjoy the same exposure to companies that wealthier investors follow, but without devoting large amounts of time and money.

The fund will be managed by specialist EIS manager, Pre-X Capital Management, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. The Fund Manager has assembled an Investment Committee comprising of experts in a range of sectors to help them screen and evaluate companies seeking investment.

Invest by midnight on 31 January 2010 and take advantage of a 1% discount.

If you know someone who might be interested in becoming an ‘Angel’ and taking advantage of this early bird investment opportunity, please invite them to register with Angels Den asap – www.angelsden.co.uk.

The official closing date for investment in the Fund is 4 April 2010.

Best wishes

Gary Dixon
The Angels Den Team