Angels Den Blog

The racing at Doncaster last week was a little different from the normal nag on turf. Instead of horsepower it was brains, business acumen and inventiveness that would win the day.

I just wanted to say a big thank-you to everyone who contributed to making our sell-out event at the Doncaster Racecourse last week such a success. Not only did we run the most informative and inspirational seminars, networking events and Q&A sessions ever, but we also gave a few budding entrepreneurs the opportunity to speed-pitch to a number of eager Angel investors – with some success, I might add.

Twelve nervous entrepreneurs waited to pitch to twelve wealthy Angel investors. There was an almost palpable sense of expectation in the air. Business plans at the ready, clutched like shields in front of them, each one of our intrepid business owners and inventors faced the Angel investors one by one. As they walked into their pitch, each one realised two things almost immediately: that speed-pitching really is an intense experience for which practising in the mirror for days just cannot prepare you; and that our Angel investors are not dragons or monsters, but are really a nice bunch whose only interest is to draw all the information they need from the person in front of them to determine whether the business has that special something that will convince them to part with their money.

From Portsmouth to Middlesbrough they came to pitch their ideas, ranging from a new transportation device to a recycling business. Three minutes is all they had to cram sometimes years of planning and belief into an effective speed-pitch to our Angels, who were just itching to give away their money and sometimes their time and experience to the right businesses.

I’m happy to report that two of the pitches were successful, and around £100k is on the table should they satisfy the post-pitch due diligence process. Assuming that all goes well, that’s two more businesses that will flourish, credit crunch or no, with the help of our Angels, and will hopefully go on to make everyone involved lots of money.

Spots for our speed-pitching sessions – an opportunity to present a three-minute pitch about your business or business concept to a number of Angel investors just desperate to give away their money and experience to back a business that they are convinced has the stuff of success – sell out long before each event. So if you would like to pitch to our Angel investors at our next event in London on 5 November, you’d better get your over-engineered skates on and zip over to our website at www.angelsden.co.uk to find out more about how you can get your business funding and give your ideas or inventions wings to soar above the rest.

Image © helena.40proof