OK, I admit it. Right from the start I’ve been dying to find a way to get my two favourite topics together in this column. And now I’ve actually managed to do it!
I’ve written about why the banks aren’t really lending to most businesses, the growth of crowd funding, the great tax reliefs for angels and the perils of borrowing from your friends and families.
But, most of all, I’ve talked about angel investing because that’s what I do – and what fabulous fun it is.
Since angel investing involves admittedly well-off people taking risks with their own money and hopeful early stage companies fighting to survive, calling it ‘fun’ may seem a bit frivolous.
And as figures show that 56% of UK angel investments disappear down the business toilet, and that after only 1 in 5 companies ever get funded, this is perhaps a grim landscape to be calling fun.
But actually it isn’t.
When you ask angels why they want to invest, they will say to make money. But when you press you get to more deep down reasons like wanting to give something back, to get involved with exciting often young ideas and to get a buzz that so much golf and sailing just can’t provide. So there’s a fun element in there.
And the companies provide huge variety, some breath-taking ideas and sometimes sheer audacity – you just have to be wowed by their determination and occasionally the way they just ignore all the problems that will lie ahead.
I sometimes feel that the dance between the angels and the companies is like a super reality show on steroids – complete with evictions and winners.
Strictly Business Angels perhaps? And certainly often with larger than life characters – although rarely with so many sequins and dresses.
So fun is indeed not an unfair word to use.
However, where the reality show analogy breaks down is in the lack of instant gratification. In real life you don’t get to see the results for years (actually in the UK six years before, on average, an angel makes money from a company). And, rather scarily, a mere three years before they lose their money.
So wouldn’t it be handy to have a time machine to see the results rather more quickly? This is, of course, where the Doctor comes in – although I suspect this will be the first time he makes an appearance in Derry~Londonderry.
I’m referring to the Bluffers Guide to Angel Investing which is taking place as part of Culturetech in the Maiden City on September 11. Sadly, the Doctor will not be present in person – even more sadly, neither will any of his assistants.
Instead, the time travel element will come from seeing two pitches now, recreated as they were a few years ago. The audience will see interesting companies presented full of hope and new ideas. And then they will get to ‘invest’ using pretend money.
After that, we’ll magically whiz forward in time and let them see how they did in reality. Will their sure fire bet turn out to be more Matt Lucas than Matt Smith? Would they have lost their shirt or even their bow tie?
Angel investing compressed into 90 minutes – but hopefully pain and Dalek free!
There are a lot of very exciting ideas and new companies growing in Northern Ireland today. Indeed, we’ve never been short of these, just not always that good at correctly fertilizing them and helping them succeed.
However we’re getting better and in the future we’ll all see the huge impact they and the people who back them will make.
And if you can’t wait until then, all you need is a Tardis and you can nip off and see the results for yourself. That’s where I’m off to now – dumba-da-dum, dum-da-dum …….
More information about Halo angels, or to contact Alan, click on www.haloni.com .
