BUSINESS ANGELS – What are they looking for?
Part of the service of the Turnaround Group Business Advisors is the sourcing of appropriate funding and here is one that might be of interest.
What the Angels Say
• Never be optimistic
• A good business plan is not necessarily a good investment – find out who wrote it
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Friends, Family and Associates Account for 90% of Angel Investment
It was reported that:
The Degree of Management Participation
39% of Angels have active management involvement in the majority or all of their investments;
40% have involvement in selected investments only, and
21% have no involvement at all.
44.76% of Business Angels Asked Still Thought That Valuations by Management of Their Companies were Too High (8.6% Thought That They Were Too Low).
Geographical Area of Angel participation (From Their Base)
17% Locally (within 50 miles)
30% Regionally (within 150 miles)
53% UK wide and Overseas
Reasons for Investing (Top 5)
25% Higher ROI
13% Portfolio diversification
11% Have capital to invest at their discretion
10% Have built and sold companies before
7% Fun - small amounts
How Important to an Angel is Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) Eligibility
23% Very
49% Somewhat
15% Not
13% EIS?
Almost 60% of Angels Prefer to Invest on Their Own or Though Their Own Investment Vehicle.
Their Preferred Stage of Business
30% Start-up
23% Post-revenue
20% Pre-revenue
20% Growth
2% Second round
4% Mature
Those Requiring Support in Areas of Due Diligence
22.1% Technology
18.6% Marketing
17.3% Finance
11.9% Operations
11.5% Sales
11.1% People
4% Other
3.5% None
Their Preferred Source of Investment Opportunities
16% Angel Association
14% Other Angels
14% Self Researched
8% Company presentations
48% Numerous other less than 5% each
The Business Plan Quality and Number Seen
50% see up to 3 plans per month
40% see up to 10 submissions per month
10% see over 10 plans a month
20% of investors would wish to see more
69% are happy with the number that they receive
11.4% wish to see less month by month
88% Want Only to See an Executive Summary on First Contact
Business Plans and Detail Required
84% of plans received are rated as average or poor
16% of plans merit an above average
0% of plans classified as excellent
64% Exec Summary
24% Short Précis
10% Full Plan
2% Financials only
Reasons for Initial Failure
Unclear financials
Lack of a scalable business model that includes a clear marketing and sales plan
Not a ‘must have’ product or service rather a nice-to-have product or service
No clear exit and realistic valuation
Not understanding that it is the team that gets the funding, not the plan
‘As an investor, I back management teams’
20% management quality
20% lack of commercial reality
19 % were poor financials
10% dislike of the management team
31% Numerous other
Expected Gross Return on Investment
28% 50% - 100%
25% 101% - 151%
20% 151% - 200%
27% 200%+
How Much is Invested In One Venture?
39% Less than £20k
36% £21k - £50k
12% £51k - £100k
6% £101k - £250k
4% £251k - £500k
2% £500k - £1m
1% £1m+
Bernard Halliwell (retired chairman NBAN)
said …
… emphasises the importance of making sure that you have the right management team in place to maximise the likelihood of receiving funding, or knowing that you may have to find the right team to take the business forward.
… emphasises the importance of using professional intermediaries not only to access business angel investors, but also to help management teams and entrepreneurs really understand what they have to do to succeed