SUPPORT
Business Angel funding
The vital ingredient in supporting early-stage companies
looking to grow but lacking in financial backing
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chain or manufacturing requirements,
this should form part of any presentation
or business plan.
product and service
Steve Martin
Business angel Network Minerva
steve Martin first invested as a
business Angel in 2007. he joined the
University of Warwick Science Park’s
Business Angel Network Minerva in
2009 and supported the move to an
investor syndicates model
Contact: [email protected]
How you present your company can
demonstrate a lot about you and your
company, but there are five key areas
you should always cover:
• Product / Service
• Market and competition
• The Team
• Forecast and Finance
• What the Deal is – including how
much you need
These five areas are not exclusive. For
instance, if your product has a supply
Provide a clear and simple explanation of
the product, service or technology:
• What does it do? Why does anyone want
it? Are you fulfilling an existing need, or
is this innovative and new to the
targeted sector?
• What is the time and cost of developing
a market ready product? Can you identify
gross profit for your product or service?
• Are you manufacturing, or licensing
to manufacture?
• Do you have a stable viable supply chain?
• Does the product have some element
of proprietary ownership – patent,
design rights, intellectual property and
so on? Is there a saleable asset now or
in the future?
Market and Competition
Investors will want to feel comfortable
that you have prepared and researched
your proposition:
• What and where is the addressable
market? The channels to it? Have you
identified entry and price point?
• Do you have a robust marketing
and sales plan, and bench marks
for profitability?
e know small businesses are
vital to the UK economy,
and over 650,000 new
businesses were started in
the UK in 2016. It is just as
vital that we nurture companies with the
capability to achieve growth and scale as
a source of strong employment creation.
What if you are a start-up company,
a university spin-out, or an early-stage
company looking to grow without
financial backing? Where do you go to
find the finance? To raise equity or to
match funds? The first stop is typically
Fools, Friends and Family (FFF). This
capital is often the easiest to source.
Business Angels offer seed capital and
early stage growth funding. It is considered
high risk, but there are also potentially
high rewards for investors and companies
if successful. Once companies become
profitable, larger funding rounds are then
usually supported by Venture Capital (VCs).
Investors rarely rely on one element
in deciding their intentions and personal
influences will often have an impact.
Almost always it will be a combination of
factors, each with their own weighting and
importance for each specific proposition.
Depending on their expertise, they may
just concentrate on business areas they
know well, or look to widen their portfolio
or support their best tax position.