Читать книгу How To Become A Business Angel - Richard Hargreaves - Страница 5

Many people find the idea of helping entrepreneurs enticing and are attracted to the potential financial rewards it can offer. And, as a bonus, helping a young venture succeed – be it with money, contacts or mentoring – can be very satisfying. There are thus great attractions to being an angel.

On the other side of the coin, the UK needs angels. Most of the economic growth and job creation in the UK comes from innovation and, in turn, much of that takes place in early-stage entrepreneurial businesses. These ventures are increasingly badly served by both banks and professional venture capital and the growing importance of angel financing to small companies, and thus to the health of the economy, is being recognised by many people – including government. As a result the government has provided increasingly attractive tax incentives to those who are prepared to take the high risks involved in angel investing.

These risks are not always immediately evident because any promoter of an investment opportunity will stress the upside of the deal. This book will take you through many of the problems you may face and offer you practical help with understanding them and finding ways to take sensible precautions to minimise risk.

Whatever your investment approach, you can always learn something from the experiences of others. The book draws on my own experiences as a venture capitalist as well as my own wide experience as an active angel and non-executive director. Over the years I have been involved with 100s of ventures many of which, latterly, have been angel financed using the tax benefits available for such deals in the UK. As a result, there is little I have not seen as companies have started in life, raised money, grown, dealt with challenges and exited. I have tried to convey the essence of these to the reader, both in main body of the text and in the many examples and case studies.

I have had many successes and I have had many failures. So I do know a lot about the ups and downs of backing smaller companies. And I would not swap the excitement and satisfaction of that for something less absorbing.