Luke Hakes | How To Become A Successful Angel Investor

Luke Hakes, Investment Director at Octopus Ventures, joined us recently to share his seed to exit story on a number of their investments. As all of our investment currently comes from individual angel investors, community is even more important to us, which is exactly why we put on a surprise or two for our angels, connecting the best with the best in the ecosystem.

Here are our main takeaways from Luke himself.

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https://twitter.com/ColliderGB/status/877226097762545671

It’s all about people

We all know that – but what should you look for? Luke talked about finding what he called the ‘honey badgers’. They’re founders that are attracting the best and brightest talent from other businesses to build and shape theirs.

It’s all about the timing

Alongside people, it’s all about timing. Market timing, expansion, trends – these all require a timely arrival at the table, or you risk derailing the business entirely. Keep an ear to the ground and press go when the time is right.

It’s not just the product

We’ve all heard stories of incredible technology-based exits, but the market is shifting. Teams are being filled out by acquirers, so something new is needed. With little low hanging fruit left, and AI all the rage right now, Luke’s advice was to find companies with a vertically integrated stack, rather than investing in just one part of it.

Leverage

Investors are going to sweat their startups – that’s a given – but they can also provide incredible leverage, especially in follow on rounds and ultimately exit. Leveraging your board at these key points can really help create market tension, and ultimately value, in any process.

The Mad World of MadTech: May Roundup

There's never a dull day in startup land, with May going down as a month of PROGRESS. We've seen impressive positions in rankings, our recent 2017 grads growing and achieving great challenges, thrown our own event for some of the UK's leading brands and of course, enjoyed a surprise or two...

 1. Good-Loop’s ethical ads displaying on The Londonist

Nothing can stop these guys who seem to be on quite the roll, and of course, we couldn't be prouder! Our recent grad, who was also winner of the Collider 2017 Demo Day, have secured several exciting achievements recently.

This time, Good-Loop's ethical ads are now live on The Londonist! You should really go check it out, especially given you'll be giving a donation to charity.

 2. Rate8 are stomping!

But that’s not all from our recent grads this month, as Avi, founder of Rate8 from this year's cohort, was selected as a Founder of the Future by Founders Forum.

Huge congrats to you Avi!

 3. Seenit to double team by 2018

The Seenit family keeps growing and growing… to the extent that next year, they'll be twice the size they are now!

As we're sure you've seen yourself, this team are really nailing it, and much comes down to Founder and CEO Emily's attitude, who understands the importance of having an inspired, motivated and engaged team, which is, needless to say, a key factor for success.

You can read more here.

4. Seenit and Pixoneye stopped Startups 100 list

Collider alumni in Startups 100

Seenit and Pixoneye have both been awarded deserved positions in the longest-running index of the best new businesses.

Huge congrats to both teams!

5. Brand Event was a not-to-be-missed one

https://twitter.com/ColliderGB/status/867083402029256704

It was a pleasure to be surrounded of some incredible brands in our Big Brand Event last week – we kept this intimate, with the ultimate goal of discovering the similarities between totally different brands (and their methods) when it comes down to innovation.

A huge thanks to dunnhumby, Diageo and BT for joining us in the panel, along with Iain from CampaignAmp, another of our 2014 alumni, who gave a brilliant startup view.

6. Beem shows off new logo!

Collider alumni Beem

Alumni Beem have a new logo and we love it! This fancy prism works as a perfect metaphor for the team as it represents their business idea and what their day-to-day looks like.

Such a nice symbol and even better story from Co-Founder Lee, riiiiight here.

Best Things We've Heard All Week | MadTech Roundu

Last week was a week of random facts, and our top MadTech news will provide just that. Here are the best things we heard all week.

1. Self-driving cars could flip the auto insurance industry on its head

We caught up with our good friends from LV who produced this little nugget of information.

It's thought there will be a huge shift of responsibility from driver to car manufacturer, as well as a general price decrease.

And that got us thinking – where will insurers now focus to grow their market, and, more importantly, how will they advertise better to build a share of sectors like health which are seen as a big opportunity?

2. The Next Web was awesome

And the incredible LivingLens got through to the final of their scaleup pitch event. Congrats!

We actually joined our partners, Startup Amsterdam, at their stall this time and were really impressed with the quality of startups we met. Don't forget, we're still accepting applications for our first Amsterdam cohort!

https://twitter.com/Livinglenstv/status/865278436381773826

3. The Europa's nominees featured some of our key community

That's right, Richard Fearn and Gabbi Cahane – we're looking at you!

If you want to vote, you can do so here.

4. A slice of proof that we've got to do more

Yep, we weren't best pleased with this update, but with this bad news can come positivity if we all try. What were your thoughts?

Not just another startup/scaleup mentor network

As a startup, being part of Collider doesn't just stop at the programme. It's what we like to call a life long relationship, where we don't just reappear in your inbox every once in a while informing you of 10% off [insert startup offer here].

But really, this is important. There's all too much investment and no guidance, or an abundance of sickly, textbook sales training that leaves startups stuck on a cycle of "they loved me!" moving onto "but why hasn't it converted?" out there. That's not good enough for us, and certainly not good enough for our incredible startups.

Making the relationship count between accelerator and startup

It has to count – to make a difference and to really nurture the relationship, and sometimes, that means seeking advice elsewhere.

So what better people to go to than some of the brightest names in MadTech, including Sarah Wood, Anu Shah, Zaid Al-Zaidy, Rod Banner, Marion Barnard, Richard Fearn and Frank Kelcz – the exact list that joined us as part of our Scaleup Mentor Network last Friday.

https://twitter.com/RodBanner/status/862976298393772033

Not just another mentoring scheme

We believe the UK has a huge opportunity to build the next generation of companies in marketing and advertising that can make a global impact. Yes, that does mean the next unicorn.

And that's why we created the Scaleup Mentor Network, and also why it's different from everything else.

We invite only the very best names from the MadTech entrepreneurial world, VCs and agencies and the very best, most successful, rapidly growing Collider startups.

This time, we were joined by alumni Beem, LivingLens, Seenit, CampaignAmp and Pixoneye, and is also where we jotted down this incredible quote, comparing startup life to that of a child.

Collider Mentor Network Sarah Wood Seenit

Extended support

We also had the folks from Microsoft Bizspark join us, who brought along Ella Cockerell – expert in enterprise and with years of incredible sales experience. As we continue to develop our relationship with the Microsoft folk, our startups were left super pleased with having a new face in the room, and the added support Ella brought.

Collider Scaleup Mentor Network

The Mad World of MadTech: April Roundup

MadTech has many verticals, with April proving just that, going down as a month of awesome coverage, impressive awards and enviable partnerships. Check out our top four updates from the Collider alumni.

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1. Good-Loop's Amy named by BBC as an ‘entrepreneur women using tech for good’

Not only did Amy impress our audience on Demo Day, she's now stunned the BBC thanks to her inspiring storing on why she decided to fund her startup.

Shocked by the huge existent inequality between countries and with a background in advertising, Amy decided to try and make the world a better place using adtech. Good-Loop aims to make a real positive impact by rewarding viewers of video ads with donations to their chosen charities.

Such a great example to follow! Read more here.

2. Emily from Seenit wins Entrepreneur Award from ‘10 Digital Ladies’

Our very own class of ’14 alum are making us proud again!

This time Seenit Founder and CEO, Emily Forbes, was a main guest at the event run at google HQ celebrating women who have successfully launched their own digital business. And not only that, but she ended up being crowned the Entrepreneur Award winner of the year.

From a background in film production and with almost no digital experience, Emily has built into a £1.1m business in just three years.

Big congrats to you Emily! Read more here.

3. LivingLens partner with world leader in experience management

The new product LivingLens and Qualtrics are releasing together will allow organisations to form a better customer understanding, giving them the ability to tell their stories and share feedback, all thanks to LivingLens' rich video content ability.

Read more here.

4. Sonovate name Pixoneye as ones to watch

The Pixoneye team have been spotted on the '50 Fastest Growing Companies in the UK' list by Sonovate. Congrats!