How to become an angel investor

Becoming a successful angel investor should not just be reserved for a few. You'd be awesome at it.

And to prove just that, we gathered together a group of the seasoned and the new to hear from Collider’s multiple-time angel Richard Fearn, and Super Mentor who led Unruly’s exit, Marion Bernard.

And now we’re sharing it with you.

Enter a community, don't go it alone.

As an investor, you need to pick the right companies – obviously, so why risk everything to begin with when there's a whole ecosystem out there looking to help you.

As Richard said, accelerators can solve problems before said problems kill a business. That's for sure a comfort to investors.

Your time is more valuable than your money.

If you're looking to invest, you'll likely have some pretty useful skills – so why not share them? Work out how you can add value to your companies, which actually might not be what you think.

Get good at being patient.

Once you invest, don't expect it to pay for itself within a year or two (or even five). You're playing the long game, so make sure you follow the company through from the start.

It's not just about investing for returns.

Really, there’s so much more than that. Make sure you allow yourself to enjoy the journey as you'll be surrounded by some of the most innovate startups and investors. It's quite infectious, really.

Check your record.

Learn the lessons from your track record; and if you haven’t got one, learn from those that do.

Amplify you.Position yourself in the market as you would with anything else.

Position yourself in the market as you would with anything else. Amplify what you can bring to get on the cap tables you want to be on. Amplify your value.

It really isn't just about your money, and the best startups will know that. They'll be looking at your connections, too.

It’s about your exit too.

Do your best to work out where you might like to follow on, and what would have to happen for you to not. Remember, you’ll likely get most of your money from just one or two exits.

Get up to £100k to fund your startup from the Collider accelerator

Collider is looking for the very best startups to join our next accelerator programme. We exist to shape the future of marketing and sales technology, and with over five years' experience, we know this space like the back of our hands. Get funded by the Collider Accelerator and apply today.

What's on offer

Cash We offer two levels of investment – £35,000 net (£50,000 in total) for early stage companies, and £70,000 net (£100,000 in total) for later stage (companies with some proof of value with commercial traction or prior fundraising). All of our investment comes directly from angels with incredible industry specific experience.

Coaching A three month programme and lifetime support to help you scale with speed.

Connections Meet the leaders in this industry, including the most relevant, senior team members from top corporates.

Community Our startups, scaleups, corporates, investors and mentors become your community too.

https://vimeo.com/234639816

What we're looking for

• Marketing and sales technology that's B2B focussed - that's B2B or B2B2C technology that helps corporates find, understand, engage, sell to or retain customers

• Early stage businesses with an MVP or later stage businesses with some proof of value - be that commercial traction or prior fundraising. We invest in startups with SEIS or EIS

• Impressive teams with personality - with a minimum of two co-founders.

Apply now!

5 Ways To Increase Your Chances Of Getting Into The Collider Accelerator

In fact, this works for VC’s, angels and new clients too. So, if you’ve got an incredible business, we want to hear about it, and we want to remember you above the rest. You can apply right here.

1. Get a warm introduction.

Have a read about the people who work at Collider – stalk us, it’s okay. Have a nosey on Linkedin and see if you have any connections in common, and get yourself an introduction. If nothing turns up here, have a look through Crunchbase or Angel List and see if you know anyone we’re associated with – perhaps an investor or an alumni startup? If you’re in the industry, it’s likely you’ll be connected to someone, just do your homework.

2. Come meet us.

We’re always at industry events, whether that’s at a booth, on a panel or offering mentoring sessions, and we also offer office hours. We’ll be impressed if you really go out of your way to get in contact with us.

3. Have a top notch application.

There are quite a few websites around to help you structure your ideas, presentation, one pagers, business canvas and to find and calculate the size of the market, among other things. Here’s a good one, and another, and another.

4. READ the application form.

Your time is precious, so make sure your idea fits what we’re looking for – a B2B solution to help corporates find, understand, engage with, retain and sell more to consumers. You’d be surprised how many applications we have that are in a completely different space. Spray and pray does not work here.

5. Be clear and concise.

Ask someone to read your application and explain the following to you:

• Problem you are solving and to whom • Size of the market and its opportunity • Traction and progress so far • Team (current investors, board members, advisors, etc) • Your unfair, competitive advantage • Go to market strategy

If they can explain the above, you are in the right path. If not, you will need to work more in your proposal.

Meet The Class of 2017 Amsterdam Cohort

BIG NEWS. Collider Amsterdam has officially chosen eight startups for investment off the back of their first Startup Selection Day, and now’s your chance to meet them.

From hundreds of hopeful applications and just eight spots up for grabs, the first Amsterdam cohort Selection Day saw 13 startups from 11 different countries pitching for their place.

Hosted in one of the biggest European startup hubs, B. Amsterdam – which is also the new home of Collider Amsterdam – hundreds of applications were whittled down to the top eight, and we can’t wait to tell you about them.

Amsterdam Collider Selection Day

Meet the eight startups

1. ClicksHelp

An altruistic digital marketing product that helps to achieve better and more efficient conversions by linking clicks to charities.

2. Consent.io

A platform for real-time opinion research and analysis among consumers, customers, stakeholders and audiences.

3. Findur

Checks the current store stock of physical fashion stores, leads the way to the right stores, and in the meantime, collects valuable data for retailers.

4. Hyphen

AI driven operating system for customer support, that helps to improve customer service and reduce costs.

5. Paidtrends

A ‘crowd sourced advertising platform’ facilitating advertising on social media for a fraction of the regular price.

6. Recommendme

Helps companies to allocate their Ad words & FB expenses more effectively using AI, saving costs on analytics.

7. Roborzoid

A platform making the implementation and management of voice tech in products and services widely accessible.

8. SO! Sport

An exclusive mobile and social media advertising network that combines sport clubs in one network and allows members and fans to earn money for their club by viewing content.

5 ways to make voice technology work for your business

The future of voice and its impact on customer success, experience and engagement is one you need to start working on, and fast.

As part of #ColliderPredicts, our latest series of events exploring the most cutting edge tech and how that can, and should impact your innovation, we started with voice, and what that could mean to you.

Collaborating with Unruly and their incredible Connected Home, we were joined by voices from Amazon, Matchbox Mobile and Barclays to discuss the next steps for corporate innovation where this is concerned.

Here’s our top five moves we think you could start working on now, thanks to one hell of a special panel* and a room full of high flying corporates who are already thinking “what next?”

1. Offer something substantial.

Voice will be successful for your corporate if you offer real value, otherwise you’ll risk diluting its proposition as a meaningful engagement.

Work out where you can find that meaning for your audience.

2. Don’t offer in isolation.

Avoid becoming too obsessive with voice being the next cool but weird thing — look at it as just another platform like Instagram was to Facebook.

Going forwards, your strategy needs to include voice, but not just voice. It’s another channel to tap into.

3. Get your business prepared early.

Don’t wait until you need to include voice within your strategy. Get the backend of your tech ready to integrate, even before you’re ready to use it.

4. Remember the interaction will be different

The user interface and experience with voice is entirely different to the majority of other technologies we currently use on a day-to-day basis. That means you can expect a different kind of interaction.

Think about how that could impact you.

5. Honesty and TRUST matters.

For voice to be truly successful, we need to have trust in the technology — especially as our homes are incredibly sacred spaces.

It’s up to the businesses using voice in innovative ways to make sure these experiences are truly valuable, and not just there for the sake of it.

*With thanks to: Simon Gosling, Futurist, Unruly Matthew Calamatta, CTO, Matchbox Mobile Chris Chabot, Technology Evangelist, Amazon John Cooper, VP of Mobile Payments Innovation, Barclays Andy Tait, Co-Founder and COO, Collider

And a huge thank you to Unruly Media for hosting us in their incredible Connected Home. What a space.