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Why not ask Angels Den expert, Bill Morrow questions about business angel investments by clicking here.
Successful business people have an average of 2 failed businesses behind them, meaning you may need to bounce back from a failure quickly and effectively, at least twice so do bear this in mind when considering investing your life savings!
Equity or Angel funding is a lump sum invested in return for a shareholding. With an Angel involved you get also the feedback and expertise that they will bring.
If you've got a business idea that you think would be suitable for Angel investment and are not sure about whether it's a good one, the team at Angels Den can take a look at it for you and give you some feedback free of charge.
To be suitable for funding, your idea will need to have the potential to grow over the next 3-5 years and allow the Angel to get their money several times over at the end of that time.
To take advantage of this free offer, which is exclusively available to Community members, please download this simple 6 question template, fill in your details and email it to wings@angelsden.co.uk .
> Download template here
Since the tv programme Dragons Den, many people have become more aware of using Business Angels to fund their business expansion. This has increased the number of Angels and people looking for Angel funding. To meet this demand Angels Den offers a straightforward and confidential route to connecting entrepreneurs with Angels.
Angels can introduce a lump some of money into your business as an investment, rather than a loan, in exchange for a shareholding in your company. An injection of cash can mean you can fund the marketing you need to get things moving, buy equipment and speed up your expansion. However Angels are usually successful business people with great contacts and good ideas. They're not really the Dragons they're made out to be by the BBC, and once they've invested in your company they will want it to work, so are likely to provide help too.
However (unlike Venture Capitalists) Angels won't try to run your company for you, they generally take a supporting role, providing strategic advice or help on specific projects.
Angels Den has access to thousands of Angels both directly and via Angel groups who are keen to find new ideas to invest in. So how can you get hold of them? If you click here you can go to the Angels Den website and find out how. Everything on the site is written in plain English and you will be taken through a 3 step process that helps you compile a Business Summary and full Business Plan before meeting Angels.
The first step is to answer a series of questions to create a Business Summary, which costs £99. If there are weaknesses you'll get advice on how to improve your idea. Either way your Summary will go out to all our Angels and Angel groups.
The best ideas will be invited to submit a full Business Plan for £400, using help text to tell you what to put where. Once Angels have read your Plan they may invite you to meet with them and discuss how much they would like to invest. There are no further charges once you've submitted your Business Plan regardless of how many Angels you meet and there are no success fees.
There are some great ideas at Angels Den , but there are many more Angels than people seeking funding, so why not have a look now and see if you could be getting the money you need to expand your business or get it off the ground. |
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You can take a Bank loan secured against a capital item, usually your home. Banks normally only fund fairly low risk ventures. Be prepared to lose your home if your business fails.
The Small Firm Loan Guarantee Scheme may help you if you are in one of their “approved sectors” and can prove you have no assets available as security. However on any unsecured load you pay a higher rate of interest.
Many people rely on credit cards . Although easy to acquire, the interest rates are very high and you still have to pay it off somehow if your business does not succeed. Making capital repayments each month over a short term is an added burden on a new business.
A pre-agreed overdraft from the bank can work well for short-term sums but can be disastrous if the business doesn't come good quickly. The bank can ask for repayment on demand, whether it suits you or not. Overdrafts are probably best for short-term working capital requirements.
Re-mortgaging gives you a long-term loan against equity in your home If the business isn't successful you will be blessed with a constant reminder as you re-pay the mortgage!
Friends or family may give you money to set up in return for a share of the business. However this can puts a real strain on relations if you lose their money or they end up taking a big share of the sale of the business without having contributed to the hard work.
By using your savings you are effectively an Angel so you must be prepared to lose the amount of money you are investing. It's tough to lose your hard-earned savings and the time you invested into it.
Venture Capitalist fund larger businesses in return for equity but expect a major say in how the business is run, often installing their own team to co-run the business with specific milestones that must be met to get the stages of funding.
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