Enterprise Nation

Bill Morrow, co-founder of Angels Den, says that home business owners are not confident enough to access his service that now boasts Europe’s largest community of angel investors. If you’re considering funding, flout your confidence and check out this interview with Bill as he tells us how Angels Den began and why he wants to hear from you.

An interview with Bill

Angels Den was founded by Bill Morrow and Lois Cook. In Bill’s own words, this is how the story goes. 

The birth of a business 

Angels Den was borne out of our two backgrounds. I was a dull accountant ex Virgin and many PLC’s, as well as Investment Banker with Kleinwort Benson and Lois had many years of Senior management within a Japanese Multinational then moved onto helping small companies and running websites.

She thought it impossible to find funding; I thought it impossible to find companies to invest in….Angels Den was borne out of the desire to prove each other wrong.

Luckily, we were both right!

Those with money were finding it difficult to find things to invest in and companies were finding it hard to find money or people who believed in them! Angels Den puts the two together for £499, with no back-end or success fees.

Dealings with home business

Many of the plans we receive are from home based businesses (28%), but we expected even more, indeed our initial business plan was aimed at home businesses, but they seem concerned that £499 is too expensive and are not self confident enough to take the plunge– the vast majority of applicants are currently coming from those who have proven themselves in business and who know that £499 is very reasonable in terms of raising funds. We are passionate about helping people working from home to secure funding to make their dreams come true.

The process

Our process is very simple. It is £99 to post a template summary onto the site. Angels can search through these and they can request further details in the form of a business plan, which costs a further £400. Thus, the total cost of being paraded in front of the largest number of Angels in Europe is £499.

For £99 you can effectively test the attractiveness of your idea to over 2000 angels. If no-one bites then you have “lost” £99 – but either you are “wrong” or they are, and this process should be a lesson to most entrepreneurs.

We were so wrong when we did our own business Plan for AD. We assumed that the majority of deals would be for ideas that would prove UN fundable, but in fact, over 60% of those at Summary stage are requested to provide more information by Angels and beyond that, over 17% of deals at Business Plan stage are being funded through our site. This is way beyond the success rate we guesstimated in our own Business Plan! 

What to look for

The home business owner should stick out for an angel that can give more than money.

The ideal Angel deal is one where the Angel brings knowledge of the sector (or at least an interest) and contacts, who can move the company forward.
We find that nothing concentrates the mind more than putting your own money into a deal. This is the big difference between Angel funding and Bank loans. Success or failure; the bank is covered, wheras if the company folds so does the Angels money. They tend not to let that happen!

How we work

Lois and I work from home ourselves, indeed we run the entire company using an army of home-workers.

Our 2 brilliant admin people work flexibly. Michelle works mornings having dropped the kids off at school and Juliet who is studying for her Msc in Business Studies picks up the reins after lectures, when Michelle’s kids come back from school. We try and get everyone together at least once a week to share grumbles and offload their experiences and also just to have a cup of coffee.

Our IT director works from home and co-ordinates our programmers, who programme all day long, from their sheds, in the snows of Finland.
We employ over 50 consultants who are also home workers, they check the deals on the system and analyse them for completion.

And your take on Dragon's Den?

Dragon's Den has been a double-edged sword for us. It has brought Angel funding to the attention of the masses but has convinced our target audience that you will be ridiculed and torn apart by Dragons when you are looking for funding.

The truth could not be further away.

Angels are praying that you will give them “the right answers,” as they are desperate to invest.

If you would like to know more about submitting your idea or business for funding, visit the Angels Den website.

Thanks to Bill for his time. – Emma Jones