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John Holmes

There are two ways I can support Founders looking for investment:

In my own investment portfolio, I’m looking for opportunities to join Angel syndicates investing into startups in pre-Seed or Seed rounds, aiming to invest in at least 5 startups each year, on cheques of £10k to £25k.

In my professional practice, as MD at https://www.advantagecreative.co.uk, I support Founders in developing their fundraising strategy, often with a focus on equity fundraising.

Always happy to have an informal chat to see if I can help.

Russell Copley

Investment support – what to put in a pitch deck; business planning; pitching advice
Equity investment (for the right business)
Sweat equity investor

Currently running 2 businesses (19 years and 2 years) with equity stakes in technology business, services business, quarrying business.
Non-executive director for 3 other businesses.
Coach/mentor/advisor to others.

Jim Shirley

With 2 exits & over 20 acquisitions I’m an experienced CFO, Angel investor & Founder of Tech platform FundingHero.co.uk

My focus is on helping Tech Startups raising funding from Initial Seed to Series A.

My Angel investments are into a Venture Builder & Studio which has a portfolio of over 20+ startups and most recently into a data driven AI matchmaking platform for early stage venture funds. I am interested in investing in companies that are; B2B SaaS or Marketplaces, have revenue of £10k+ MRR and are preferably related to the startup funding ecosystem in some capacity.

My value & experience helps founders;

– Stop them burning huge sums of money by avoiding hugely costly mistakes early on.
– Define a powerful commercial strategy that lets then get to revenue quickly and be more investable
– Create realistic financial models that make sense and get founders funded
– Help them understand how to build a company towards an exit with a real strategic focus

My platform & consultancy FundingHero.co.uk focuses on simplifying the startup fundraising process. Having both raised and being an active Angel investor I believe the process is in need of standardising and simplifying for both;

– Founders to get match fit before they raise; and
– To simply the process for Angel investors to make more informed decisions.

My career has been focused on delivering shareholder value in high growth platforms.

Founder + Lightning: Successfully raising £2.4m in Angel & Venture debt for growth
Fourpure Brewing Co:. Exit to Multi national trade, rapid growth & high exit revenue multiple.
Six Degrees Group. Buy & Build, 15 acquisitions. Sold to PE, double digit EBITDA exit.

I enjoy playing a strategic role in the business towards engineering an exit whilst being very hands on running the day to day to ensure the team is aligned and all working towards creating a highly scalable & valuable business.

My strengths are in financial modelling & commercial strategy, coupled with understanding the reality of how businesses operate and scale. This enables me to quickly show a range of scenarios so founders can make informed decisions to execute their businesses plans successfully.

Over 20+ years experience covering;

– Fundraising equity & debt
– Strategic exits to PE & Trade
– Execute high organic growth strategies
– 20+ Acquisitions & mergers from DD to Integration
– IT systems design & Integration
– Finance function build & centralisation
– Business restructuring
– Financial modelling & analysis