Whats it like to work with real business angels?
By Tim Chapman So you’ve watched Dragons’ Den a few times, and think you know what business angels are about. But things are never quite as they are on TV. The real process of angel fundraising might lack the deliberate intimidation and take a lot longer to complete, but it can be no less dramatic and a lot more rewarding. “Our investors are a lot kinder than the ones you see on Dragons’ Den,” says Pat Sutton, operations director at Birmingham-based Advantage Business Angels. “That programme has been a double-edged sword. It’s told people what business angels do, but it’s frightened a lot of people off.” “The propositions we look at are a hell of a lot stronger than anything on Dragons’ Den,” says Geoffrey Thomson, an experienced angel and chief executive of Braveheart Ventures. “And I wouldn’t let any of our investors behave like that to a company.” The typical business angel might not be a dragon, but he’s no cherub either. He (it’s rare to meet a lady angel) is a successful entrepre
