Such fun being an angel investor to receive notice of the launch of the company’s first product. I am just a small investor. Others have digged deep and the founders have fought hard to make their dream come true.
SimuGen Global announces: SimuGen, a venture-backed pharmacogenomics company focused on predicting human toxicity early on in drug discovery, announced today that it has launched its flagship drug discovery toxicogenomics software product HT-Stream (www.ht-stream.com). HT-Stream is an online high throughput screening software tool for analysing complex in vitro data.
It is all very complex and clever but I think that it uses maths to predict that drugs being developed will have severe side effects. Stops you going up so many costly blind paths. Great that they have raised money from Malaysia and are working with a South African company so it is a global business plan resource they need to make sure that we are all winners! Well done to the team.
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Fred Wilson write a great blog and not much needs to be added to it except that he is one person who got in early and will make a ton of money out of spotting the social network space. Amazing to have the simple vision to use the tools and then be able to relate to entrepreneurs. All so simple but he does hide away.. Ooops no he does not as one of his companies, Zemanta, has just popped his photo up!
In his post on convertible debt for angels in the first round, he puts the other case that he prefers agreeing a price and investing. But he understates the great increase in value he brings to the new company when he says “I can negotiate a fair price with an entrepreneur in five minutes and have done that for a seed/angel round many times.” We can all agree a price but most entrepreneurs do not bite off our hands!
Fred Wilson operates in a very different environment than Cambridge Enterprise, the arm of the University of Cambridge which “exists to help University of Cambridge inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs make their ideas and concepts more commercially successful for the benefit of society, UK economy, the inventors and the University“. Their recent News and Events Bulletin states that “Sixteen Cambridge Enterprise portfolio companies are included in Business Weekly’s “Killer 50” list of the most disruptive technology companies in the East of England”. Amazing companies that will change our lives in the years to come.
But in the mission statement of Cambridge Enterprise there is no mention of angel investors. Are angels the best investors to start disruptive technology companies? Do they have deep enough pockets?
Perhaps angels in Cambridge need to entice the entrepreneurs in Cambridge to follow the path of Fred Wilson as demonstrated so well by Rahul Vohra and Rapportive. A very different business plan resource approach is required. Perhaps Cambridge Enterprise should establish a new division to support the likes of Rahul Vohra – after all the experience, skills and opportunities given to Rahul Vohra served him well until he upped and offed to Silicon Valley.
The only worry to me as a low-grade angel is that the convertible debt stacks the cards too much in the favour of the entrepreneur and the second round investors. The first round investors need a great big uplift to justify the huge risk we take. We might not fund a company to revenue but we fund social network companies to their first major step of customer engagement with hundreds of thousands of users.
Will all this help The Entrepreneurs Graphic Novel when it is is published as an app?
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Down in Cornwall and heard this great story from a Kernow entrepreneur. After exhibiting at a food show, he received a visit from a young Russian lady. She knew nothing about food processing but said that better facilities were required in Russia to reduce food contamination. She listened and learnt. Some time later our man in Kernow received an invitation to visit Russia and was told there was no need to worry about a visa – she would “sort” everything. He arrived at the airport and was told that he needed a visa so had better return home. He phoned his driver to return and collect him and then phoned his friend in Russia. She said wait and she would sort it.
A few minutes later a senior person asked for him and asked if he was a diplomat. Replying in the negative, our man was told this was most unusual but step this way.
And so began an amazing success story of exports to Russia. All because our man in Kernow trusted his instincts and told the lady from Russia all about food processing. His company is a Passive Equity Company, family controlled, and he does not need any business plan resource. But he might need a different sort of resource if some of his workers return with a local bride!!
