How did you end up with over 50 startup investments?

A question I got from an entrepreneur today. I like transparency and helping others understand and access similar opportunities, so here is how.

I started investing in startups in 2016. I made very small investments that year, exactly 250 EUR which I invested in a portfolio of 9 startups. I had the opportunity to invest such a small amount because I knew the manager of the portfolio and he was accepting tickets from 250 EUR.

My goal at that time was to learn how to invest. I wanted to see what kind of documents and templates are shared, what is the process and what is expected from me.

The same year I started my consulting and investment company and got my biggest client Danske Bank for whom I launched and managed thehub.io

. During the following 2 years, I put aside over 25'000 EUR within my company to invest in startups.

In 2018, I joined Angel Challenge to learn how to invest and meet other investors. That year I invested in State of place, Rxall, Pawa technologies and Chooose.today. Total invested over 20000 EUR.

In 2019, my company launched an online accelerator, which was acquired by TheFactory in 2020.

The money I got from my exit was entirely invested in TheFactory, which gave me exposure to their portfolio of startups, 40 to 50 companies.

Same year, I also invested in FlowVR.

In 2021, I invested approx 15000 EUR distributed between Chooose.today

(again), Glede.app, Aswearenow.co and another company (still confidential).

The money comes from my consulting activities.

So you don’t need huge amounts to start investing in startups, but you do need some extra savings, access to startups and sometimes team up with other investors.

Investing in startups is very risky. This is why I usually only invest and introduce to other investors companies I coached, worked with or know personally.

Advice to aspiring angels: if you are new to the space, avoid investing in startups on your own. Team up with others to do the due diligence together and be able to put smaller amounts. A great way to find good startups is to connect with those running accelerators, ask to join their email list and demo days.

Anyone can become an angel investor 😉.

Have a great day and may 2022 be full of opportunities!