Best Startup
Investing in early stage start ups. Providing investment into early stage companies alongside other investors.
Tell us about yourself?
An entrepreneur with over 12 years in business and successful exits in previous companies, I know how hard building a fast growth company is. Using all my operational expertise and experienced network to help companies grow I enjoy rolling up the sleeves and helping build companies alongside the founders and their teams.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
Listen to experienced entrepreneurs and don’t always think the first offers are the best.
What problem does your business solve?
There is a shortage of investment in Scotland into early stage start ups, regardless of the business or market a lot of companies struggle after the initial start up stage. So Seed Ventures co-invests with other investors and also doing so on crowdfunding platforms such as Seedrs.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
When looking for investment for my company Letting Cloud and Student Rents it was hard to get to investors and you spent endless hours networking to speak to one investor. I have built up a good network of active investors and along with the network I can co-invest in these companies and provide support where needed. This will help solve the problem in Scotland where early stage investment is scarce and companies have to spend endless hours and money travelling to London to meet investors, I can bring investors to companies in Scotland.
What is your magic sauce?
I make sure companies don’t waste time or money trying to raise money, so learning from my previous experience’s raising investment and meeting time wasting investors will mean they can focus on their business more without the full distraction of the raise.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
To invest in as many companies as possible that have high growth potential and be one of the most active early and growth stage investors in Scotland. I (Seed Ventures) invest in the most ambitious entrepreneurs in the sectors covering globally scalable marketplaces, platforms, software (SaaS) and Real Estate.
I invest in companies at an early stage and work closely with the founders providing hands-on support and a collaborative ecosystem.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
I found starting off investing small amounts on crowdfunding platforms was a good way to learn the market and see what is required as an investor and what the landscape is like. My idea is not at the stage yet to create a syndicate of investors, so i think doing this myself alongside co-investing with others is a great way to achieve greater results.
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
If you are an early stage company in Scotland and looking for investment or investment and support please reach out to me hello@grantmaccusker.com
