Marcus Richards
We run an online platform that makes it quick and easy for entrepreneurs to connect with investors worldwide.
Our Mission: Connecting the world to enable investors to back the great businesses of tomorrow.
Tell us about yourself?
The fundraising process used to be slow and fragmented, so we decided to create a platform to streamline the process for entrepreneurs and give investors access to more dealflow (locally, nationally and internationally).
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
Trust your instincts and make decisions quicker – if you have a gut feeling that something isn’t working or someone isn’t the right fit, follow your instinct and make a change.
What problem does your business solve?
We solve the problem of entrepreneurs gaining access to early-stage funding.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
Raising early-stage funding is harder than most people realise. Traditionally it came down to how well connected you were and whether you could tap into wealthy relatives, friends, colleagues, etc.
Yes, there were angel networks, but they were very local and would only look at businesses operating in their region and their processes were very slow. We set out to solve that and give everyone an equal chance to get their business funded.
What is your magic sauce?
Initially our secret sauce was that we were online, which meant that the whole process was quicker and also meant that we could expand nationally and nationally very quickly.
Now our secret sauce is the size of our network (over 1.5 million entrepreneurs and over 300,000 investors – and growing daily) and the reach of our network (we now have investors in every country worldwide except the Vatican City!)
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
We’ve got quite a few new features in the pipeline, but I’m afraid I have to keep them under wraps for now. Watch this space and we’ll keep you updated as soon as we can!
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Since we’re a 2 sided platform (entrepreneurs and investors, it was important to find the right balance of entrepreneur and investor members, much like Uber had to find the right balance of riders and drivers.
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
We obviously always want to hear from entrepreneurs and investors.
We’d also like to make more connections in the wider startup ecosystem (angel groups, VC companies, famly offices, incubators, accelerators, co-working spaces, universities, pitching events, etc), as we’re hoping they’ll play a big part in our development over the next few years.
