Chris
Clegg studied accountancy and taxation after gaining MAs at Cambridge
(in Natural Science) and Brunel (in Social Science). From 1978 to
1982 he was Finance Director of a rapidly growing import
company, eventually successfully sold, and then founded a series of
very successful Financial Services businesses, all sold. For eighteen
years to 2006 he specialized in raising both secured and risk finance
for early stage businesses, and helped create the national Business
Angel network Beer & Partners by founding the Thames Valley
region, but left after the death of David Beer.
While
with Beer & Partners, he realised that there is a real dearth of
knowledge about Business Angel investing, and determined to find out
as much as possible by reading everything he could find - which,
sadly, was not much beyond academic papers on its macroeconomic
impact! Neither potential investors, nor entrepreneurs seeking funds,
nor even the vast majority of professionals to whom they turned for
advice, had either knowledge or the ready means to acquire it.
He
founded Equity Entrepreneur in 2005 to help address this lack of
knowledge and understanding in and about the Business Angel market,
and specifically both to help Investors invest more successfully and
to better prepare entrepreneurs and their businesses for investment.
Equity
Entrepreneur ran highly acclaimed practical workshops throughout the
UK which explored the pitfalls and secrets of Business Angel
investing and raising funds from Business Angels. The workshops
enabled novice investors and entrepreneurs to gain vicarious
experience from professionals and battle-hardened investors. They
also encouraged everyone seriously interested in Business Angel
funding to meet, learn and discuss their needs and concerns in a
non-threatening environment, resulting in several introductions
actually being effected in the process!
He
also founded microFunding®, a web-based three way introduction
platform to help make commercial success for inventors from their
creativity, for managers from their business skills, and to provide
investors with a volume of good quality deals.
Although
now retired, he had been very active in the Business Angel community
for many years, and also made several (modest!) angel
investments,
some failed and two or three doing fine.
He
contributed a chapter on Raising Finance to the Book of Practical
Inventing.
