Thank you for downloading this program. In this edition of the bottom line, we're discussing the role of angel investors, successful entrepreneurs using their own money to back promising startups.

Hello and welcome to the program. You've probably seen Dragons Den, television entertainment at its best, though I would say that, being the presenter. But you know the format. Five, successful and wealthy entrepreneurs use their money, their own money, in fact, to invest in young businesses.

They have to listen to the pitch, weigh up the business case, and then choose to take a stake in the business or not.

Now, what you're seeing on Dragon's Den is Angel Investing. And today, we're going to look at the real thing, how it happens off-screen. It has all the drama, the highs and lows, the personalities and egos, and it has profits and losses. Hopefully more of the former than the latter. It can be an art and sometimes a science. My three guests all became

angel investors after selling their own successful companies. So let's meet them now. And first up

is Sherry Kutu, who's founder of Cambridge Angels, also founder of Harvard Business School

Angels. Sherry, the first two companies you set up helped you make your own fortune.

Just tell us what they were.

The first company was called Interactive Investor.

It was an investment business.

And the other was for institutional investors.

So both of them financial services.

Right.

So you sold those businesses.

You had pocketed a lot of cash and thought I'll go into investing for myself.

The first was sold and the second was floated on the London and NASDAQ main market.

And I had had angels invest in my businesses and I knew that they were the reason why my businesses had been successful.

And in addition to that, at the time that I floated, the second company, I also had my third child. And it's easier if you're trying to be a half decent mother to be an angel investor than to run a rapidly growing scaling company on a global basis.

How many angels are there in Cambridge Angels?

We like to have single table conversations, so in the colleges, and so 30 fits comfortably around the table. So tell us about some of the things, the young businesses that you have

been involved in right from the beginning. Okay. So Zupla, which is an estate agent company, online. I was their first angel in, though I don't think I realized it at the time. Love Film, which was sold to Amazon, and LinkedIn, which helps people who are looking for jobs, find jobs, and helps people

who are seeking to keep track of the people that they know, keep track of them a lot more

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