Tony Atkinson - 2021-11-17

Angel News is usually pretty interesting

John B - 2021-11-17

James, thank you for your latest article. As a relatively newby to this type of investment I have found your articles very interesting in terms of diversification, trends and returns over time. I wondered what your invest/pass rate was, and if this has changed over time - if so why? Also what level of DD you perform and what you are looking for in winners vs punts. Thanks again and looking forward to your latest annual review. John

James - 2021-11-18

Hi John, it used to be about 2/3rd the Seedrs listings, most of Syndicate Room through the funds and just enough of CrowdCube to track the offering. A couple of months ago, June, I wrote an article where I looked at valuations and I suggested I am investing in less primarily because of increasing valuations esp valuations above GBP 5m. You will get a full picture from early articles or from my book “Diary of A Serial Equity Crowdfunder” (available on Lulu.com or Amazon). In essence I dont think I can pick winners early, however much DD, but feel that 10 in 100 with basic Seedrs DD may do well or better 100 in 1,000 bit in spite of my 1 in 10 probability rule of thumb I think that if you only invest in 10 then there is almost 100% probability of losing the lot. I invest small amounts in a lot of companies - not too many eggs in one basket and only invest larger amounts when I feel I have got to see how the company is progressing.

M Domjan - 2021-11-18

James, thank you for the detailed metrics. Very interesting indeed. One question if I may. Sustainable Accelerator is currently fundraising for their 5th cohort and in their brochure/pitch they have only one failed investee company (Autotrip from SA1) while you wrote down three investments. Could you explain the difference or name the other two companies so that I can query with them? Many thanks

James Murdoch - 2021-11-18

M Domjan, I think you have spotted an error in the text. If you look at my graph you can see that agrees that there is only one failed so I have been back to my data base and the data and calculations are all correctly showing only one failiure.. Just the text comment is in error. Many apologies. PS: returns are affected by my partial sales of some of the small early investments . Hope that clarifies.