It’s a cool Monday afternoon in March. I’m sitting at my desk in my London flat, lounge music in the background. It helps me focus. The day had a good rhythm, a calm flow. Then, a notification flashes. The long-awaited email: “Time to Fund.” My heart pounds, a quick, sharp drumbeat against my ribs. This is it. My first investment. It’s happening.
For years, when I pictured angel investors, I saw titans: serial founders who exited companies for millions, or a close-knit group of friends backing each other’s ventures with casual confidence. My world was far from that. I knew founders, sure, from many events across Shoreditch and the City, but I was no industry insider. I’d never been casually asked for funding; the very concept of “deal flow” felt like a secret handshake I wasn’t privy to. I helped a founder friend with product development, diving deep into the minutiae of their tech, and I absolutely loved supporting the startups I worked with. But the idea of me, an angel investor? It seemed impossible.
So, how did I, someone who never saw herself in that role, find myself here, staring at an email that marked a shift in my path?
There wasn’t a single ‘aha’ moment, no flash of lightning in the shower that suddenly revealed my future. Instead, it was a slow, almost imperceptible turning of the tide. I already understood the mechanics of investing; my background in FinTech had given me a solid foundation. In my last corporate role, I’d work on pilots with startups, and engaged (significantly, for my position) with Venture Capitalists, learning the rhythm of their networks.
The more I listened, the more I absorbed, the more fascinating this world became.
I’d always felt I was at the forefront, developing cutting-edge products. Perhaps I was, but on a small, contained stage. I began to see that investing in startups – that was the real show. It was a multitude of stages, different theaters, some even stadium-sized, each presenting a unique drama. There was an exhilarating variety, hidden patterns to uncover, and a constant demand for research across diverse sectors: product development, team dynamics, commercialisation potential. I was captivated. I wanted in. And if I was truly going to make the leap into the VC space, I knew I needed to understand, from a deeply personal perspective, what it meant to fund a startup. Or, angel investing.
What followed was, without a doubt, the most exciting yet profoundly challenging thing I’ve ever undertaken. I’d switched industries before, from biochemistry labs to business innovation and product management. But this felt different. This was about overcoming old beliefs, facing my own risk fears, and the terrifying idea of spending money I might need for something else. Growing up in a post-Soviet world, spending felt extremely risky.
So, back at my home office set up, notes scattered, coffee cooling, I decided I needed some form of a framework. I needed principles.
First, I had to define my purpose. What was my “why”? Why was I investing, and who did I want to back? While my corporate roles had put me in touch with startups, even sourcing some for investment, the idea of finding something I would personally commit to felt more nebulous.
Funding female-founded startups was an immediate, resounding yes. I was quite familiar with the stats and was keen to make an impact. Beyond that, of course, I sought businesses with the potential to scale successfully, adhering to all the MBA-taught KPIs of a thriving company. I wanted to diversify beyond any single sector.
The process, however, was the real challenge. I wanted to learn from others, to debate a deal, to hear how experts formed opinions, what they saw.
This search led me to angel syndicates. I researched about a dozen, attended online sessions. HERmesa resonated with me. Their collaborative due diligence process, involving angels with deep sector or operational expertise, felt exactly like what I needed. And their commitment to female-founded startups sealed the deal.
Just as I was connecting with HERmesa, serendipity struck again: I was accepted into the Supernovas Women2Invest program. Sitting in virtual workshops, absorbing their comprehensive insights into venture investing, I felt like I was finally filling in the blank pages of my investment playbook.
I moved. I joined about four due diligence processes within the syndicate, reviewing projections from my home office. Then I attended many demo days and events, moving beyond my usual comfort zone, from tech meetups in Old Street to biotech showcases near King’s Cross. My luck continued when I joined Samos VC as a visiting associate. Days became a blur of reviewing decks, making calls, assessing opportunities for follow-through or pass. My understanding grew with each founder conversation.
Gaining access to these valuable communities and organisations was incredibly helpful, and it came alongside a great deal of hard work, strategic thinking, meticulous analysis, deep research, careful evaluation, dedicated writing, and proactive networking.
Today, the initial thrill of that “Time to Fund” email has become a calm confidence. I’ve made three investments, and a fourth is closing. I can’t tell you if my first investment will be a financial home run; only a few months have passed, and these are long-term commitments. But I can tell you this: it was an undeniable success for me.
If I had to pick, there were three key resources that have been invaluable in this ongoing journey, helping me go from an observer into a confident participant, understanding not just the bet, but also my own blind spots:
- Venture Deals: This book remains, by far, the most essential reference for understanding the intricate legal documents when you reach the funding stage.
- Sector-Specific KPIs: Dive deep into the key performance indicators for the sector your opportunity operates in. Also, learn general KPIs relevant to different business models. For example, Taos Edmondson’s insights on consumer product metrics are gold.
- Investment Memo Templates: These are incredibly useful, even for the earliest-stage startups. They force you to think through every element of an analysis. The HERmesa template is fantastic, and Itxaso del Palacio’s scoring system from the Supernovas course has become a mental checklist I apply after almost every founder call.
Every journey into angel investing will be unique. What I can say is that I am immensely proud to have funded a female-led startup developing a revolutionary new material, driven by such palpable power and commitment. And perhaps most importantly, I am profoundly glad I’ve overcome my own ingrained biases and risk aversion to make this leap.
Daniela Duca, Supernovas Ambassador