Angel Challenge investor Mari Helmer on her participation in the program: — It is amazing how a choice I made five years ago can impact my life to such a great degree today
What is the true value of an investment? Angel Challenge investor Mari Helmer shares her insights on how learning about startup investing has proven to be about more than the money.
Within the innovative communities that target startups and investors, you probably hear this a few times every month: “The people planning for the future should invest, as placing all your money in an savings account is unlikely to generate the kind of wealth an investment can.” And at the same time, investing can itself feel quite inaccessible. Where do you even start, when you want to learn about making investments?
You can of course sign up for some program or course you have found online, but it is far easier to take recommendations from people you trust, or people who remind you of yourself. There is a certain support in knowing that you are not alone in feeling confused at first when presented with expressions, definitions, and other concerns from the world of investing. Your learning curve will probably go upwards without you even noticing it all the time, but you will nevertheless learn. This is a pathway the Angel Challenge National program is offering to its participants.
Mari Helmer participated in the Angel Challenge program of Fall 2015.
What I found to be particularly valuable by joining Angel Challenge, was how it opened my horizons to a new area of investments: The program taught me what to look for when evaluating whom to invest in. It also taught me to listen to my gut feeling when evaluating potential cases. This has led me to invest in other companies — such as Matkanalen, Strategy Orchestrator, Fra Offer til Kriger, and Marketwell, says Helmer.
Evolving as an investor
As a (former) journalist of the tech newspaper Shifter, the journalist behind this article would several times participate at Angel Challenge events. Researching the startups that were participating in the program, there was always an interesting ‘bet’ to spot which startups were likely to become the investor favourites. Interestingly, I would often base my guesses on which topics had been covered extensively in the media during the weeks and months prior to each Angel Challenge finale. And sometimes, the general ‘feel’ of the room gave enough basis for a guess as well: Which startup communicated their vision and product in the best and most engaging way?
In a similar manner, learning about startup investing is likely to make you trust your gut feeling more — and pair it with your new knowledge.
It is very interesting to see how much I have evolved as an investor since I first participated in the Angel Challenge program. I am much more confident when I invest and I think I am better at spotting winners in the market. It has also lead me to work closer with some of the companies, and experience first hand what it is like to be an entrepreneur and the challenges they face, I usually don’t see this side as an investor, says Helmer.
At the moment, Helmer is an active investor in Marketwell, and she says it is vey interesting to following the startup journey. In Marketwell’s case, Helmer especially mentions the journey “from having a vision for changing an industry like the beauty and hair segment, to actually making an app and getting the industry on board.”
And just last week, Hår1 made the app available to all their affiliated hairdressing salons.
With this follows an amazing opportunity to get their preferred brands into the app. It has always been a question of chicken or egg, and by getting such a big partner onboard, the chance of success for the company greatly escalates. It is amazing how a choice I made five years ago can impact my life to such a great degree today, says Helmer.
Words of advice for new investors
So what advice would Helmer give to new investors? What can she tell the ones that are still trying to figure out how to make a good investment? Her three pieces of advice include being open, being generous with your time, and looking outside the box.
Be open: You learn more about different areas if you are willing to talk to startups outside your area of expertise. You never know, maybe you have knowledge that can be utilised in areas that you had not considered?, says Helmer.
For all three of her advice, not being prejudiced towards startups or founders seems to be a running theme.
Be generous with your time: Sometimes it is a good investment to be a listener, and a contributor to solutions. Be a partner that they trust. Be open to both positive and negative information: If they only tell you the sunshine stories, you will not know when it is time to cut your losses.
And Helmer would also like to prepare new investors for the additional value — or the actual value — of investing.
Look outside ‘the box’: You invest in people and their dream. Sometimes the return you get is not monetary, but knowledge and an enrichment that can only be felt. My most precious investment is the one I made in Fra offer til Kriger: It is not one that will bring a return in the foreseeable future, but it gives me so much as a person — to be able to contribute to making people see themselves as something more than a victim. It is a company that actually makes the world a better place!
