Alex Leigh in a Managing Director at Future Planet Capital. He primarily focuses on the UK Innovation and Seed Fund with a focus on Defence & Security. He talks to AIN about his move from PE to specialist VC, how a pre-seed founder can build fundraising efficiency, what startups should spend more time preparing ahead of investor meetings and the behavioural traits founders should avoid at all costs.

Why did you become an angel investor?

For the excitement about what the future could be. I started my career in PE which is mostly looking at historical financials – I wanted to look forwards more than backwards which made VC far more suitable.

How did you find the move from Private Equity to specialist Venture Capital?

I am playing to my strengths given my engineering training and early-stage startup experience. Although the defence bit was quite new to me, but given I’ve been doing it for 3.5 years now and before defence-tech was ‘cool’, I’m somewhat of an expert in that too. I might change again in future but this is interesting for now!

You focus on commercialising academic research. What is the biggest challenge for university spinouts when shifting from research to commercial growth?

Culture. It’s a double-edged sword because you need clever academics to create true deep-tech but start-ups demand a hustle mentality so they’ve got to make that switch fast. 

If a pre-seed founder has just 30 seconds to grab your attention, which one sentence should they focus on and why?

“You invested in X which is similar to us because Y and here’s why you’ll likely be interested.” Because it shows they’re being targeted with their outreach, they understand your investment mandate, and understand what VCs are looking for. The same mentality as being customer-focused which is always a winner.

Our data shows 38% of founders spend 30% or more of their week actively fundraising. What would be your top tips for founders to be more efficient in the fundraising process?

Do the work before you approach VCs. Build all the material and have it easily accessible. Record a 3-5 minute video pitch and load it onto Vimeo. VCs will appreciate you saving them time and you’ll get seen by so many more people. Think scalablity – it’s a numbers and communication game. 

What are the top non-negotiable pieces of research or questions a founder should be addressing about you/ your firm ahead of approaching you?

Are you in scope? Sector and stage. This is the main reason startups get rejected and waste lots of time.

For founders preparing for their first investor meeting, what do they usually over-prepare, and what do they often forget to prepare?

Over-prepare: Glossy pitch deck. Buzzword bingo – trying to get investors hooked.

Under-prepare: Clearly articulating the strength of their value proposition relative to existing alternatives. Financials are typically not well articulated.

How do you suggest founders balance moving fast with making thoughtful, data-driven decisions when resources are limited?

Create frameworks for decision making ahead of time. Strategy is a key area for the board and the best definition of strategy is the things you aren’t going to do as a firm. Once you have that clear, decisions are easy and fast. 

Are there any behavioural warning signs you’ve noticed during due diligence that have made you reconsider or step away from an investment?

Tardiness especially as this is before you’ve even given them the money! Poor inter-founder interactions as team risk is significant at the early-stage. Rude behaviour / inflexibility – you need to know you can work together. You wouldn’t hire someone like that and often that’s just a 3-5 year decision, when it’s 10 years – you strongly listen to your gut.

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