EBAN Begins
The Impact Investing panel during the afternoon of Day 1 at EBAN in Warsaw.
Tech Coast Angels’ Dave Berkus on Extending the Runway.
Brigitte Baumann kicks off the conference.
Mark LaRosa accepts the “Breakthrough Service/Tool Award” for Angelsoft.
Francesco Marini Clarelli, right, accepts the Business Angel of the Year Award.
Assigned to Table 3 at the Gala Awards dinner last night I knew I’d have a good view of the stage. What I didn’t count on was being seated next to the man of the evening, Francesco Marini Clarelli of the Italian Angels for Growth in Milan and the 2011 Business Angel of the Year. In his acceptance speech he hoped that the recognition the award would bring would be good for his local angel group and grow the membership and its impact throughout Italy. After the congratulations and time for him to step out and share the news with his wife, he returned to the table to share his story.
He was lucky, 25 years ago on his first investment he enjoyed a 40x return. Good you’d think, but there was a downside; he thought he had the golden touch; he was a natural, so he continued to make early-stage investments, but the outcomes proved that many were bad decisions. He was making mistakes, but at least he was playing with ‘house’ money, as they say in Las Vegas, or Monte Carlo. Failure being a great teacher, he persisted and learned. He said he never saw a company fail from a poor business plan, a bad strategy, always mistakes of the team. Finding the effective entrepreneur is the critical component of his success. And who can argue with that?
Pianist Pawel Wakarecy entertains to conclude the evening.
Business Angels Netwerk vLaanderen’s Reginald Vossen points out the shadow.
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