Welcome to Lift

An interview with Lift's founder, Andrew Ellam. Andrew holds an MA from Cambridge University and an MBA from London Business School. He has previously founded two successful new businesses, and has been involved with a number of other startups in a variety of roles.

So what is Lift?

It's a website where entrepreneurs seeking funding can upload business plans for potential investors to see.

That's pretty straightforward, isn't anyone already doing this?

Some people have tried, no-one's really made a go of it yet in the UK.

Is it legal?

Yes, we're fully compliant with FSMA and the FSA rulebook. We've consulted extensively with the FSA's perimeter guidance team to check that we stay on the right side of the rules.

In fact, compliance is one of the main advantages of using our site rather than circulating your business plan by email: if you email your business plan to potential investors who you don't know, you're quite likely to be in breach of the rules. The consequences of breaking the rules can be really serious: not only is there the potential for a fine and even a prison sentence, but also the deal itself is legally unenforcable.

Are you honest? (Is this some kind of cunning plan to fleece investors or entrepreneurs?)

Well, we are honest (of course we would say that) but you can judge for yourself:

• We're not asking you for any fees.
• We're a UK registered limited company.
• We have a thorough Privacy Policy.

So why do this if you're not charging any fees?

It's a genuine attempt to make things better for investors and entrepreneurs in the UK. A few years ago I founded a networking group for London Business School alumni with an interest in startup businesses (we're now about a thousand members strong), and so I'm aware that there's a lot of investors out there looking for good projects, and entrepreneurs with good business plans looking for investors - but they have trouble finding each other.

How do you intend to run this if you're not charging fees?

We'll be looking for sponsors soon. For now we're keeping our overheads low, and I'm funding this out of my own pocket.

Whoa, backtrack a bit, what's all this talk about 'angel investors' and so on?

It's like Dragons' Den - what the TV show calls 'dragons' are what everyone else in the world calls 'angels'. Individuals who are willing to invest money in a business in return for a share in the equity. A little historical note: 'Angel' is a term originally from the theatre, investors in stage shows had to be 'angels' to put the money in, because the shows so often went bust! Also interesting is the history behind 'Venturers'; these were individuals who financed cross-channel smuggling, in return for a share of the profits.

Anyway, if all this is new to you, you can find out more at the British Business Angel Association or Business Link.

Are you competing with existing angel networks?

No, not at all. We intend to work with them - we have contacts with many of the major angel networks and venture capital seed funds, and we will be recommending suitable business plans to them. If we can improve deal flow, then that works to everyone's advantage - not least to the UK's advantage as a European centre for new venture growth and investment.

Who can use Lift?

Investors: High Net Worth Individuals and Sophisticated Investors as defined by the rules laid out in FSMA. You don't need your accountant to certify you; we manage your self-certification as part of the registration process. You will need to sign and send us a simple one-page form. To check whether you meet the criteria, and which category applies to you, download our Investor Form — PDF document, 67Kb

Entrepreneurs: Anyone with an interesting new venture. If your business plan is badly written or incoherent then we'll reject it. We won't help you improve it (although we can help you find a firm who will, for a fee). I recommend you take a look at one of the many books on writing a business plan. We also strongly recommend you read John Mullins's New Business Road Test (published by the FT) before you start writing your business plan.

What checks do you make on entrepreneurs / business plans?

None. 'Due diligence' remains the responsibility of the investor - we can help you find a consultant who'll be able to perform due diligence for you, but we don't do it ourselves.

Will investors get deluged with business plans by email?

No, definitely not. We won't be sending business plans by email. Investors can find business plans that interest them on our website, indexed by location, industry and size.

How is privacy managed?

• Only registered investors can view business plans - they aren't publicly visible on the web.
• We ask entrepreneurs for their contact details as part of their business plan submission. This is so they can be contacted by interested investors. These contact details are visible to all our investors.
  "Investors choose which entrepreneurs they wish to contact."
• Investors' contact details are not visible on the website. The onus is on investors to choose which entrepreneurs they wish to contact by email or by phone.

Should entrepreneurs be worried about uploading their business plans to a website?

I've spoken to a few entrepreneurs who are concerned about uploading their business plan to a website, because they don't know our investors personally. A couple of thoughts on this:

• If you plan to fundraise, you're going to need to get used to revealing the details of your business plan to potential investors. The majority of VC and angel investors in this country won't sign NDAs, and no-one will invest unless you're willing to tell them what you plan to do.
• If you plan to present to the traditional angel networks, you'll be presenting your business plan to a couple of hundred people at a time.
• To start selling your product or service, you'll have to 'go public' on your concept in any case. Look at protecting your intellectual property through trademarking or patenting, or developing some other advantage over potential competitors.

Anything to add?

In the interest of full disclosure, I want to mention that although we don't charge fees, many of the angel networks do; if they receive a business plan through us which they go on to fund, some of them will pass us a percentage of their fees. This will be used to cover our running costs. In the same way, we may get referral fees from firms who do business planning, due diligence, or professional services. We won't let this influence our judgement at all - we won't recommend any firm that we wouldn't use ourselves.