#11: How to invest in startups through an angel syndicate with Matthew Stafford

Matthew Stafford has worked with startups since 2010 and is the co-founder of 9others, a global entrepreneurs network, and Dot Matrix Group, an angel investment syndicate. 9others was established in 2011 and is now a global network of 4,000+ entrepreneurs in 45+ cities who meet over dinner to help each other solve the challenges of business and life. Established in 2016 Dot Matrix Group is an angel syndicate that invests in seed stage technology startups in the UK. Matthew is a patient investor and typically gets to know and contributes to entrepreneurs over many months and even years before investing. Before all that, Matthew worked in technology for RBS, The Bank of New York and others, studied Computer Science at Durham University and has an MBA from Imperial College Business School. We cover the following in our conversation: How did you get started as an angel investor? What is an angel syndicate? What's the criteria and process for an angel investor joining? How do you decide what startups to invest in? How do we get more women and underrepresented groups more involved in angel investing? What do you say to people who assume that because startup investing is risky, they shouldn't go anywhere near it?