Second Invested Investor book looks at founders’ challenges

The second book from Cambridge publisher The Invested Investor was launched at WeWork on Station Road last week.

Around 100 people went but organiser Alan Cowley says it wasn’t solely about the literary merits or demerits of Founder to Founder by Kate Kirk with Peter and Alan Cowley.

“WeWork is a great location,” Alan said of the occasion. “There’s free food, games and drinks. It was a Christmas party atmosphere, not the usual crowd, lots of different people I’ve not met – from London, Norwich and abroad, all interested in the Invested Investor podcasts and our work, so obviously there’s support for people like us.

“We’re a publisher, we publish content through book form – this is our second – and training and events for entrepreneurs and potential investors.”

The background research for Founder to Founder, self-published at £9.99, was considerable.

“For the book we interviewed 180 entrepreneurs and investors from around the world, so it’s stories and anecdotes,” says Alan. “It doesn’t follow the business journey, it’s about the biggest challenges on the journey, funding for instance.

“There’s contributions from Andy Phillipps of booking.com, and Lord Bilimoria, and several start-ups. It’s a realistic book whether you’re starting up or further along the line.”

The first book, The Invested Investor, was launched in October 2018 at the Bradfield Centre.

“Sales of the first one went really well,” reports Alan, “especially for entrepreneurs looking to understand the mindset of angels and investors, it sells a lot into angel groups in Europe, where new angel groups are now very popular, plus to lots of people around the world too.”

Founder to Founder – you can read the first chapter here – has been guided by Kate Kirk, who authored The Cambridge Phenomenon: 50 Years of Innovation and Enterprise, the definitive introduction to the development of Cambridge as a world-class hub which was edited by Charles Cotton.

“This second one has a bigger market,” said Alan.

Meanwhile Peter has taken leave of his tenure at Cambridge Angels.

“Peter is no longer chair, Simon Thorpe is the chair now, but it doesn’t mean he’s any less busy,” Alan says of his father.