Jul 29

Jul 29 Meet June Angelides, Investor and Entrepreneur

Named the 6th Most Influential BAME tech leader by the FT in 2018 and 15th Most Influential Woman in Tech by Computer Weekly in 2018, June Angelides is an early stage investor at Samos Investments. Prior to joining the world of venture capital, she founded a social enterprise, Mums in Technology, which was the first child-friendly coding school in the UK. She previously held roles on the Venture Capital and Early stage banking team at Silicon Valley Bank. She is a strong advocate for the rights of working mothers and is passionate about getting people from all backgrounds into careers in tech and helping more underrepresented founders gain access to funding. She is also a mum of three young children. She is a judge on the Debut Sessions monthly pitch event and a mentor for Oxford Foundry, She actively mentors founders and aspiring VCs and is on the Board Advisor of Cajigo App, which connects young girls to mentors. In her spare time she can be found on commercial and film sets with her children.

Before we dive into all things business, please tell me a little bit about June Angelides and what you were doing before launching Mums in Technology?

I was born in London, raised in Lagos, Nigeria. I come from a very large extended and entrepreneurial family. Growing up I wanted to work in television, I loved Oprah and I watched her talk shows all the time. I’ve always wanted to do something that involved helping people. For those that used to watch the Oprah show, the best bit for me was when she would make someone’s dream come true at the end of the show and pay for a house or buy them a car. She has such a big heart and I wanted to be like her and change lives.

I moved to the UK when I was 17, did my A-levels and went on to UCL to study Economics. It was a great experience, I made friends for life there. Funnily enough, I didn’t go down the route that most of my friends decided to pursue – accounting, investment banking and consulting. I started off my career at Thomson Reuters. I worked on the news desk for a few years, covering syndicated loans. I was approached by a recruiter who said there was a new bank from the US which had just launched in London and they were looking for happy people. If there was any word that best described me, it would be happy, so it felt like this job was going to be special. And it was, I joined Silicon Valley Bank when there were less than 20 people in the office with just the venture debt team. It was a very special time to join a bank. It was just being built, the application for the commercial banking license was underway and for someone who was new to this world, I had an incredible opportunity to learn from the best. It was like an apprenticeship for me and I felt lucky that they had seen something in me and gave me a chance to learn. After my first maternity leave, I moved to the early stage banking team, where I got to work with early stage tech companies. That’s where I caught the start-up bug. I now have 3 kids who are all just as curious as I was so I’m excited to see what they do when they are older.

Tell me about Mums in Technology.

I ran Mums in Technology from 2015 to 2018. It was a child friendly coding school for mums. It was an 8-week programme where we would go into tech companies and convert their meeting rooms into a classroom and a creche. I wanted to learn to code and learn how you could go from an idea to an app. Especially after working with the teams at Entrepreneur First, I just became obsessed with understanding how strangers could come together, decide on a problem them wanted to solve and make it a reality in a few weeks. The course covered ideation, UX, Product, Agile, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Bootstrap – breaking down what all the teams in a tech company do and giving mums a project to work on to be able to gain these skills in a practical way.

What’s the core issue you were trying to solve? And how do you feel you made a difference?

The biggest question for me when I made that decision to start Mums in Tech was – “Why are there no courses a mum can take her baby to?”. I tried to explore attending courses at traditional coding schools, but nothing was baby friendly or maternity leave friendly as the days were too long, or they were too expensive. I knew that there were many women who wanted to use the opportunity to upskill and go back to work more confident. I knew first-hand what it was like to go back to work after a break and feel lost.

I do feel we made a difference given we never raised any money and were a social enterprise. Over the 3 years, we taught over 250 women and partnered with numerous corporates including Ministry of Justice, Thoughtworks, Marks and Spencer, Moo, Three (UK), Investec, Skype who all opened up their entire technology teams to teach our course in their premises. Many of the women went on to work in tech companies, continued their training to become software developers and some started businesses. I couldn’t be prouder of playing a small part in that journey. Sometimes you just need someone to say you can do it, and that’s what Mums in Tech was all about – community, encouragement and learning.

You were named a leader in London’s investment scene by Evening Standard. How did you make the shift from working at Silicon Valley Bank, founder at Mums in Technology to becoming one of the few black VC’s in the UK and working at Samos?

It does feel a bit surreal sometimes to think I was able to make the shift. I remember while I was running Mums in Tech and trying to figure out what sort of funding we could apply for to help us grow I started exploring venture capital. I started looking for people to speak to and angels I could approach. I realised how closed a network it could be. I did pitch to a few VC’s but wasn’t able to raise. I spoke to numerous founders who felt equally frustrated and I kept thinking about how I could help to change this. On my third maternity leave, I really started to think about it seriously again and made a decision that I would really do my research and try and find a firm that had similar values to me. I was introduced to Check Warner, founder of Diversity VC. They are doing amazing work to increase representation in VC. She made the introduction to Samos and after speaking to the partners and some of their portfolio companies, I knew we were a great fit.

There is a barrier when it comes to VC’s investing in startups with POC founders. How do you feel you’ve bridged the gap, ensuring a more diverse investment portfolio?

I think there are incredible communities doing great work to help get founders ready to pitch to VCs. The legend himself, Andy Davis has been a true force in bringing all the black VCs together and the reality is no one person or group can bridge the gap alone and it’s also not going to just be the black VCs. Our allies play a huge role here in helping to effect change. People are listening and steps are being put in place by many investment firms to ensure they hire diverse candidates and help them climb the ladder. We will get there, but we all have to do it together and we need to keep having those uncomfortable but very important conversations around unconscious bias.

You invested in Zyper and Koru Kids, what was it about both companies that inspired you to get involved?

Zyper and Koru Kids were investments made before my time but both founders are incredible forces and I deeply admire them. They are great leaders and truly understand their businesses. Their strength of character has come through in recent events with both of them being truly adaptable and turbo charging their businesses.

What tips would you give to startups getting ready to pitch to investors?

Preparation is key. It’s so important to know your industry inside out. We want to know that you have thought about everything. What could go wrong, have you planned for it. What could go right? If you’re suddenly inundated by sales, can you fulfil them? The team is so important. If you are a solo founder, you will need to surround yourself with an amazing team to complement you. As much as the idea is important and the size of the market is definitely something we care about, we want to know how you are going to attract the best talent. There is a saying that it’s all about the execution. How are you going to make this idea a reality and set it above the rest? Know your competition. Really think about how you bring something better to the market and spend time thinking about how you will convey this in the pitch.

How do you think technology has impacted your industry during the pandemic and potentially after?

In the VC world we are constantly thinking about technology and what trends will stay or be fleeting. With all of us at home, there has been a rise in consumer social, apps like Tiktok have really taken off, meditation and fitness apps have seen a real rise as people try to find ways to keep busy, communicate with friends and get healthier – emotionally and physically. We are also seeing collaboration and communication tools gain traction. Almost everyone is using Zoom, Whereby or Microsoft teams. People are more accessible and ‘available’ than ever so you are seeing some really high-quality virtual conferences take place on platforms like Hopin which have found a way to recreate the flow of an in-person conference online.

The way we work post covid is likely to be different to before. I think people will continue to choose to work from home more and limit office visits to really important meetings only. It hasn’t impacted our deal making activity as we are comfortable with using video conferencing tools. I’m fairly confident an exciting technological break will come out as a result of lockdown. I just need to keep my eyes open so I can see it!

Tell me about Cajigo App - how does it work?

Cajigo is a mentoring app for girls who want to learn about careers in technology. It’s great because the girls can be mentored on the app by real people working in industry, they can ask questions to their peers, share learning resources and start to think about different career routes in technology.

How have you been pushing through and remaining proactive during covid-19?

I’ve managed by keeping myself very busy. I have 3 kids so I have suddenly found myself in charge of their learning, along with parents around the world. It’s been hard but it’s also been rewarding. I always like to try and find the bright side to things. We have had a rare and lovely opportunity to spend time together as a family really getting to know each other. The first few weeks of lockdown, we really used food as a chance for us all to connect, deciding on the meals together and cooking together. We have family movie time every Saturday and Sunday and are working our way through all the movies on Netflix by Studio Ghibli.

I have also used the time to continue to get to know more people in the investment and startup world, speak at more virtual events and mentor more founders and aspiring VCs. It’s been rewarding.

Can you share three of the biggest lessons you’ve learnt so far?

I’ve learnt that you have to trust your gut and when opportunities come your way, don’t be afraid to take it or let imposter syndrome stop you. I could have ruled myself of the job at SVB as I didn’t feel I had the experience or the job in VC. I chose to be transparent and talk about what I bring to the table.

I’ve learnt that it is better to have done something and failed than not to have done it at all. I took the biggest risk leaving a great job at the bank to run Mums in Tech, but it was the MBA I never had and till today, I am still reaping the rewards of the sacrifice.

Don’t be afraid to put yourself first. I say this because it is very easy, especially as a founder, to want to do everything and you sacrifice so much to build your business that it is easy to forget about yourself. Burn out is very real. So make the time for yourself to regroup and do something other than work. It will help you in the long run.

What can we look forward to from you over the next 12 months?

A ted talk. They say if you say it, it will happen. I want to make my first angel investment. It’s something I’ve always wanted to be able to do. I see so many phenomenal founders and I would love to be able to personally support some of them. I will continue to be involved in various communities, I will be spending more time mentoring startups, especially from underrepresented backgrounds. You might even see me on tv. Watch this space 😊