The Sages

ECf.Buzz offers members the chance to read exclusive articles written for us by leading Angel and VC investors, S/EIS tax experts and renowned journalists from the enterprise sector. These guys really know their onions.

Exclusive features and insight into the world of Equity Crowd Funding. Only available through an ECF.BUZZ membership.

only £3 / month

Advanced Share Agreements - are they worth it?

We take a look at the new trend being pushed to take out an ASA instead of issuing straight shares for cash.

By Rob Murray Brown

Rob Murray Brown is the Founder of ECF.Buzz and start up advisor. He has 35 years experience in start ups and a Cranfield MBA.

Published: Friday October 1, 2021

Why We Pivoted Away From Equity Crowdfunding.

Tom Britton , a founding member of SyndicateRoom, explains exclusively to us why the platform chose to pivot away from ECF and how that move has improved the company's future.

By Tom Britton - Founding Director of SyndicateRoom

Raised in Los Angeles, Tom left the sunny beaches of LA for the cold of Edinburgh with the goal of playing professional football. After a few years spent in the lower leagues, I turned my attention to other pursuits. Tech-based project management and product development ensued followed by a return to studies and completion of an MBA at Cambridge before co-founding SyndicateRoom - a data-driven Venture Capital fund.

Published: Wednesday March 31, 2021

The importance of that old metric Gross Profit Margin

Getting your GPM right is a matter of life and death for a start up. But modern trends away from 'old' metrics mean that many so called entrepreneurs have no idea what it is.

By Rob Murray Brown

Published: Monday February 8, 2021

SEIS: The Ugly Duckling or Beautiful Swan of early stage investing?

Worth Capital explore the ins and outs of S/EIS

By Matthew Cushen

Matthew Cushen Co Founder of Worth Capital

Published: Tuesday March 3, 2020

How CityFALCON sensibly raised £1.5m with Equity Crowdfunding

We hear from the founder of City Falcon, Ruzbeh Bacha, on how to use Equity Crowdfunding in a sensible and sustainable way.

By Ruzbeh Bacha

Ruzbeh Bacha is the founder and CEO of CityFALCON with a professional background in accounting and technology (KPMG, Skype/Microsoft, Nokia). He is a qualified accountant (ACA), has an MBA from Oxford University, and has many years of experience as an investor in public and private companies.

Dated 10/01/22 ECF.Buzz had hoped that City Falcon was one of the good guys but poor decisons by the management - one of them to team up with Seedrs - mean we have now changed our minds on this. See our downgrading in Company Tracker. They have lost all of their cash and finished YEMar21 in the red. Still filing micro accounts. A story worth following but dont believe all you read.

Published: Monday February 3, 2020

Start Valuations

We try to offer some sound advice to both Founders and investors on valuing start ups.

By Rob Murray Brown

Founder of ECF.Buzz

Published: Thursday November 28, 2019

The Pitch Deck

A chapter from Peter Cowley's guide to investing in and starting up new businesses.

By Peter Cowley

Peter is a highly successful investor and entrepreneur

Published: Sunday November 24, 2019

The Pivot Part 3 of 3 - the Cost of Pivoting

Taken from Peter Cowley's book on Investing in start ups this is the concluding part of his chapter on Pivoting.

By Peter Cowley

Entrepreneur and Investor

Published: Tuesday October 22, 2019

The Pivot Part 2 of 3

Part 2 of our excerpt from Peter Cowley's excellent book on start ups focusing on pivoting a business. Book for sale with members' discount.

By Peter Cowley

Entrepreneur and Angel

Published: Wednesday October 16, 2019

The Pivot - part 1 of 3

Our second excerpt from Peter Cowley's excellent book on investing in Start Ups. You can purchase the book with an exclusive 15% members discount using 15ECF2019 at http://bit.ly/investedinvestor

By Peter Cowley

A renowned Angel investor and Business Start up Guru.

Published: Tuesday October 8, 2019