Super-wealthy business angels die young because they fail to fulfil their lifelong dreams, one of Scotland's most successful entrepreneurs has claimed.
Bill Morrow, the Glasgow-born founder and chief executive of investment network Angels Den, told the Sunday Herald he had known three high-net-worth individuals who had died "at the average of 52 - all of them heart attacks" in recent months.
Speaking ahead of his seminar entitled How To Ensure That You Never EVER Get Funded at the New Start Scotland exhibition, which opens at the SECC in Glasgow on Thursday, Morrow said that his network "spent the annual gross national product of Burundi" on training high-net-worth individuals to be good investors and helping them have a fulfilling career funding other businesses after they had achieved their own lucrative exits.
Angels Den's website allows more than 5000 entrepreneurs to pitch directly online to a global network of wealthy investors.
Morrow added: "Our average angel dies at about 52 and that's because they realise that what they have been chasing all their lives hasn't bought them everything they wanted. Literally your heart breaks."
Angels Den, Europe and Asia's largest equity funding facilitator, was started in 2007 by Morrow following the sale of a financial recruitment firm to a US bank for an undisclosed sum. The site is based on his belief that "all entrepreneurs with a sound business model and the ability and credibility to run a business should be able to access the finance they need".
Also giving keynote addresses at this week's event, which includes seminars, workshops and exhibition stands, are businessman and philanthropist Sir Tom Farmer and Felicity McCarthy, head of SME marketing for Facebook.
www.newstartscotland.com
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