Measure what you can act on
How I run my angel portfolio with Dealum's Investor Plus I don't invest only for the money, and I'm not unusual in that. My own research with angel investors shows that most of us are not in it purely for financial return, especially those of us who invest directly....
What we’re building at Dealum: connecting startups with the companies that should be working with them
The first three posts were about the data. This one’s about what we think it means, and what we’re building at Dealum because of it. Data from 12,000+ funding rounds, 180+ angel networks Here’s the pattern we recognised. Of the funded companies we can see, only just...
Who invests decides which problems get solved
You don't have to be rich to become an angel investor This is an edited version of the talk I gave at the Investors Alliance Forum on 10 September 2026. I'm Vicky Brock, a five-time founder turned angel investor. I am not a billionaire. Sadly, I am not even a...
The companies nobody’s watching: what happens after the funding stops
Most people start in the wrong place. They look at the companies still raising, still posting hype, still visible. That's a reasonable instinct and it's almost exactly backwards. To see why, it helps to look at what our data says about time. SERIES The mid-market exit...
Dealum partners with UKBAA to support angel investing across the UK
We’re pleased to announce that Dealum has partnered with the UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA). Through the partnership, UKBAA’s DealShare platform will now be powered by Dealum, providing its member community with a dedicated space to share and discover...
Why mid-market companies are the missing piece in the startup exit puzzle
TL;DR: Nine in ten funded startups won't get a venture exit, yet many are solid businesses with real technology and proven teams. The buyer who fits them best, the mid-market company, needs exactly that capability and can't build it fast enough. What's missing isn't...
Bootstrapping a startup in 2026
TL;DR: Our 2024 bootstrapping advice still stands but for none of the original reasons. AI has made building nearly free, venture money has concentrated into a handful of AI deals, and investors now fund proof, not vision. Bootstrapping is no longer how you survive a...
The exit is the exception: what 12,000 funding rounds say about startup liquidity
Every pitch deck ends the same way. A slide titled "Exit," a logo soup of plausible acquirers, and a line about a five-to-seven year horizon to a "liquidity event." It is the part of the story everyone nods along to and no one checks. We checked. Dealum sits on the...
Practical tools to resolve conflict effectively
Understanding the role of conflict and recognizing when it becomes harmful is only part of the equation. In practice, most teams struggle with how to handle it in real time – often under pressure, with limited resources, and across different levels of hierarchy. In...
Co-founder mismatch: when conflict becomes a problem and how to solve it
Not every founder conflict is productive. The 3 red flags of founder mismatch and what investors can do before disagreements damage the company. While conflict can be a valuable tool, not all conflict creates value. In founder teams, the same differences in...
Click to learn more about Dealum
