Xavier Ballester

Spear's Review

Fifteen years into life at Angel Investment Network, Xavier Ballester says that the era of approaching ‘grey-suited men’ in ‘oak-panelled rooms’ in the hope that they would ‘bestow you some cash’ is finally over.

The network’s database of nearly a million users worldwide has helped democratise early-stage funding, by connecting entrepreneurs with a large number of people looking to invest.

Ballester says that ‘ideas are now ten-a-penny’, and success lies in creating a solution to a problem that other businesses will struggle to execute. 

‘We all have ideas. I have great ideas all the time,’ Ballester says. ‘But it’s teams and people that turn great ideas into great businesses.’