Recently, I attended an Enterprise 100 (E100) event near campus. For those unfamiliar with the group, E100 is one of the UK’s longest running angel investment clubs, founded in 1999 and historically associated with London Business School. While it operates independently today, many of its approximately 100 active members are LBS alumni, and the group continues to serve as a bridge between the School’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and private early stage capital by extending an invitation to alumni founders to pitch their ventures at its events.

E100’s purpose is straightforward but powerful: to connect early stage ventures with experienced, high net worth investors. At its regular meetings, founders pitch for funding typically ranging from £150k to £2m. Over the years, the group has backed companies such as NaturalMotion, later acquired by Zynga, and iglu.com, underscoring its long standing presence in the UK startup landscape.

A Well Run, Disciplined Format

The evening ran with impressive precision. As guests arrived, they were each greeted by name and individual familiarity, a small detail, but one that immediately signalled the professionalism and intentionality behind the group that is purposefully confined to 100 members to maintain its unique stance.

After informal networking over tea and coffee, the session began with brief updates on previously pitched companies that had generated interest from members. This was followed by a sequence familiar to anyone who has attended a pitch night: three founders, each delivering a roughly ten minute pitch, followed by a Q and A with E100 members.

On the surface, nothing about this structure was unusual. What happened next, however, was where the real value lay.

Behind Closed Doors: How Angels Actually Think

After the final pitch, the founders were asked to leave the room. What followed was a candid, unfiltered discussion among the investors about the three companies they had just seen.

For me, this was the most instructive part of the evening. Hearing experienced angel investors openly debate early stage opportunities, challenging each other’s assumptions, disagreeing on risks, and refining their thinking collectively, offered a rare glimpse into how investment decisions are actually formed.

Unlike many pitch events, where feedback is filtered or truncated, this was a genuine exchange of perspectives. Investors bounced ideas off one another, tested their instincts in real time, and sharpened their views through discussion. It was collaborative, sometimes contentious, and highly analytical.

Key Takeaways from Inside the Room

Several themes emerged clearly from those discussions.

First, at this stage, the founder often matters as much as, if not more than, the business itself. Investors repeatedly returned to questions of founder capability, judgment, and adaptability. At the earliest stages, they are not just backing a product or a market, they are backing a person’s potential to navigate uncertainty, learn quickly, and build something meaningful over time.

Second, clarity of communication is non-negotiable. If a founder cannot concisely explain their business to a room of intelligent, engaged people with no prior exposure to the space, investment interest quickly fades. In more than one case, investors simply said they “didn’t get it”, and that alone was enough to rule the opportunity out for them.

What struck me personally was how quickly opinions formed. Within minutes of each pitch beginning, I found myself, like many in the room, developing a view on both the founder and the company. At this level, an early stage founder is not just an entrepreneur, they are a salesperson, responsible for earning belief before they earn capital.

The Value of the Network in Action

Beyond the individual insights, the evening highlighted the strength of the entrepreneurial network. E100 exemplifies how to connect founders, investors, and operators in a way that goes beyond theory and into real decision making.

For any students who are interested in entrepreneurship or investing, seeing that process up close, particularly the deliberation that happens after the pitch, is invaluable. It demystifies early stage investing and makes clear that opportunity assessment is as much about people, judgment, and communication as it is about ideas or financial projections.

Overall, it was a fascinating evening, not only for the exposure to promising early stage ventures, but for the rare chance to observe how seasoned investors truly think when the door is closed and the real conversation begins.