Equity 'swap shop' spreads risk for venture-backed firms

While filmgoers subjected to Stone's risible Alexander or Pitt's hysterical Irish accent in Guy Ritchie's Snatch might disagree with Romans' final point, his belief in the power of the right network is one that most business owners will support.

The Founders Club

The Founders Club, which has just completed an angel investment round supported by controversial former Alchemy boss Jon Moulton and ex-British Venture Capital Association chair Edmund Truell, allows founders to invest 'virtual equity' in their peers' businesses.

At the heart of the concept is the belief that as members swap contacts, advice and even do business with one another, the value of their companies increase, future funding rounds are easier to secure, and their chances of a successful exit are significantly improved.

He adds that Moulton also took some convincing: "He was worried about valuation. One company might be worth £300m, another less than £10m. He was worried about tying the respective chief executives of those businesses into the same portfolio."

The concept emerged from the failure of a VoIP firm Romans founded, Global TeleExchange, which raised around $100m of venture funding. "We liquidated the company because we couldn't sell it for as much as we'd raised," he says.