Construction of "self" and "out-there": the narratives and organisational development of Business Angels in Portugal and the United Kingdom

This is the first research conducted into Portuguese business angels – a term referring to informal investors – who are private wealthy individuals willing to invest a part of their own wealth in new business ventures for a profit. The business angel market is partially opaque in that many informal investors are not part of any organisation, club, or network and, therefore, they are difficult to identify (Mason and Harrison 2010; Mason and Harrison 2011). Many, however, are formally organised in clubs, associations, or networks (Amis and Stevenson 2001; Van Osnabrugge and Robinson 2000). Starting from the visible part of the market—the one linked by networks—and subsequent to the literature review, two relevant topics were identified: business angel profiles and their investment profiles. These two topics were crucial to the design of the questionnaires. Analysis of the questionnaire responses – which included the recipients of two of the most representative informal investor clubs in Portugal – helped to identify the profile of Portuguese business angels and their investments. Although the results of this research (detailed in Document 5: 3.2) could not be extrapolated to the entire Portuguese business angel community, the current research will offer future researchers another source in addition to the limited knowledge base available in this area