An Interview with Bob Chaworth-Musters, Founder of the Angel Forum – Vancouver
Bob Chaworth-Musters founded in 1997 the Angel Forum, which is now the oldest Angel group in Canada and is held semi-annually in Vancouver. He is also a founding member and the BC Board Director of Canada’s National Angel Organization (NAO). Prior to that Bob was with CIBC - a major Canadian financial institution with executive responsibilities ranging from corporate and investment banking to private banking in Vancouver, London, England and Bahrain in the Middle East. He also was involved with a seed venture capital fund and a pre-shipment finance fund with the B.C. Trade Development Corp and a discretionary investment management firm for private investors. Bob has lectured on investment funds and advised mid-sized companies, financial institutions and commercial crown corporations. For the past 8 years he has been involved with an electricity and natural gas trading company. He was a Charter Student at Simon Fraser University, earning a B.A in Economics and Commerce and later a M.Sc. in Business Administration from Boston University.
Yaron Bazaz: Hi Bob, How did you find yourself involved with early stage venture capital activities?
Bob Chaworth-Musters: “I was working with a BC Trade Development company where I was involved with a seed venture capital fund and a pre-shipment finance fund. The Company was closed down and I persuaded BDC to become a joint venture partner in the Angel Forum.”
Y.B: In 1997 you founded ‘The Angel Forum – Vancouver’ - now the oldest and largest angel group in Canada. What market pain you identified at the time that motivated you to found The Angel Forum?
Bob Chaworth-Musters: “At BC Trade I was coming across a lot of companies that were too small for institutional venture capital funds and too big for love money. There was no available solution to the problem.”
Y.B: Tell us about the Angel Forum
Bob Chaworth-Musters: “The Angel Forum - Vancouver semi-annually introduces emerging companies to private equity investors. As one of the oldest & largest angel groups in Canada with 100+ investors, its sponsors include leading organizations in BC such as BDC-Venture Capital, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Fasken Martineau and TSX Venture Exchange. Its primary objective is to facilitate investment in emerging companies and presenting companies have raised over $24 million directly through the Forum. Since 1998, Investor Ready seminars for entrepreneurs have been available and now Investor workshops are offered.
