Angela Cretu spent 25 years at Avon, rising from area manager to Global CEO, where she led one of the most remarkable corporate turnarounds in recent history. Taking over in January 2020 when the company was predicted to go bankrupt, she navigated COVID-19 as a new CEO and transformed one of the world's most recognised beauty brands.

After stepping down in 2024, Angela made a fascinating career transition into angel investing, focusing on supporting female founders. In this episode, we explore:

• How crisis leadership experience translates to evaluating founder resilience
• What 25 years of managing network effects teach about startup claims
• The psychology of transitioning from running a 5-million-person sales network to backing 3-person startups
• Why her corporate background gives her unique insights that other angels miss
• Her investment philosophy and approach to supporting female founders

Angela shares candid insights about the mental shifts required when moving from CEO to angel investor, reveals red flags she spots that others miss, and explains how her expertise in network-based business models helps her evaluate early-stage companies.

Whether you're interested in angel investing, corporate turnarounds, or career transitions, this conversation offers valuable insights from someone who's successfully navigated both sides of the investment table.

Connect with Angela Cretu on LinkedInLearn more about angel investing: www.syndicateroom.com

In this episode, we explore Jodie O'Keeffe's fascinating journey from IT contractor in 1990s Australia to becoming one of Angel Academe's most insightful investors. Starting with a chance magazine discovery in a Melbourne supermarket, Jodie shares how her unconventional career path through technology, journalism, and philanthropy unexpectedly converged into angel investing expertise. We dive into her methodical approach to learning the ropes and how she successfully transitioned from Australia's Scale Investors to London's Angel Academe network.

The conversation reveals stark funding disparities: women hold 52% of wealth yet make up less than 10% of angel investors, whilst female founders receive just 2% of funding. Jodie explains Angel Academe's collective intelligence approach, where diverse expertise from IP lawyers to exited entrepreneurs creates powerful support systems. She shares her signature question for female founders—"How big do you think it can be?"—contrasting this with the risk-focused questions they typically face.

Throughout the episode, Jodie emphasises finding your tribe and offers practical advice for aspiring angel investors: start by observing, leverage network expertise, and understand that angel investing is about building meaningful connections whilst driving systemic change in the startup ecosystem.

As always, to learn more please visit www.syndicateroom.com

Standing at a copy machine at HSBC late one night, reviewing 50 statements of work that needed urgent attention, Kayleigh Kuptz had her lightbulb moment. "Technology should do this," she thought, "this should not be done by me." Four years later, that frustration has become Deployed—a B2B SaaS platform that's saving enterprise clients millions while transforming how corporations engage with service providers forever.

Deployed is one the the increasingly successful portfolio companies of Angel Academe.

If you'd like to find out more about investing alongside Angel Academe please visit SyndicateRoom.

Investing in startups is risky.

Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more.