Les Szekely has a bit of a cult following as an angel investor. After multiple successful exit, he has a reputation for finding great founders, then backing them with boundless energy, creativity and the humility to know when to get out of the way.

Les’ path to investing is unusual. He got a taste for power of business when he established a thriving clothes retailing operation at Paddys Market in the 1980s. He used his savings to backpack around the world for 18 months then returned to teach commercial law at UNSW and Revenue law at Syd U. From 1987 he became a tax consulting partner with Horwaths and then Deloitte. He wrote several books, gave lectures and took a lead role in marketing through financial media PR. Over 20 years as a partner taught me a great deal about business, and in particular how to structure transactions.

In his heart Les has remained a businessman and deal doer. He started angel investing in 1999 and since a substantial exit in 2004 he has increasingly involved himself in the world of angel and VC investment. In 2009 he left Deloitte to dedicate his efforts entirely to angel and VC investing.

Whilst continuing to angel invest personally, Les co-founded the VC funds manager EVP in 2014. And now actively manages $130M of VC funds. In addition to Chairing the EVP Investment Committee his time is spent as a non-executive director of several startups and mentoring Founders.

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Les Szekely on LinkedIn

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