Got a brainwave? Dreaming of your own startup? Seedrs is the leading equity crowdfunding platform for exposing new ideas to potential investors. It has funded over 460 deals and had over £190 million invested on the platform. Tennis champion Andy Murray is on the advisory board.

This week’s guest editor is Jeff Lynn, the Chief Executive and co-founder of Seedrs. There is little this man doesn’t know about raising funds, online biz and fledgling startups. He is a qualified lawyer and used to practise corporate law in New York and London. Alongside fellow Seedrs co-founder Carlos Silva, Jeff came up with the idea of establishing an equity crowdfunding business while at the University of Oxford. They believed that there was both unmet demand for investment in small companies and start-ups as well as an untapped supply of funds. The rest is history. Now top corporations and big name accelerators from 48 different countries are among the investors keen to fund startups.

Jeff’s goal is to build a sustainable business that over time produces outstanding returns to investors. Here, Jeff tells us how he met royalty through social media, his internet hero and the app that sates his news obsession.

My favourite website... Seedrs, of course. - I'm very proud of what we've built. It is one of the world's leading equity crowdfunding platforms, but I'm also a frequent customer. I've built a personal portfolio of over 200 small investments since we launched, and I love looking at new deals every day.

My favourite app... Business Insider (BI) - I'm a news junkie, and I've become hooked on BI. It's the best balance of business, politics and general news all in one place. It also updates in the background and is available offline, which makes it a great go-to read when there is no signal.

My blog of choice... Paul Graham - There's a massive amount of noise out there when it comes to advice for startups and entrepreneurs, but every so often a sharp signal comes through. Paul is as sharp as they get. His essays bring a level of insight and clarity that beyond most of what is out there.

My internet hero... Jimmy Wales - It may be clichéd, but for all the amazing for-profit tech businesses, Wikipedia is one of the most remarkable things to come out of the digital revolution. I've had the chance to meet Jimmy several times and always found him to be a nice, genuine down-to-earth guy.

My most recent buy online was… a plane ticket for a family holiday - My wife and I recently had a daughter (our first child), and we love getting to expose her to our love of English.

Book just downloaded... ‘Watching the English’ by Kate Fox - I came to this one in an unusual way: I read 'Do No Harm’, which is a fascinating diary of life as a neurosurgeon written by the renowned Henry Marsh. Kate Fox is Marsh's wife, and when my wife and I went to a talk by Marsh, and he mentioned ‘Watching the English’. I said to my wife that it sounded interesting, and sure enough, it wound up in my Christmas stocking. I'm about a third of the way in and it's amazing. It’s an anthropological study of the English, written in much the same tone as a study of a primitive tribe, and really funny at that.

My favourite tweeter... generally, it’s Michael Deacon - Right Now: Donaeld the Unready. Michael Deacon is the political sketch artist for The Telegraph and one of the funniest political writers of his generation. Donaeld the Unready is an early mediaeval Mercian king who is failingly attempting to Make Mercia Great Again.

My favourite instagrammer... I'm 38, way too over the hill for Instagram.

Social media allowed me to meet... The Crown Prince of Liechtenstein - Through a roundabout way, I got invited to a dinner at Vaduz Castle. Everyone else there was royalty, a prime minister or the CEO of a major company. To this day I'm convinced that my invitation was a mistake. Perhaps they thought they had asked the lead guitarist for ELO to perform, but it was a blast of an evening.

Most worthwhile newsletter subscribed to... Centre for Entrepreneurs - It is one of the best synopses of what's going on in the British startup and entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Pet hate about life online... What feels like an ever-increasing noise: signal ratio.

Stand out online memory... Using a primitive version of IM with a school friend when we were about 13. We would call each other up to tell each other to get online (which meant turning on our 1400 bod modems). Then we’d hang up, then chat with each other via some black-screen messaging software we'd probably bought at a store and installed on floppy disk.

iPhone or Android? iPhone. I was actually a Blackberry user until much later than some, but finally I made the jump in about 2012 and have never looked back.

March 2017