The entrepreneur's life is a lonely one

There's a good article in this weeks Economist on business angels (requires subscription). It tells us that starting a company isn't as much fun as it looks -

The entrepreneur's life is a lonely one, Mr Mason observes. His wife will leave, his employees will look for other jobs and his bank manager will repossess his house.

And on the finger in the air school of company evaluation - David Beer runs a network that matches British entrepreneurs with prospective investors. In 20 years of observing start-ups, he has developed a simple rule of thumb.

If it's just an idea, it's worth £10,000; if it has a credible management team in place, it might be worth £100,000. On the other hand, if it has sold something for real money to real customers, it could be worth £500,000.'