Sherry Coutu

Career

Coutu graduated from University of British Columbia, with a first class honours BA, in 1986, with distinction from the London School of Economics, with an MSc, in Economics, and from Harvard Business School, with an MBA, in 1993.

As an entrepreneur, Sherry founded interactive investor international (http://www.iii.co.uk) in 1994. She ran it until 2000 when it was floated on the London Stock Exchange and she stepped down when it was acquired by AMP in 2001.

She became an angel investor in 2000 and since then, she has worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs and specialised in consumer internet, information services and education. She has made angel investments in more than 50 companies and holds investments in 5 venture capital firms. She was voted by TechCrunch as the best CEO mentor / advisor in Europe in Nov 2010. In May 2011, she was voted by Wired magazine as one of the top 25 'most influential people in the wired world', and one of the top ten most influential investors and women. In 2015 she was voted one of the most inspiring women in Europe and named as one of the most philanthropic entrepreneurs in the UK.

Coutu was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for her services to entrepreneurship.

In November 2014 Coutu authored the "Scale-Up Report" which was commissioned by the Digital Economy Council which report urged the UK government to support 'scale-ups' and not only 'startups'.

In June 2015, partnering with Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, Coutu launched the Scale Up Institute a non-profit body to support UK businesses to scale up. The support for businesses will include help in improving leadership skills, accessing network of advisers and raising finance.

In early July 2015 it was reported and later confirmed by Coutu, that she would be curtailing her angel investing activities in favour of investing philanthropically in charitable endeavours in the future: Founders4Schools.

Positions

Coutu is the Chairman of Founders4Schools and The Scaleup Institute and also serves on the Boards of Cambridge University (Finance Board), Raspberry Pi, Zoopla, London Stock Exchange plc. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Royal Society.

Past positions include serving on the Advisory Boards of Linkedin and the Natural History Museum

Accolades

Coutu was awarded with the Commander of the Order of the British Empire for "services to entrepreneurship". She was named Top 50 inspiring women in Europe by the Management Today and Top Entrepreneur contributing to 'Queen and Country' by Sunday Times Magazine. In July 2015 Computer Weekly named Coutu in the top ten most influential women in UK IT industry. In the same year she was ranked 29 on Wired (magazine)'s The 2015 WIRED 100.

Philanthropy

Coutu supports Founders4Schools, Prince's Trust, Crick Institute, Cancer Research UK and serves on the Harvard Business School European Advisory Council.