Lead by Bill Aulet, Senior Lecturer and Acting Managing Director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center and Ken Morse, Serial Entrepreneur & Founding Managing Director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center.
2 days, 01 - 02 February 2010
Place: Hilton Helsinki, Kalastajatorppa, Kalastajatorpantie 1, 00330 Helsinki
An internationally acclaimed workshop for CEOs and CFOs of new ventures and existing high growth companies, Business Angels, Venture Capitalists and other funding sources who want to build and promote the creation of more globally competitive innovation-based companies.
An effective financing strategy is mission critical and depends on:
- How a new venture or an existing company raises money to fund its growth
- Successfully planning and strong executing the financing process
Program Objective
To leverage the instructors’ significant expertise and experience to enable the attendees to become more efficient and effective at developing and executing their long term financing strategies.
What You Will Learn
- Embracing what investors look for in a management team, their business plans, and their sales plans
- Mastering the proper role that financing should play in the life of the enterprise
- Developing a financing strategy aligned with the specific needs of your business
- Understanding when, where, how, and from whom you should find the funding to grow your business
- Learning how to take control and drive the financing process, instead of having it drive you
- Embracing what investors look for in a management team and their business plan
- Reviewing the current state of new venture financing in Finland (with participation from local experts, such as Business Angels, VCs, etc.)
- Ensuring you succeed after you get your funding.
Practical Application: What You Walk Away WitH
- A comprehensive framework for understanding fundraising processes
- How this framework can be applied to real world situations with the use of some illustrative case studies
- Become more efficient and effective at developing and executing your long term financing strategies
AGENDA
AGENDA DAY ONE
Monday, 01 February 2010: Preparing for the Process
| 08:00 - 08:30 | Registration |
| 08:30 - 09:00 | Workshop Kickoff Company Status Reviews and Updates |
| 09:00 - 09:10 | Overview: Desired Outcomes of this Workshop #3 of the Global Clusters Program |
| 09:15 - 10:00 | Balancing Entrepreneurial Operational Considerations & Determining Appropriate Timing for Each Financing The key variables for determining entrepreneurial operational excellence What is the proper balance between sales, operations, and raising money? Why the financing process is important & how to successfully integrate it with operations |
| 10:00 - 10:30 | Getting Yourself in the Right Mind Set to Raise Money How to approach the process The right frame of mind |
| 10:30 - 10:40 | Break |
| 10:40 - 11:30 | Overview of the Financing Status of Selected Companies in this Workshop A situational analysis of the current state of a few companies in the group Description of the financing plans for these companies in the workshop |
| 11:30 - 12:15 | Sources of Financing Potential sources of financing for new ventures Advantages and disadvantages of each |
| 12:15 - 13:30 | Lunch in "Birds of a Feather" Format Tables arranged by common interests (e.g., "Customer Financing", "Family & Friends Financing", "Angel Financing", "Venture Financing", etc.) |
| 13:30 - 13:45 | Lessons Learned from Lunch Discussion |
| 13:45 - 14:15 | Principles on Estimating the Timing and Size of a Each Potential Financing The imperative for absolute clarity in goals Calculating your basic needs with cash flow statements |
| 14:15 - 15:15 | Raising the First, or Next, Round The steps in the process and what is the most important and what is of lesser importance How to determine important variables such as valuation and expected IRR in the real world Understanding the trade-offs that can and may need to be made |
| 15:15 - 15:30 | Break |
| 15:30 - 16:15 | What International Investors Look For, Part I: Team, Sales and Pipeline The importance of the Team The proven value proposition and satisfied customers |
| 16:15 - 16:30 | What Makes an Outstanding Investor Elevator Pitch Know your audience and target the right ones What the investor is most interested in Effective communication techniques - the Elevator Pitch |
| 16:30 - 17:00 | Companies Work Individually to Script their Elevator Pitch to Prospective Investors, followed by Coaching and Practicing of Investor Elevator Presentations, with the Instructors |
| 17:00 - 18:00 | Panel Discussion with Special Invited Venture Capitalists from Finland and Beyond |
| 18:00 - 19:30 | Reception - Attendees Give Elevator Pitch Presentations to Visiting Investors, with Feedback |
AGENDA DAY TWO
Day # 2, Tuesday 02 February 2010: Executing the Process
| 08:30 - 09:00 | Next Steps and Follow on Program and Services Discussion |
| 09:00 - 09:45 | What International Investors Look For, Part II: The Business Plan Fundamentals of business plans - the role and the elements The dynamic business plan |
| 09:45 - 10:30 | Driving the Process versus Being Driven by the Process Understand the "mating dance" and everyone's interests Be prepared; generate options and alternatives Take control as much as possible |
| 10:30 - 10:45 | Break |
| 10:45 - 11:15 | Multiple Rounds of Financing Considerations Key considerations when raising multiple rounds of financing |
| 11:15 - 12:15 | SensAble, Brontes Technologies, and GovWorks (startup.com): Case Studies in Financing The "Crossing the Chasm" challenge in high technology and its relationship to financing stages Considerations at each stage of the fund raising process The importance of stages of growth for a new venture & the importance of exit strategies |
| 12:15 - 13:15 | Lunch:. Attendees Work Individually on Investor Presentations Apply lessons learned to develop presentations Coaching and critiquing at the tables by instructors Attendees make investor presentations Instant feedback from instructors and participants At end of lunch, 2-3 ideas per table are presented |
| 13:15 - 13:30 | Observations Based on attendees' issues in developing investor presentations and instructors? observations |
| 13:30 - 15:00 | Selected Company Presentations Applying the lessons of the workshop Real time feedback Learning through the case studies of other companies in the workshop |
| 15:00 - 15:30 | What to do Once You Have Raised the Money Now the real work starts Sending a clear message to all stakeholders Maintaining focus and controls on cash Managing investors' expectationse |
| 15:30 - 16:00 | Sustainable Global Growth: It's All About the Customers and the Team Based on work to date, representative companies are selected to present Lessons learned will be applicable to all participants in the workshop |
| 16:00 - 17:00 | Wrap Up, Way Forward, Next Steps, Presentations of Certificates |
