Venture investments in startups and fast-growing companies - rate 200,000 rubles. from SKOLKOVO School of Management, training 4 weeks, date November 10, 2023.

Miscellaneous / by admin / November 30, 2023

The course was created for those who are looking for alternative tools to increase the profitability of their investment portfolio, want to learn how to search and evaluate companies for profitable investments or new growth points, build successful exit strategies from investments in Russia and abroad markets.

The course team has thought through every day of your training in detail, staging the entire educational experience. You will not lose quality or efficiency from moving online: you will work in groups, communicate personally with teachers and speakers international level, analyze investment cases, you will be able to practice the acquired knowledge on real companies in investment simulation mode process.

The year 2022 has made and continues to make its own adjustments to the work of all markets and each participant - from startups and their investors, to a fast-growing company and a huge corporation.

But, unlike the stock market, equity capital, venture capital and private equity investments are more focused on rational metrics, control by investors, optimization of costs and processes in times of crisis. Capital is looking for those who most clearly and competently meet the necessary criteria for investment attractiveness both in the Russian and foreign markets. Capital finances those who respond to the demands of a changed world and markets. Capital remembers that the best returns of all time were generated by investments in shares of companies during the last global financial crisis of 2007-2009.

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First, as part of the three-day intensive SEED ANGELS LIVE, in a short time you will immerse yourself in a topic that is relevant today together with leaders of venture capital and investment industry, who will share successful financing strategies in the current realities and reveal details of work in the market based on personal practical experience. And then over the course of 3 weeks during DEEP DIVE LIVE you will gain a deeper understanding of how analysis work works startups and fast-growing companies, structuring deals with them, and also get insights and hacks from leading investors.

Theory and practice
Structured knowledge about investing in companies with high growth potential from basic knowledge to deep dive

Educational platform SEED ANGELS
Access to all theoretical materials, teacher presentations and useful links for self-study

New business contacts
Communication with listeners and speakers as part of practical work on cases in mini-groups, online networking and Telegram chat, group reflection, as well as a module for simulating the investment process.

Alexander Lupachev is a Director specializing in the field of information technology investments. Before joining Russia Partners in January 2013, Mr. Lupachev was Director of Investments in Skolkovo, a leading scientific and technological innovation complex in the field of advanced technologies in Russia. Prior to this, Mr. Lupachev worked as a Director of FINAM Capital Partners, one of the largest investors in the Russian TMT sector - technology, media and telecommunications. Previously, Mr. Lupachev held senior investment positions at Delta Private Equity Partners and Access Industries.

In his previous roles, Mr. Lupachev played a key role in a number of private equity transactions with participation of TMT sector companies, such as: Amedia, the largest television program production company in Russia; Netville company, the largest service operator in Russia; information portal Banki.ru, a leading Internet resource dedicated to banks and their deposits in Russia; as well as the family social network Familyspace.ru dedicated to genealogy. Mr. Lupachev is also the Chairman of the Board of the Special Purpose Fund of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology and a member of the Board of Directors of the Harvard University Alumni Club.

General Director of Orbita Capital Partners LLC, authorized representative of Singularity University in Russia, innovation expert, futurist. Member of the Expert Council of the Presidential Grants Fund, member of the Expert Council under the Government of the Russian Federation, member of the Expert Council of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, member of the presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy.

Since 2009, he has held leadership positions at the Russian Venture Company, and in 2016 he was the Acting General Director of RVC. In 2017, he headed the Subsidiary Funds of RVC and successfully carried out their restructuring. At RVC he was involved in the development of the venture market, supporting and training teams of venture funds, searching and accelerating startups, and launched the National Technology Initiative. He served on the Boards of Directors and Investment Committees of funds with the participation of RVC, and initiated a number of landmark investments in Russian technology companies.

From 2007 to 2009, he led the Foundation for the Promotion of Science, Education and Medicine, which conducted a number of national campaigns for the development of the social sphere.

From 2002 to 2007, he was Managing Director of Edelman Russia, implementing large projects on development of companies and markets, their promotion in the Russian and global markets, removal of administrative barriers.

In 2015 and 2016, he was the head of the author’s group for the development of the National Report on Innovation, developed by order of the Government of the Russian Federation.

SEED ANGELS LIVE Program

10th of November

18.20 – 18.30

Registration of participants in Zoom

18.30 – 20.00

Introduction to Venture Capital

How investing in startups improves the overall return of an investment portfolio.

Who are early stage investors, how and why to invest in startups
Portfolio diversification. Allocating a certain % of your wealth to startups improves your return on investment and reduces volatility.
Why do some startups die, while others show rapid growth in capitalization and become unicorn companies?
How does the venture market work?
Strategies of venture investors at various stages
We understand the stages of startup development and the funding needs at each stage
Overview of potential deal flows: accelerators, investor clubs, seed and venture funds
Independent search and analysis of projects: building an investment funnel
Initial assessment of the investment suitability of a startup based on key metrics.
Team assessment as a key criterion. Strong teams survive, very strong teams thrive

Co-organizer and teacher: Vitaly Polekhin, President of the International Investors Organization INVESTORO

20.00 – 21.00

How to build a high-quality investment funnel and find a promising investment object

The more startups a venture investor sees, the greater the chance of finding the right project and the right deal.

We understand the stages of startup development and the funding needs at each stage
Independent search and analysis of projects: building an investment funnel
Initial assessment of the investment suitability of a startup based on key metrics.
Team assessment as a key criterion. Strong teams survive, very strong teams thrive

Teacher: Alexey Girin, managing partner of Starta Ventures

20.00 – 21.00

Investment analysis of startups

Startup presentations (3 projects)
Analysis of key metrics and indicators
Analysis of investment opportunities in practice with early stage investors

Experts:

Sergey Bogdanov, YellowRockets
Vitaly Polekhin, INVESTORO

11th of November

09.30 – 10.00

Registration of participants in ZOOM

Meeting listeners over morning coffee

Morning coffee online
Setting up for a working day with a moderator

10.00 – 11.00

Basic principles of work of venture investors

Out of 1000 incoming projects, 20% reaches the term sheet, 0.7% goes into the transaction, and only 0.5% reaches exit. Seven basic steps of the investment process:

Deal Finding: How You Build Your Own Pipeline
Preliminary analysis: compliance with investment strategy and checklists
Basic terms: a document that sets out the basic terms of an investment
Due diligence: includes legal, commercial, tax, technological, team interviewing
Closing the deal: preparing a package of documents for signing: shareholder agreement, investment agreement under which you buy shares of the company and agreements with employees)
Creating value: creating added value in business, implementation, tolerance for mistakes, access to professional networking
Exit from the company - sale of shares or shares

Teacher: Maxim Medvedev, founder and managing partner of Addventure

11.00 – 12.00

How to estimate the value of a startup?

Why do venture investors use several methods for evaluating startups at once and why there is no single method for all cases.

Review of the main methods for evaluating projects at different stages in various sectors, their advantages and disadvantages
How to evaluate a startup based on criteria: competence, technology, product, business model, profitability, people, markets, competition
Risk factor analysis

Teacher: Anna Nenakhova, General Director of Uralchem Innovation

12.00 – 13.00

Break

13.00 – 13.30

Startup assessment methods

Teacher: Vitaly Polekhin, President of the International Investors Organization INVESTORO

13.30 – 14.00

Corporate venture funds: successful strategies, structure

How to define a strategy and build a balance between effective financial investments and achieving corporate strategic goals. In the modern business world, it is not the big fish that eats the small ones, but the fast ones that eat the slow ones.

How are corporate venture funds organized and structured?
How work with open innovation is structured and why corporations need accelerators
Personnel: external vs internal
Deal flow, portfolio management and value creation
Efficiency mark
Investment exits

Teacher: Islam Midov, head of the MTS venture fund

14.00 – 15.00

Exit strategies

Why is investor exit the main problem? Every investor, before entering a project, must ask himself who will be able to buy the company or a share in it in the future, which will encourage the buyer to make a deal and understand how the buyer approaches the valuation business. After all, by investing in each project, venture capitalists plan a fairly high profitability at the exit, hoping that it is the star startups that will cover losses from less successful investments and ensure profits for all participants process.

Options for exiting investments: advantages, disadvantages
Exit strategy: selling to a strategic investor and how to prepare a startup for “exit”
Exit strategy: selling a stake to the next round investor and how to prepare a startup for sale
Exit strategy: buyback of shares by founders and how to prepare a startup for sale
Best practices: examples of unsuccessful and successful exits from investments
M&A and IPO market forecasts in current conditions

Teacher: Alexander Lupachev, Siguler Guff

15.00 – 16.00

Self-study of the case

16.00 – 18.00

Practical work in mini-groups: assessing the investment attractiveness of startups

In a real case, together with the founder of a startup and its first investor, we will analyze how venture investors evaluate a startup and make investment decisions. A detailed description of the case will be sent for study in advance.

Teachers:

Evgeniy Timko, managing partner of Xploration Capital
Yuri Vladimirov, co-founder of 2can

18.00 – 18.45

Government measures to support venture investors

Grants and support for companies
Early stages of development
Co-financing with venture investors
Tax benefits
Measures to support IT companies, etc.

Speaker: Alexey Kostrov (Moscow Seed Fund)

18.45 – 19.00

Summing up the working day

Teacher: Vitaly Polekhin

November 12

09.30 – 10.00

Registration of participants in ZOOM. Meeting and communicating with listeners over morning coffee

Morning coffee online
Setting up for a working day with a moderator

10.00 – 11.00

Venture trends: Promising growth areas in markets and analysis of the success of new industry leaders

What trends and how exactly are they affecting the venture capital market? What current trends should you pay attention to when independently analyzing projects and their potential profitability?

Speaker: Evgeny Kuznetsov, managing partner of Orbita Capital Partners

11.00 – 12.00

Specifics of venture investments in a changed world

Where are venture investors investing now, what type of deals dominate the market, and what to expect in the near future from venture capital in terms of profitability.

The global impact of the pandemic on venture capital investments
Changing the focus of investments in the early stages
Sectors affected and thriving
New wave of tech startups
Venture investment strategies in times of global crises
Cross-border investments in startups
Practical analysis of cases

Teacher: Vitaly Polekhin, President of the International Investors Organization INVESTORO

12.00 – 13.00

Break

13.00 – 14.00

Key factors of cooperation with strategic investors. Promising sectors for investment

Speaker: Egor Gogolev, head of Severstal Ventures

14.00 – 15.00

Venture funds: successful strategies and structure

Venture capitalists invest not only their own money, but also other people’s money, which they must increase.

Key success factors for a venture investor
How is a venture fund organized and structured?
Strategy and financial model of a venture fund
Deal flow and portfolio management
Efficiency mark
Exit Strategies

Speaker to be confirmed

15.00 – 16.00

Venture studios (Venture builders): theory, practice and specifics of work

Teacher: Polina Flink, managing director of venture builder Digital Horizon

16.00 – 16.05

Setting up work in thematic mini-groups

Vitaly Polekhin

16.05 – 17.00

Work in thematic mini-groups with experts

Teachers:

Alexey Girin
Sergey Bogdanov

17.00 – 18.00

Work in thematic mini-groups with experts

Teachers:

Maxim Medvedev
Vitaly Polekhin

18.00 – 18.30

Reflection

DEEP DIVE LIVE program

Module 1 | November 14

18.25 – 18.30

Registration of participants in ZOOM

18.30 – 19.30

Structure and terms of venture deals

How much money the startup founders and investors will receive upon sale of the company depends not only on the company’s valuation, the number of shares or the size of the shares. It is the structure of the deal and the main provisions in it that greatly influence the profitability of exits at low valuations.

Pros and cons of financial instruments for companies at different stages of development - from deals with startups in the early stages to classic rounds;
Key terms and conditions in convertible loans and valuation rounds.

Teacher: Maxim Medvedev, founder and managing partner of Addventure

19.30 – 20.00

Expert session on the topic: “Structure and conditions of venture transactions”

Speaker: Maxim Medvedev, founder and managing partner of Addventure

Moderator: Vitaly Polekhin, President of INVESTORO, Head of the Investors Club of SKOLKOVO Business School

Module 2 | November 16

18.25 – 18.30

Registration of participants in ZOOM

18.30 – 19.30

Legal structuring of venture transactions

It is not enough to simply invest money. For an investment to be effective, it must be done legally correctly.

What typical venture deal structures are most popular among investors?
What structures do investors most often use to pool capital?
What does legal documentation consist of?
Drafting features term-sheet, SPA, SHA and options.
What legal mechanisms can be used to protect investors?
Where and how should I sue? How expensive?
Typical legal mistakes of investors and how to avoid them?

Teacher: Alexander Nektorov, managing partner of Nektorov, Nektorov, Saveliev & Partners (NSP)

19.30 – 20.00

Moderated discussion on the topic: “Legal structuring of venture transactions”

Speaker: Alexander Nektorov, Nektorov, Saveliev & Partners (NSP)

20.00 – 20.45

Specifics of secondary investments at a later stage

Module 3 | November 21

18.25 – 18.30

Registration of participants in ZOOM

18.30 – 19.30

Analysis of key startup metrics by venture investors

Assessing key startup metrics
How to Check a Unit Economics Sustainability Analysis
Gold industry standards
Key and vanity metrics of startups

Teacher: Sergey Bogdanov, Yellow Rockets

19.30 – 20.00

Moderated discussion on the topic: “Analysis of key startup metrics by venture investors”

Teacher: Sergey Bogdanov

20.00 – 21.00

Specifics of secondary investments at a later stage

Speaker: Yuri Mitin, Red Shark Ventures

Module 4 | November 23

18.25 – 18.30

Registration of participants in ZOOM

18.30 – 19.30

Portfolio management

Teacher: Evgeniy Timko, managing partner of Xploration Capital

19.30 – 20.00

Moderated discussion on the topic: “Portfolio Management”

Speakers: Evgeny Timko

20.00 – 20.30

Reflection

Moderator: Vitaly Polekhin, President of INVESTORO, Head of the Investors Club of SKOLKOVO Business School

Simulation module

November 27

18.55 – 19.00

Registration of participants in ZOOM

19.00 – 21.00

Greeting students and announcing the module rules

Startups pitch for 3 minutes, without a Q&A session.
Investors vote for those they would like to work with at the next stage.

November 28

18.55 – 19.00

Registration of participants in ZOOM

19.00 – 21.00

Greeting students and announcing the module rules

Startups pitch for 3 minutes with a Q&A session for 10 minutes.

Each group of investors needs to evaluate projects and collectively select 3 startups to move to the next stage. What criteria should you look at:

How big is the market?
How much does the product solve the problem?
How unique is the business model;
How impressive are the startup's metrics?
How strong is the team;
Investment attractiveness;
Pitch quality (material delivery)

29th of November

Registration of participants in ZOOM

18.00 – 19.00

Introductory session “Business Model Validation Process”

Vitaly Polekhin

19.00 – 21.00

Greeting students and announcing the module rules

During the third session, groups of investors will have to deeply study startups, conduct due diligence and make investment decisions. Based on the results of 30-minute negotiations with each, it is necessary to select 1 startup for the further stage of the investment process.

When discussing, remember:

Are the projected financial figures reasonable and realistic?
Potential exit strategy
Who might be interested in further investing in the next rounds (venture funds, corporate venture funds, corporations)? When might this happen?
Do the expectations of the founders and the business angel coincide?
Deal size / Investment volume
Synergy with the portfolio
Jurisdiction
Company structure (if investors have a share of +/- 50% and above - a firm no)
Can you become Smart Money for the project?
Has the project raised investments for you? Who are the investors?
Have you raised enough funds to create/expand the company?
Is the estimate reasonable?