All entrepreneurs and ”intrapreneurs” (those that launch projects inside companies) need to sell their ideas to investors in order to get resources for their projects. Those projects usually have a great potential but the majority of entrepreneurs often fail to develop it to the maximum extent. Most of them fail to convince investors. Why? Lack of money from investors or companies? Lack of skills of investors? No. Too much risk!
The common denominator of converting innovation into business is a good business case. A good business case is characterized by the existence of a market for products or services derived from the innovation. The innovative solution also needs to be better than any alternative With the collaboration of solutions and it should be possible and easy for the firm to produce and distribute the solution to the customers. What entrepreneurs and “intrapreneurs” tend to forget, is that the best idea in the world with zero execution, is worth zero. It is the dilemma between potential and reality. Potentially all those projects are great but in reality there are several RISKS that will turn into a bad execution. Furthermore negotiating the terms of investment and mitigating the risks of investors represent major concerns for entrepreneurs. After briefly introducing the main opportunities offered by the EUROMED Invest project, the webinar will cover most important methodologies and approaches for entrepreneurs to raise funds, gain investors’ trust by exploring four ways of funding innovative projects: the “Hard”, the “Expensive”, the “Difficult” and the “Smart” ways. The audience will benefit from a 30 minutes Q&A session to further discuss project initiatives by taking advantage of the expert knowledge and of the networking opportunity offered by the interactive platform. This session is part of a series of webinar organized as in-depth follow up on the Training on innovation and entrepreneurship for start-ups, young entrepreneurs/women and diaspora organized within the frame of the EUROMED Invest project, coordinated by ANIMA Investment Network.
Solving the ‘business plan puzzle’ – Successful approaches to raise money from investors
Relator: Dr. Uffe Bundgaard-Jørgensen & Mr. Paulo Andrez & Ms. Violène Mendonça
CEO at InvestorNet-Gate2Growth, Denmark | Angel Investor and President Emeritus of EBAN, Belgium | Communication Officer at ANIMA Investment NetworkDr. Uffe Bundgaard-Jørgensen is Chairman of the Danish Energy Regulatory Authority and hold a MA (econ) & Ph.D. from Copenhagen University & Danish Technical University. He also has 10 years’ experience as CEO for Danish Venture Capital Fund;15 years’ experience with EU projects via InvestorNet. He is Chairman for H2020 SME Innovation Advisory Group (D.G. Research) and Advisor H2020 SME instruments application and evaluation process. Member of Strategic Advisory board for BioBased Industries Joint Undertaking and Chairman for INCOMERA advisory board (Nano- technology calls), his company InvestorNet – Gate2GrowthPartner is in 6 different EU projects. Paulo Andrez is an angel investor with an active portfolio of 14 companies. One of his investments reached 25 million euros in revenues within the first year, for which he received an award “Best European Angel Investment” in 2012. Paulo is a Board Member of Entrepreneurship Agency DNA Cascais, which supported more than 250 startups in the last decade, and a Board Member of FNABA, the Portuguese Business Angel Federation. Paulo was appointed President Emeritus EBAN, European Business Angel Network, after serving as President until 2014. Since 2012, Paulo has been working with a number of European governments in the field of Early Stage Investment policies and Business Angels Co-Investment Funds design. He is also a member of the European Commission Advisory Group “Innovation in SMEs”. Paulo is an IT Engineer and has a MBA from the Nova University in Lisbon. He has a background as serial entrepreneur and is frequently invited as speaker, guest lecturer and expert in innovation, entrepreneurship and early stage investment. Violène Mendonça is the communication manager of the EUROMED Invest project at ANIMA Investment Network in Marseille. In charge of the program level communication, she is also coordinating the visibility and monitoring the dissemination of the results among the EMI community since December 2014. Prior to this, she held different positions as a communication officer for a wide range of institutions in Paris, Bucharest, Montreal and Los Angeles. Violène Mendonça holds a Master degree in History Communication, Business and International Affairs from la Sorbonne.
