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Find your Story and Find your Funding from North American Markets
Hosted by the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, this is a two day workshop for ambitious entrepreneurs and firms who wish to develop a compelling story for use in marketing and fundraising campaigns and for those wishing to raise capital and customer funding from North American (USA and Canada) markets. The focus will be on crowdfunding and fundraising from customers, strategic partners and venture capitalists. The workshop is a partnership between The Academic Entrepreneur and Storyteller Period of North America. It’s hosted graciously by The Hunter Centre at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. For entrepreneurs with growth companies, it is never too early to start considering expansion and international funding for related strategic decisions play into storytelling and structuring from the very early stages. While the workshop is geared towards technology firms in the information, medical, and energy technology sectors, it will benefit other 2nd stage growth firms as well which have scalable business models and the desire for global distribution.
Why This Workshop?
With the rise of crowdfunding, the use of multimedia and the shortening of investor attention spans, the ability to tell a succinct and compelling story of a product or service, conveying its benefits and differentiation is more important than ever for entrepreneurs. Not only that, but experts are noting the importance of a really good foundational story as well. Such is easier said than done. "How can I build and tell a compelling story?" This is first question the workshop will answer and work on with you in hands-on fashion.
Innovative young companies with exciting, game changing designs, technologies and/or business models usually need outside investment -- "entrepreneurial risk capital" in order to grow and flourish. However, such capital is in short supply in the UK and Europe as investors are more conservative and less willing to take bets, especially big bets, on game changers. While London is now a major source of venture and business angel capital, its investors are reluctant to invest north of Cambridge. North America continues to be the land of opportunity in terms of risk capital for technology and media ventures. The USA with its healthy supply in the Silicon Valley, New York City, Boston, Seattle, Austin and now Chicago MSAs; Canada is the up-and-comer in the world in terms of increasing supply,catalyzed by government initiatives. The land of Canucks is currently boasting the highest rate of per capita venture capital investment in the world, according to the Global Innovation Index 2013. How can my UK-based startup access capital in North America through crowdfunding, customer funding, strategic and venture capital investment strategies? This is the other question the workshop will answer.
What is the Workshop Like?
This workshop is fun, intense, intelligent, and sophisticated. Entrepreneurs are expected to put aside at least 24 hours over three days. Kerra and Michael complement each other in their styles and deliveries. Kerra, the Storyteller, is artsy, fun, and uses common language that is easy to understand. Michael, The Academic Entrepreneur, while sometimes goofy, feeds you with a fire hose in the hopes that you'll swallow what you can. He delights in explaining the mechanics of strategy and the "whys" and uses vocabulary that you will be forced to ask about and learn, on purpose, so that you will learn how to better play the game. He teaches the Israeli Model and his learners will understand why and how Israeli companies are successful in raising venture capital from the Silicon Valley market. Kerra's sessions are to English and theatre class as Michael's are to and MBA classes. However, both use interactive methodologies and the combination of the two keep the workshop exhilarating and fast-paced.
By the end of the workshop you will have:
- Identified and developed a compelling founding story
- Identified the best format in which to tell your story on video
- Learned how to construct an AV (audio/visual) script for a marketing, brand and/or crowdfunding video
- Learned how to conduct an effective crowdfunding campaign
- Gained knowledge on how to go about raising capital from international sources in North America (such as customers, strategic partners and Silicon Valley venture capitalists)
- Built the base level strategy for an international fundraising campaign
- Be provided with references for additional action-oriented learning on your own post-seminar
Format and Schedule:
We will begin the workshop at 10:00 on Wednesday the 27th of August and end at 17.00 with an hour break for lunch on your own. Thursday the 28th of August you will do research and homework and further develop your story and research to develop a fundraising strategy. On Friday the 29th of August we will reconvene at 10.00 for the second half of the interactive workshop, which will wrap up by 17.00.
Core Programme:
Weds 27th of August, 2014: 10a-5p with a 1p-2p break for lunch. Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, University of Strathclyde.
- Basics of Developing a Compelling Founding Story
- How to write an AV script to make your story a video reality
- Crowdfunding: What makes a successful North American campaign? What platforms, and what are best practices?
- Fundraising from USA and Canadian Sources: Strategic and Venture Capital
DAY 2: Thursday 28 August 2014: Homework (8 hours on your own)
DAY 3: Friday 29th August 2014: 10a-5p workshop with a 1p-2p break for lunch. Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, University of Glasgow.
- Brand and Content Strategies and Tactics for Storytelling for your business
- Structuring and Strategizing for raising funds from and expanding into North America
Optional Sesions:
Saturday 30th of August, 2014: Independent consultations and coaching available for additional 1-1 or 1-team sessions, not included in the workshop prices
Sunday 31st of August, 2014: Independent consultations and coaching available for additional 1-1 or 1-team sessions, not included in workshop prices
Optional sessions, determined on an individual basis include the following:
- Strategies and tactics for videography and filming (*nuts and bolts*)
- Script review, advising, and coaching, over and above that completed in the workshop
- Deep dive into venture capital fundraising strategies and tactics: Thursday and Friday (ask about pricing)
- Specific cases and recommendations on target platforms and investors
Terms:
+We will need at least 10 participants by August 15th in order to deliver the workshop. We will refund monies to participants if the workshop is not held. Otherwise, no refunds are available.
Disclaimers:
The event organizers make no promises that any entrepreneur or entrepreneurial team will be successful in its fundraising campaign. Numerous factors are involved in a successful campaign over and above messaging and strategy; market receptiveness and timing are difficult to predict. Product development is challenging for all startups, as is product-market fit. Human resource strategy is essential, and dysfunctional teams can lead a startup to failure, often cited as the crucial factor in failing or not.
CONTENT STRATEGIST
Kerra Penn
About Kerra Penn, Chief Story Consultant, Storyteller. Period.
"Catalyzing Great Stories of Scottish Startups"
What better way to introduce myself than to tell you my story? A few years ago I was out with friends and after I finished telling a story which had everyone laughing, a friend of mine paid me a nice compliment. She said to me, "You know Kerra, it's a shame there's not a job where you could get paid for telling stories, you would be so good at that!" I looked at her and said with a grin, "But that is exactly what I do."
At the time I was a video producer by day and a segment producer and host of a local cable TV show by night. In my long - and certainly never boring career path - I have told stories through web content, press releases, case studies, success stories, newsletters, comedy writing, script writing, packaging, television producing and copywriting. I was even a finalist in a high-profile stand-up comedy competition once.
I also have a successful track record as a top sales producer working in a variety of companies spanning several industries. Why is my sales background relevant? It is important to know because although there is definitely a storytelling element involved in a killer sales pitch, there are some important steps which must happen before the pitch to make it truly effective. There must first be a process of asking the right questions while practicing active listening in order to find the customer's "tick point" (what makes them tick aka key drivers). This way when it comes time for you to tell your story - it is one which lets that particular customer know what experience your product or service will give them - one which answers their particular needs. This is how you engage your audience - this is your hook.
In this digital age of content overload, content is not king, compelling and relevant content is. Never before has there been so many possible ways for the world to hear your story. Unfortunately - this opportunity is also available to the other 7 billion occupants of our planet. So what do you do about this? As your Brand and Content Strategy Consultant it is my job to make sure your story is heard.
FUNDRAISING STRATEGIST
Michel Clouser The Academic Entrepreneur
About Michael Clouser, Venture Consultant, The Academic Entrepreneur
"Teaching the Israeli Model to Scottish Startups"
Michael Clouser is an entrepreneur, venture consultant and business academic. Currently he works in North America between Silicon Valley and Western Canada. He assists high potential startups with positioning, strategy, and raising capital. Formerly he was an Associate and Technology Entrepreneurship Lecturer with the Edinburgh-Stanford Link at the University of Edinburgh for 7 years, teaching master level informatics and digital design students. Michael has first hand experience with hundreds of startups from countries around the globe including Scotland and the UK, the United States, Canada, and South America, as well as Israeli startups in Silicon Valley. He has delivered lectures and written on the Israeli Model.
Prior to this he was a venture capitalist in Palo Alto, California with an early stage, Stanford-affiliated fund that invested in postgraduate and staff- startups from computer science programs at leading universities. Michael has also managed and started incubators. He was the CEO of Student Agencies Incorporated in Ithaca, New York. Amongst other student startups he wrote the business plan for CouseInfo (now Blackboard), and two other starts, one of which IPO'd as well and the other which was sold to Microsoft for $40 million. He played an instrumental role in TechCube, writing of the business plan and delivering the pitch for the its start in Edinburgh. He is also the co-founder of the Edinburgh Entrepreneurship Club in 2005 and played a key role in its growth to Scotland largest entrepreneurship society in the 2005-2011 era through sheer networking finesse and the Silicon Valley Speaker Series. After an event with Jim Buckmaster, CEO of Craigslist, Michael introdued the co-founders of Fanduel to each other in Doctor's pub, and the Edinburgh-based startup was seeded. In addition Michael co-founded Entrepedia, once a keens source of valuable information for Scottish entrepreneurs from the University of Edinburgh. He also taught a residency for GirlGeeks Scotland on fundraising over a weeked a few years ago, organized by Morna Simpson. Michael has co-founded ten firms and assisted client and portfolio companies in raising over $50 million in venture capital. He has a wide-ranging network in North America especially, but also in Europe and Asia as well. He introduced Teamly, at the time an Edinburgh-based startup (now in Las Vegas) to 500 Startups which funded the firm in its acceleration program.
Michael earned the MSc from the Business School at the University of Edinburgh (entrepreneurship and innovation) where he researched for a PhD as well (Triple Helix Scotland). In addition Michael earned the MBA (venture capital) from Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management, and was a Student Agencies Incorporated Fellow and a Weil Fellow. Michael's first degree is from Cornell University's entrpreneurial breeding instition, The School of Hotel Administration, where he concentrated hospitality technology and entrepreneurship. Michael is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA and founded his first company while in High School at Mt. Lebanon, another entrpreneurial breeding ground, where Mark Cuban, Mike Markson and Richard Skrenta attended, as did his workshop patner, Kerra Penn of Storyteller Period.
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Partner and Host - The Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at the University of Strathclyde
The Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship is an academic department in Strathclyde Business School endowed by Sir Tom Hunter for the study, research and encouragement of entrepreneurship within Scotland.
The workshop Host is John Anderson, Director of the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship
