Aiming to raise a funding round? We've got your back!
This 10-week program is designed to get you Ready to Raise!
By the end of August, you will:
- Understand the dynamics of the startup investment landscape
- Have compiled a list of relevant potential investors
- Know how to build and nourish investor relationships
- Understand those complicated legal terms in a term sheet
- Have revised your financial model & pitch deck with the help of a dedicated mentor
- Know how to negotiate a venture deal
- Be prepared to pitch in front of investors, mentors & industry peers at our Startup Showcase in mid-September
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Application Deadline: 11:59pm PDT, June 8, 2020
The application deadline for Ready to Raise has passed.Â
Please contact us at readytoraise@wework.com if you'd like to learn more, and join our waitlist if you'd like to be considered for the next edition:Â
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Jean-Pierre launched his first business, Touche de Finesse, when he was only 19. A profitable high-end French catering company that serviced NY Fashion shows, the United Nations, and many more.Â
In 2016, he built Wheeli, the leading carpooling network for college students. He took Wheeli through Techstars and received venture backing.
Jon is Co-Founder & Managing Director of Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA), one of the leading technology accelerators and venture capital funds in New York City.
Since launching in 2011, ERA has invested in >200 companies. Jon was previously Co-Founder & Co-CEO of MusicGremlin, a venture-backed startup sold to SanDisk.
Cheryl is a director at Republic, a one-stop-shop for founders to raise capital from both accredited and non-accredited investors. She is focused on introducing underrepresented founders to these alternative funding sources in order to help their startups thrive.
In addition, Cheryl works on partnerships with other venture capital and ecosystem builders while supporting the growing Republic portfolio of 140 companies.
Brad has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur for >30 years. Prior to co-founding Foundry Group, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and founded Intensity Ventures.
Brad is also a co-founder of Techstars. He has written a number of books as part of the Startup Revolution series and writes the blogs Feld Thoughts and Venture Deals.
Adele is a sought after communications expert and has recently spoken at the UNÂ twice. She is a pioneer in the science of timing for brands and corporate communicators.
Many of Adele's innovative insights are covered in her 2015 book, SPIKE Your Brand ROI. She is a recurring contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Inc. and Forbes.
Nathan Gold, aka The Demo Coach, hails from the San Francisco Bay Area where he spends his days coaching people around the world on how to prepare for high-stakes speaking opportunities and how to harness speaking anxiety.Â
He does this through keynotes, workshops, and 1:1 sessions, both in person and online.Â
Melody is a Partner at NextView Ventures. She previously served as Head of Product at Blue Apron, which she helped scale through hyper-growth (25x in 3.5 years) to its IPO.
Melody previously was a Product Manager at Fab.com, and founded a wine subscription business. She has an MBA, with distinction, from Harvard Business School.
Denisha joined Grasshopper in 2019 and is a relationship manager in the early stage practice. Prior to joining Grasshopper Bank, Denisha worked at Silicon Valley Bank focused on founders in New York.
Denisha is first-generation Ghanaian American and writes a weekly newsletter on artist/fan relationships called Stan.
Kat is a Partner at Y Combinator where she participates in funding & supporting >400 startups per year. She's been at YC since 2013 and has seen over 1,000 companies go through the program.
Previously, Kat was Chief of Staff to Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of reddit. Prior to that, she was at WIRED Magazine. Kat graduated from Northwestern University.
Chip is a former FBI Special Agent Hostage/Crisis Negotiator and crisis communications subject matter expert with over 22 years of experience. He has a proven skill set derived from the actual high stakes world of crisis negotiations and critical communications.
Chip has trained federal, state and local law enforcement, c-suite executives, and non-profit organizations in these principles.
Slava is Co-founder & Managing Partner at humbition, an early-stage operators venture fund. Slava is also Co-founder of Vincent, an online platform to discover and diligence alternative investments.
Slava previously founded Indiegogo, a leading crowdfunding platform. He represented the crowdfunding industry at the White House during the signing of the JOBS Act & helped bring equity crowdfunding to the US.
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Irene Ryabaya is the founder and CEO of Warmintro. Warmintro is a SaaS platform that empowers marketplaces of professional connection. Irene is an expert on community, connection and diversity in tech.
Before Warmintro, Irene started her career at Goldman Sachs and spent a decade on Wall St. before founding the Monarq Incubator for women entrepreneurs.
Jorge is a venture capital investor and attorney who works in higher education at Yale University. He was on the founding team at Silas Capital, where he invested in early-stage consumer brands and completed a Kauffman Fellowship.
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Jorge also serves as Chairman of the Board of HBCUvc, a non-profit whose mission is to increase racial and ethnic diversity in venture capital.
Craig is the Chief Executive Officer of Vaughan Capital Advisors. He has spent 19 years executing commercial and strategic transactions at the intersection of media & technology. He has closed >$5bn in transaction volume.
Craig previously worked at Goldman Sachs, Creative Artists Agency, 21st Century Fox and Sony Pictures. He was a founding advisor to the Queens Bridge Fund.
Joey's goal is to positively impact 1 billion people by the year 2039. Part startup coach, part super-connector, he is the Founder of Goodie Nation, Amplify 4 Good, and Co-Founder of the Atlanta Black Tech initiative.Â
Joey received his MBA from Florida A&M University in the Spring of 2003. He is Labs Manager for WeWork Labs' Atlanta office.Â
The application deadline for Ready to Raise has passed.Â
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Please contact us at readytoraise@wework.com if you'd like to learn more, and join our waitlist if you'd like to be considered for the next edition:
with Marvin Liao, 500 Startups
In our opening session, we'll take a closer look at the various types of investors (i.e., angels, family offices, VCs), and how they differ from one another. We'll also learn how VCs are typically structured (GPs vs. LPs, hierarchy within the firm), and how they approach building their portfolio in terms of stage and industry focus. Lastly, we'll analyze their typical decision-making process (thesis-driven vs. opportunistic) and how the workings of investor math affect your business.
with Hadley Harris, Eniac Ventures
On our second day, we'll get hands-on: All of today's knowledge on fundraising strategy can be directly applied to your own business. You'll learn how to set your fundraising timeline and goal, how to determine whether a priced round or convertible/SAFE notes are right for you, and which materials you'll need to have before you can hit the ground running. We'll cover how to identify relevant investors, build your investor list and how to conduct an effective outreach strategy. We'll also cover the infamous elevator pitch as well as your executive summary, pitch deck, and product demo.Â
with Jorge M. Torres, Yale University
On Day 3, we'll get down to the nitty-gritty of the term sheet and clarify what all those complicated legal terms actually mean. At the end of this session, you'll know which sections you should pay most attention to, and which ones could cause tension between you and your investors. We will also look at what impact the terms you're agreeing to might have on any future rounds you might raise down the line.
with Adele Gambardella-Cehrs & Chip Massey, When + How
Today will be all about how you reach your goal - closing the deal! In order to get there, and in order to get there on the conditions you want, your negotiation skills will be put to the test. We're bringing in communications expert and Wall Street Journal contributor Adele Cehrs and former FBI special agent and hostage negotiator Chip Massey to teach you all about negotiating with your investors and successfully closing your round.
To wrap up Week 1 of Foundations of Fundraising, we'll look at alternative sources of capital that you might not have taken into account yet. We'll consider product & equity crowdfunding, non-dilutive grants and competitions, venture debt, revenue-based investors, strategic partnerships, and customer-financed R&D.Â
Raising a funding round is never easy - and, unfortunately, the data shows that it's even harder as a member of a traditionally underrepresented group (e.g., PoC, female/non-binary). In this session, we'll hear from a panel of entrepreneurs from traditionally underrepresented groups about their experiences raising a round. What challenges did they face? Did they ask VCs about their commitments to diversity? How can members of privileged groups be better allies to underrepresented founders?
with Jared Gordon, AngelList
How have recent events affected startup funding activity? Who's investing actively, who's announcing new funds? Are dollars and deals down significantly? Are certain stages or industries getting more or less love?
In this session, we'll arm you with the fundraising data you need to understand the environment you're operating in.
with Jonathan Axelrod, Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator
New to this whole fundraising thing? Done it before but hoping for a better outcome next time? In this module's expert session we'll walk through the process of raising a round, the assets you'll need, and the decisions you'll need to make, including:Â
- How to build an investor list & manage investor outreach
- One pagers, pitch decks, and blurbs - oh my! All the assets you'll need to raise
- How much runway should you seek? What burn rates and revenue assumptions are appropriate?
- How long *should* it take to raise a round?
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MODULE GOALS
To be completed by program participants with weekly assistance from dedicated Mentor
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1. Establish funding target
2. Set valuation target
3. Build/refresh Investor List
4. Establish working relationship with mentor
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with Craig Vaughan, Vaughan Capital Advisors
What's the difference between a good financial model and a bad one? Do investors even care about models for early stage companies? And what's a Data Room all about anyway? In this module's expert session, we'll provide an overview of what investors look for when they look under the hood of your business.
MODULE GOALS
To be completed by program participants with weekly assistance from dedicated Mentor
1. Build/refresh financial model
2. Build/refresh Data Room
with Melody Koh, NextView Ventures
What do investors look for in a pitch deck? How do points of emphasis change from the deck you built for your pre-seed round to the one you're building for your Series A? Should you send PDFs or DocSend links? And do you really need "leave behind" decks vs. ones you would deliver live? In this module's expert session we'll cover everything you need to know to make your deck stand out from all the others.Â
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MODULE GOALS
To be completed by program participants with weekly assistance from dedicated Mentor
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1. Understand best practices for pitch decks at your stage
2. Build/refresh your pitch deck
Session 1 with Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Session 2 with Nathan Gold, The Demo Coach
Session 3 with Kat Mañalac, Y Combinator
Your deck is ready. You've got the numbers down cold. You're ready to tell your story - but where do you start? How do you inspire your audience? How do you create urgency? What questions do you need to be prepared to answer? What if there's a curve ball... do you dare say "I don't know"? In our final module expert session we'll cover how to make your pitch resonate with an audience of investors, how to stand out from the crowd, and how to manage your process after the pitch.Â
MODULE GOALS
To be completed by program participants with weekly assistance from dedicated Mentor
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1. Divide pitch responsibilities between founders
2. Practice & master your pitch
The application deadline for Ready to Raise has passed.Â
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Please contact us at readytoraise@wework.com if you'd like to learn more, and join our waitlist if you'd like to be considered for the next edition:Â
As the program name implies, our goal is to get you "Ready to Raise"!
In "Part 1: Foundations of Fundraising,"Â expert speakers will help to establish a common understanding of the startup investment ecosystem, and how to navigate it successfully.
In "Part 2: Road to Investor Ready," you will be paired up with a fundraising expert who will be your mentor throughout the rest of the program as you build the assets and expertise needed to pitch your business successfully.
The program will culminate in two Startup Showcase days, one for B2B companies and one for B2C companies. This is your chance to pitch your business to an audience of VCs, angel investors, family offices, mentors and industry peers.
Companies that have successfully completed Parts 1 and 2 of the program will be eligible to pitch at Startup Showcase.Â
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This program is exclusive to WeWork members, but you don't have to be a Labs member. We are looking to recruit a diverse set of founders who are building venture-backable businesses. Companies of any stage (e.g., Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, etc.) and from any industry may apply.Â
The application deadline of June 8, 2020 has passed. If you are still interested to apply, please contact us at readytoraise@wework.com.
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The program will run for 10 weeks. Requirements for each week are as follows:
-Â Foundations of Fundraising (June 22-30, Weeks 1 & 2):Â Seven 1-hour sessions hosted by fundraising experts, one per day. For participating members, each expert session will be followed bye a 30-minute discussion group session with industry peers.Â
- Road to Investor Ready (July 6-August 30, Week 3-10): Six 1-hour expert sessions over the course of eight weeks, plus one 30-minute mentor session per week, plus one 30-minute discussion group session per week with industry peers. Companies to complete Module Goals as listed above.Â
The WeWork Labs team carefully sourced mentors for the Ready to Raise program. Based on your company's stage and your industry, we will match you with mentors that best suit your needs.Â
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Yes. Companies must meet the following eligibility requirements in order to present at Startup Showcase:
1) Attend at least 10 of 13 scheduled expert sessions
2) Complete at least 6 of 8 mentor sessions
3) Complete at least 8 of 10 weekly check-ins (3-minute surveys)
4) Pitch to, and gain approval from, the Ready to Raise Pitch Committee in early September
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 Yes - Ready to Raise has been designed to help first-time founders and serial entrepreneurs alike. No matter how many rounds you've raised, Ready to Raise will provide connectivity to industry peers, access to a dedicated mentor, and the chance to pitch to a wide audience at Startup Showcase.
WeWork Labs is The We Company’s global platform for early-stage startups and forward-thinking enterprise companies. Our Startup Labs create opportunities for founders and their teams to forge meaningful connections with fellow entrepreneurs and access the mentorship, networking, and educational resources needed to drive their businesses forward and grow. Read more here.Â
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