Angel Investing Introduction Seminar:

Investing in early-stage tech companies is very exciting and can be enormously rewarding. However, start-up investments are very risky and business angels need a specific set of skills and knowledge. The first step is often the hardest. We offer you initial help and advice on the topic of start-up investments and give you a comprehensive insight into our audited training and certification program.

The Training Program

This comprehensive program builds a solid foundation for successful angel investing, giving you around 20 days of training in a mixed format (flexibly at home plus face-to-face events, see “Format” below). It delivers specific best practices as well as the underlying principles and a broad spectrum of perspectives (for example from different geographic regions and different empirical studies) needed in order to judge the applicability of particular practices to one’s individual situation.

Part A of the program covers all the pre-investment topics related to selecting the best startups (module A1) as well as financial and legal aspects (module A2): The basic concepts, the surrounding financing universe, the investment process, deal flow (sourcing), deal screening (quick filtering), due diligence (in-depth market, business, financial and legal examination), the valuation of pre-revenue startups, negotiations with founders, legal deal terms and typical investment documents.

In Part B you will learn everything concerning the post-investment phase, where supporting portfolio companies (module B1), as well as later-stage activities (module B2), are important: The different roles investors can play during the further development of their portfolio companies, improving those companies’ chances of success (the improvement process and specifics regarding improving business models, strategies, customer approaches and growing companies as a whole), monitoring the portfolio, raising further capital if necessary, and finally the early preparation and successful execution of exits.

All of the content of this training program is chosen so that it also optimally prepares you for the optional CBA certification.

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Format

In order to best accommodate the time constraints of busy professionals, the program is designed in a way that allows you to do much of your initial preparation at home. For this, you get an extensive set of readings and are guided through them.

Of course, you also get to interact with faculty and your fellow program participants at face-to-face masterclasses. Wherever possible, these will be based on real case studies supplied by the faculty, and indeed also real entrepreneurs with whom you can practice in a protected setting. To ensure a sufficient depth of discussion, masterclasses are organized in small group settings. Again, to best accommodate your personal time constraints, a special feature of this program is that you get to choose among several possible dates of the masterclasses: First, we typically provide two different suggested dates for each masterclass (a default one during the week and an alternative one on a weekend of a different week). In addition, we can organize further masterclasses dates based on the preferences of the enrolled program participants.

Furthermore, you get practice assignments that you can work through at your leisure at home, and after completing them you get feedback.

Finally, after you have had some more time to apply what you have learned, you will typically have further questions, which you get answered in the remote coaching sessions included in the program.

Faculty

The program is delivered by experts in all phases from finding targets to exiting investments, including:

• Experienced angel investors
• Representatives of angel organizations
• Entrepreneurship professors
• Specialized lawyers
• Specialized tax advisors

Find out more about our faculty members.

Modules

Each module includes:

• Around 3 days of guided home study
  (comprehensive set of materials included)
• 2 days of face-to-face masterclasses
• Practice instructions and feedback
• 1 remote coaching session

For more details please contact us or join our Angel Investing Introduction Seminar (in German).