WHEN: January 20, 8:00 – 9:30 am
WHERE: Quorum, University City Science Center, 3711 Market Street, Suite 800
Coffee & Capital brings an investor to Quorum each month to meet with a small group of entrepreneurs over coffee and a light breakfast for an informal Q&A session about funding and pitching. This program is sponsored by Duane Morris LLP. Since 1995 Joe has served as CFO at a number of early stage technology companies and has experience in manufacturing, software, financial services, ecommerce, digital media and consumer products companies. He has been an active angel investor since 2004 and currently serves as a director on the boards of DailyWorth.com, Robin Hood Ventures and a consumer products company.
Register: http://sciencecenter.cal.Assalamu'alaikum dan selamat berinovasi,
On January 20, 2016, I attended an event at Quorum, University City Science Center, 3711 Market Street, Suite 800. As the event will start at 800am, I need to come out from my home before 730am. The weather was pretty cold, I think about -5/-6 celcius. It is not easy to walk in this type of weather. But as I know it is also not easy to have the opportunity to attend this kind of event, I pushed myself to walk in this cold weather for 35 minutes. Alhamdulillah, safely arrived at Quorum at 805am and the session was almost ready to begin. One thing of morning event @Quorum, coffee, tea, fruits and breakfast are always available for you, self-service. This event such a like of Teh Tarik Session organized by MFA...he3... Even I had my breakfast already, I took some coffee and fruits. Rezeki jangan ditolak.
Kat AS ni, dalam kuliah, waktu aktiviti macam ni, OK ja minum-minum dan makan-makan semasa kuliah/aktiviti berlangsung. Ini berbeza dengan Malaysia dan UK. Dalam kuliah di Wharton, OK ja pelajar makan dengan lahapnya sambil dengar kuliah...he3... Students can bring laptops during lecture and taking notes... Kat Malaysia, pelajar bawa laptop dalam bilik kuliah tapi main game...
Brief welcome by organizer
About 30 participants attended this event
The session was very simple, Joe Herbst gave a little bit preview of his company and Q&A session.
Audience came from variety of background
Actually, this event was an interactive session with Joe Herbst, well experience Business Angel/Investor. As this session was based on Q&A, below are some points taken during the session. Some points are advice for entrepreneur (E) before applying fund/capital from Business Angels/Venture Capitals and others are answers from Angels' perspective (A) in assessing proposals from entrepreneurs.
How much your own money you spent? (A)
How much you pull your own money to put in? (A)
The main idea is they trust you, not the money they promise. (A)
Careful before making any promise (E)
Preferred capital efficient business (E)
Grab the opportunities - depends on our group, who interested in your project (A)
We would not venture in any industry that we have no specialist in our group (A)
We look for convertible stock (A)
We are 40 individuals get together to pool fund (A)
Every one look at your team, do the due diligence, each made their own decision. (A)
Due diligence - team assessment is important, relevant experience in industry is important, domain knowledge of the founder is important (A)
We look those who live in the industry and how to solve the problems. (A)
The youngest CEO/Founder of company we invested was 25 years old. (A)
Business Plan must has Executive Summary (E)
Prepared for 45-65 questions for on your pitching (E)
We look 7-8 years from now to harvest our investment (A)
We have 4-6 new investment per year. (A)
No age limit for CEO (E)
We look into business that have the opportunity to scale, enter new market. (A)
B2C - capital inefficient, we prefer B2B. (A)
It's good to engage with Ben Franklin Technology Partner (E)
On capital, match to match; 25K to 25K (E)
Is that technology is ready to go? (A)
We conduct technology risk, entrepreneur risk and financing risk. (E)
Regulatory risk --> we don't invest in that industry, i.e. Drone. Let Google and big players invest. (A)
110% Projection is always wrong, but you must do your projection. We learn how you learn from market from your projection. (A)
Tips to start a Business Angel? 1)You invest in a business/industry that you know 2)Diversify your investment. You will have more losers than winners. But the winners really win. (I asked this question...he3)
We look the market should be 10 times than the capital (A)
One lady asked about funding for manufacturing facility. They have technology for anti-corrosion....WOW!!!
We look for 12% - 16 % IRR; 4 to 10 years on investment. (A)
*Please read about Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for those who have little understanding about finance.
*Please read about Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for those who have little understanding about finance.
When we invest, we will structure the company, have a BOD and we have one of the seat in BOD (minimum). (E)
We receive quarterly Financial Statement (A)
There are differences between East and West Coast Angels. Joe talked about East Coast Angels (Los Angeles, San Francisco etc) who are more risk taker.
90 days for application process. We expect you to present within 20-30 days after submitting your application. (E)
We ask potential customer to comment on your product. (E).
Alhamdulillah, after finishing this event, I went to Wharton to attend a class. I take one MBA course (Social Entrepreneurship) this semester as PhD courses are quite a 'dull courses'. Even though I can learn social entrepreneurship through those books I bought from Amazon, it's better to learn from a specific guru.(bertalaqqi). Learning has no limitation in terms of age, position, status etc.
Alhamdulillah, after finishing this event, I went to Wharton to attend a class. I take one MBA course (Social Entrepreneurship) this semester as PhD courses are quite a 'dull courses'. Even though I can learn social entrepreneurship through those books I bought from Amazon, it's better to learn from a specific guru.(bertalaqqi). Learning has no limitation in terms of age, position, status etc.
I have this idea of Bangi Business Angels about two years ago, but hold it as I intended to pursue my post doctoral first. Before I came to US, my friend introduced me to Malaysian Business Angels Association (MBAA). But you need a minimum monthly income of RM15K to qualify as a member of MBAA, and I am not qualified yet... I know how to qualify myself, but I have different idea (Bangi Business Angels). Alhamdulillah, my attachment @Wharton exposed me with so many and variety of entrepreneurial activities. Anybody interested to join Bangi Business Angels, please wait for me yeah! I don't need many Angels, not 40 members as Robin Hood Ventures to kick-off, may be just 15-20 committed members. I also need a lawyer, accountant, bankers in Bangi Business Angels. Wassalam.
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