Talks, Workshops
... and how they build relationships
It was in the summer of 2015 that I was approached to start doing a workshop on term sheets for angel investors. My first reaction was, why? Doesn’t everybody know this stuff already? To me doing term sheets is so intuitive, I could not imagine talking about it for a few hours to smart people who probably - one assumes - know what they’re doing. But I relented and the first version of ‘structuring deals and terms sheets’ was delivered at a NACO conference in Niagara in the same year. The feedback was very positive. Now five years on I have done this workshop and its spin-offs all over Canada, Europe and even Jamaica. The spin-off on ‘the art of valuation’ is quite popular as it is something that both investors and founders get overly and often unnecessarily excited about. The ‘introduction to angel investing’ which describes the full cycle from first meeting to exit is really fun to do, in particular with all the case studies meshed into the workshop.
The interesting thing is that through all this I have learned that the body of knowledge among investors is still very limited and, maybe even more important, entrepreneurs and founders are equally if not more interested to learn this stuff. A mixture of theory and case studies is always well received and I relish in sharing the successes, but also some horror stories on deals gone horribly wrong. In fact the disasters are better as they provide such instructive lessons for everyone. What I have come to realize is that a few decades in the trenches with start-ups has provided me with a body of knowledge that is unique and valuable. And it is not just terms or valuations or investor due diligence. Everything from boards, go-to-market, employees, IP, debt, vesting, product, office stuff to the workings of advisory teams are now part of the talking and workshop engagements.
But what is actually creating the most value is that people are talking to one another at these events, before, during and after. Getting together in a room - or now getting connected through Zoom - is the place where relations are forged and where deals are done. These events are increasingly attended by entrepreneurs and founders who are just starting out and trying to connect to the ecosystem of funders. This is why at Angel Forum we took everyone to the pub after an event, people needed to chat, get advice and dive deeper into the things that remain a mystery with like-minded people. The serendipitous relationships that emerge are invaluable.
So I have to say, I am beginning to miss the in-person events now. It was fine to Zoom it and it certainly did not stop anyone from doing deals, but I am getting the sense that things are being missed. Longer discussions, interpreting body language, a chat facilitated by a few drinks, all of this is absent in our Covid world. I will keep talking online, but can’t wait to get in the car or hop on a plane and meet all of you in person again soon.
Photos: Moderating a panel (top), drinks and pizza after the Okanagan Angel Investment Summit in 2019 (middle), introducing angel investing at the offices of Dutch private bank Insinger Gilissen organized by MatchingWings, also in 2019.