Startupschool - October 2008 - Agenda

Startup School - October 25-26, 2008. Startup School is a practical, how-to course about starting, financing, selling, marketing, growing, broadcasting and exiting your startup. Startup School is taught by Michael J. Sikorsky.

About Michael Michael has been called an “Internet Revolutionary” by Profit magazine, and a “CEO to watch” by CNN Money. He has spoken at Harvard Business School, MIT and Stanford. Michael has raised over $10 Million dollars for his ventures, and his last company was acquired by ThoughtWorks when he was 28. Currently, Michael’s 5th startup, Cambrian House Inc. was called “a national treasure” and was voted #4 best Web2.0 company across Canada by KPMG. He is an active angel investor with a portfolio of companies across North America.

Next School: October 25-26, 2008. Calgary, Alberta. $1,300+GST.

Location: Cambrian House Inc. Downtown Calgary – th Suite 100, 229 11 AVE S.E. T2G 0Y1 (map)

About Michael:.

He has made nearly every avoidable mistake over the last twelve years and has been compelled to offer this course because simply, it is needed. Michael is married to Camille and is a proud father of twins. In addition to loving his family, he loves startups. For more detail please see his linkedin profile. About the School It is two days and its mission isn’t to inspire you by the end of it. Its mission is to significantly increase your chances of being successful. We cover the trees and the forest. The proceeds from the course are invested back into the Canadian startup scene. With hopes of the capital being deployed into startup school alumni companies. Alumni of the school are also granted membership to the startup school online community. Note: angel investors who take the course will be granted a one year membership to the syndicate12 angel investors online group. However: investors must write at least 1-cheque/year into a startup to continue membership. Take Aways In addition to the practical tools learned during the school. Most of the files, documents, spreadsheets, term sheets, grant applications and presentations

Learn more about Michael here.

Brought to you by:

Michael has created over his last 12 years will be provided to the course participants (under NDA, and with some redacting). Why? You should always have a starting point and not have to create these assets from scratch. For example, it is informative to see real presentations/grants that have raised money, and those that haven’t.

AGENDA SATURDAY

Events

9:00am

We’ll get settled in at Cambrian House (map and address), make all the formal introductions, and go over the plan for the day. Each of us will list our 3 vital objectives we need to be covered over the 2 days. Prepare for a day of learning and practice, not for lectures. Don’t be shy. There will only be a few of us and we will get to know each other well :)

10:00am

Understanding your personal objectives + The Psychology of influence + Overview of 3 successful models of successful company building (with video).

12:00pm

Working Lunch + Angel Investors

1:00pm

The 10 classic mistakes you really shouldn’t make.

2:00pm

Word of Mouth Marketing/SEO/Adwords OR Understanding how to attract, retain, and manage investors/advisors/mentors.

3:30pm

Pitch Practice I + The Pent House Diagram Here we all pitch our current businesses or ideas-under-test to each other. Afterwards, I’ll walk through a key pitching concept (the pent house) I’ve created and used to win over investors, staff, and awards at financing forums. We’ll also look at real winning/losing pitches.

4:00pm

Break

4:15pm

Art of Financing + Financing Instruments and Financing Documents Understanding bootstrapping, angel investing, and VC (pros/cons of each). Understanding, what and when to use common, participating preferred, and debentures. Pre-money, post-money, bridges, notes, etc are all covered. We will start to create this documents for your business here. What do you have to look like to be fundable. What does series-A, series-B really mean, etc. What if an investor isn’t sophisticated, etc. How to do options for staff,

founders, board members and advisors. Do patents matter, etc. 5:45pm

Pitch Practice II + How to Present (and speak in public) Working on your core messaging. Doesn’t matter if you’re raising capital or not – you need to have a sharp message that people will care about. Here I will refine your story with you and teach you how to create a compelling presentation. Here we will also cover off how to speak in public. And, toastmasters have nothing to do with it.

6:00pm

Optional: Investor/customer/stakeholder role playing exercise OR PR/media management.

SUNDAY

Events

9:00am

Review, F@W, and rest of the work we didn't complete above :)

10:00am

Art of Valuation + Term Sheets + No Shops + Capital Structures + Exits Walk thru real capital structures, dilution tables, and what a due diligence and closing documents look like. We will go through real example of an acquisition and a few due diligences here. Understanding the true risks of under/over capitalization. How to protect against a down-round. What is a defensive vs. offensive term sheet clause and how to know what you can push back on.

11:00am

Vital Objectives Workshop + Working Lunch OR PR/Media managment: Ensure we’ve covered off the 3 vital objects for each person. Here we will make sure every person got there most important items acted on.

1pm

Pitch Practice III + Super Confrontation Challenge OR How to speak on panels, to bloggers and the media. Here we will pitch to each other again and go through the super confrontation challenge. It is painful – on purpose. The super confrontation challenge is to force out the issues all your friends and family have been letting you get away with.

2:00pm

Low Burn Experimentation + Market Tests How to make sure you’re building something people want. How to run a focus group, and a market test, and how to make this automated. Advanced

product management. 1 line split tests. Etc 3:00pm

Grants and getting what you want TeleFilm, IRAP, SR&ED, LOIs and Definitive agreements.

3:45pm

Break.

4:00pm

Eric Ries, Reid Hoffman, Paul Graham, Mike Maples, Don Keough, and DHH models OR WorkShop time. Topics such as: Battle of the airwaves, customer vs. product development strategies, 90/10 vs 50/50, Times to doubling, Math tests, 10 ways to fail, F5,000,000, etc.

5:00pm

Boards + AGMs + Tools + Accounting/Auditing How to pick and structure a board. How to run an AGM. Tools all startups need to know about. Role of accounting and auditing processes.

6:00pm

Pitch Practice IV + What’s on the CD Final pitch/workshop session and a walk thru of the documents you get on the CD.

COSTS The 2 day Startup School on October 25-26 2008 is $1,300.00 + GST. You can pay by credit card, request an invoice, or cheque. See: Startup School for more detail.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING From Jon Lam, CEO and President of Ph03nix New Media Inc. makers of ‘Curse of the Pharaoh’ "Besides being one of the smartest guys I've met, MJ has also had the experience of a startup entrepreneur. In our meetings, his insights have catapulted us light years ahead in terms of business

thinking. I‘ve learned a lot from his experience , and I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that he will save us tens of thousands (if not millions, hopefully) of dollars down the road."

From Matthew Toner, CEO and President of Zeroes 2 Heros Inc. on Startup School In terms of the start-up school, this is a really important idea. Especially for Canada: I'd worked with Canadian start-ups for years before doing my own and there has been a persistent gap between "idea" and "business". It stems from not understanding the mechanics of a start-up... as opposed to the passion for doing one. And this is a huge difference! Start-ups in the Valley, for example, don't seem to suffer from this lack: the experience seems more ingrained. My guess is that there are plenty of people whose career looks like this: developer at StartUp A; director at StartUp B, C-level at StartUp C. Plus these companies live in an eco-system that is pretty well stocked in terms of information, advice and the like. Life for our southern cousins seems a little easier. The start-up school would seem to bridge this gap, at least partially. When you first mentioned the idea and the price point, I instinctively thought about the usual inspirational weekends that are low on tangible deliverables. To me, not much in terms of value: I don't need to be enthused. ;-) Once you explained the mechanical approach you had in mind, I had a very different mindset. From my perspective two years into an unsupported start-up, I would have *gladly* paid for someone to take me through the various details (how to set a valuation, how to make a Telefilm pitch). When I think of the time/stress of figuring some of these things out for the first time... oy! Time is the one single commodity that just cannot be replaced. Spending a weekend and a couple of thousand is nothing... if you know and appreciate what you're getting into. It's really an investment in the early success of your company: to get escorted to the 80% threshold is really a big break. That last 20%... well, that's the magic part, isn't it?

FAQ Q: Why the weekend? A: To allow people who currently work full time or already have a startup and don’t want to lose momentum during the week. Q: Why are you doing this? You must be busy? A: I am. As mentioned above, I feel that this course needs to be taught and no one is doing it.

Q: How many people attend the course? A: I’ll keep the course setting intimate. Less than 4 isn’t enough and more than 20 is way too many. Q: Why so much? A: Short answer: it is a filtering exercise and a math exercise (in particular can you apply the equity equation we go over in the course?). Also, proceeds go back into a Canadian startup – hopefully an alumni company! Q: What if I don’t have a startup? I’m an independent consultant or I already own my own business? A: No startup, no problem. Same if you already have a business. Startup School is about building great companies. If you’re an independent consultant looking for a way to scale your time you’ve found it.

CONTACT Please contact Michael at [email protected] , call +1.403.617.8836, or visit Startup School.