CEO Night is a series of events devoted to the top C-level challenges and concerns of international businesses.

In this particular episode TOP-leaders, CEOs and founders of international companies will discuss how to raise money and what their next steps are.

Most entrepreneurs understand that if the fundamentals of a business idea—the management team, the market opportunities, the operating systems and controls—are sound, chances are there’s money out there. The challenge of landing that capital to grow a company can be exhilarating. But as exciting as the money search may be, it is equally threatening. Built into the process are certain harsh realities that can seriously damage a business. Entrepreneurs cannot escape them but, by knowing what they are, can at least prepare for them.

An informal discussion with entrepreneurs on their journey raising capital from investors and what happens next. We will be touching on the following questions.

 

Part One — Raising Money. 

  1. Venture capital and ever ending news stream on companies raising investment rounds: enticing or not.
  2. Time frame between initial discussions and pitches to closing financing rounds.
  3. Impressions about journey, lessons learned — personal and business-wise.
  4. Funded entrepreneur’s opinion of institutional investors before and during the process.

 

Part Two — Negotiating the Deal

  1. Negotiating a term sheet, finalizing the long form documentation: impressions and major focus.
  2. Beyond pure cash: investor’s unique offer. 

 

Part Three — Moving Forward

  1. Relationship evolution after the investment.
  2. Benefits of a functioning board: what a good investor can bring. 
  3. Practical advice to an entrepreneur welcoming a non-executive director.

 

Moderator: 

Spike Laurie, Venture Director at Hiro Capital

Spike is a 8+ year esports and games industry professional with experience building production and business infrastructure across three continents and driving large, multi million dollar revenue pipelines. Spike is Venture Director at Hiro Capital, a €100 million venture capital fund investing in the innovators of the future.

Meet our speakers:

Alex started his career as a software engineer. The gained experience helped Alex to build his own successful business. Under his management within 9+ years, Innovecs has developed from a small office and a team of three people into the award-winning digital transformation tech company with over 800 software engineers. Innovecs is one of the fastest-growing U.S. companies, according to Inc. 5000 in 2017-2020, and was included in the IAOP’s The Global Outsourcing 100.

  • Shaun Khubchandani, Managing Director at Siguler Guff and a co-portfolio

manager of Siguler Guff’s global emerging markets co-investment platform. He is responsible for investment strategy implementation, investment sourcing and selection, terms and conditions negotiations, portfolio monitoring and risk management across the Firm’s direct and co-investment efforts in the emerging markets. Shaun began his career as an Investment Banking Analyst at Citigroup Inc. He was a part of Citi’s deal team during the initial public offering of EPAM Systems, Inc. Mr. Khubchandani is a member of the Investment Committees for certain Siguler Guff funds.

  • Karl Robb, Independent Board Member. Due Diligence Consultant.

Karl is a global technology veteran, combining 39 years of successful leadership in software engineering, hardware production and global distribution. He spent 15 years in Western Europe, 9 in the US and 15 in Eastern Europe, while operating businesses in over 30 countries. In 2021 Karl Robb joined Ajax’s Board, as an Independent Board Member. Most recently and notably, since 2004, Karl has served on the Board of Directors at EPAM Systems, shepherding it from $30 million revenue to over $2 billion, through a very successful NYSE IPO onto a $19 billion market in just 9 years. Prior to joining EPAM, Karl was the CEO and co-founder of Fathom Technology, which merged with EPAM in 2004.

Every fund-raising strategy and every source of money implies certain out-of-pocket expenses and commitments of various kinds. Unless the entrepreneur has thought them through and decided how to handle them ahead of time, he or she may end up with a poorly structured deal or an inefficient search for capital.

Since no deal is perfect and since even the most savvy entrepreneurs are at a disadvantage in negotiating with people who strike deals for a living, there is a strong incentive for entrepreneurs to learn as much as they can about the process—including the very things they are probably least interested in knowing.

Join CEO Night to learn how to raise funds  into your business that mature TOPs have done. 

Each CEO Nights meetup is a story about people, technologies and results that inspire. These are cases from recognized leaders that make you not only think, but also take a step towards change in order to be in trend.

 

When: June 17, 7 pm (EEST)

Where: online (a live stream from our own InnoHub studio)

It’s FREE!