Financing Startups: The Venture Capital Deal

This program is designed for C-level executives and senior managers of expansion-driven companies and founders of new enterprises seeking growth capital as part of the Executive Certificate in Corporate Entrepreneurship.

Dates: February 24-25, 2023 from 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM ET
Delivery: In-Person on Lehigh's Campus
Fee: $1,600 [includes lunch and refreshments]

Overview

Venture capital is the fuel that can rapidly propel a startup from incubation to commercialization to expansion and emerging growth and, eventually, to an exit as a sought-after acquisition in an M&A transaction or even an IPO. This program provides insight on venture capital as an industry. Participants understand how VCs behave, what is their motivation, and how do they achieve their financial goals for their limited partners. Knowing how VCs operate is a requirement to understand the pluses and minuses of raising institutional capital. Hence their term sheets are dissected from every angle. In the end, participants learn how using venture capital may lead to untold riches for both sides if successful. 

Impact & Benefits

A fast-moving no holds-barred 2-day journey leaves participants with an insightful, but sobering, view of venture capital. The VC deal is under the lens in a “Series A” funding round. The program is built around five key questions:  

[1] How do I identify and seek the right VC fund?
[2] How do I know how much capital to raise? 
[3] How do I read a term sheet and understand its provisions?
[4] How do I avoid making the big mistake in raising capital?  
[5] How do I negotiate a deal that is win-win? 

The format is 100% interactive and relies heavily on case study and illustration. A simulated term sheet negotiation between founder and VC serves as the capstone.       

Lehigh Faculty

The creator of Lehigh’s MBA entrepreneurship concentration, Dale Falcinelli, brings many decades of management consulting and investment banking into the classroom, having served hundreds of CEOs and boards of emerging growth and early stage companies. He is well-known in the venture capital community and has lectured at the Wharton School in Philadelphia and San Francisco campuses. An undergraduate and graduate alumnus of Lehigh, Dale is the recipient of many awards and is recognized by Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern PA for his contributions to the Lehigh Valley business community. He has served on numerous corporate boards and appeared on Fox Business, A&E, and PBS.            

Richard Kollender is nationally-recognized in healthcare. He remains a partner with a prominent East Coast-focused venture fund with over $700 million in committed capital. In recent times, Richard held top C-level and board positions with emerging growth companies including helping to architect a freshly-minted IPO. Richard is presently CBO and CFO of Reaction Biology, a high profile contract laboratory research firm that supports and advances drug discovery by major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Richard began his career as a practicing CPA with KPMG Peat Marwick. He earned a B.A. from Franklin and Marshall College and holds both an MBA and a Certificate Degree in Health Administration & Policy [with honors] from the University of Chicago. 

Ryan Udell, Esq. is a partner with Ballard Spahr LLP, a leading law firm headquartered in Philadelphia with 15 offices throughout the U. S. A seasoned transactional lawyer and practice leader, Ryan leverages his many years of deal negotiation in capital raises and M&A for both private as well as publicly-traded companies. His network is extensive and touches on a wide cross-section of industries and client firms in various stages. He holds a B.A. from Emory University and J.D. [magna cum laude] from the Temple University School of Law.