DATE :  15 – 18 April, 2019 (Monday – Thursday)
TIME :  6:30 – 9:30 pm
VENUE :  CYPP4, LG1, Chong Yuet Ming Physics Building, HKU
Speaker : Mr. Douglas Keith Abrams, Founder and CEO of Expara and Expara IDM Ventures

Abstract : 
In order to successfully scale, most new ventures will need to seek outside funding from venture capitalists or angel investors.  Raising money to fund a new venture involves entrepreneurs and investors in a challenging and critical process.  Investors will evaluate startups on two dimensions:  product/market fit and financial potential.  Therefore it is critical for entrepreneurs to know how to: 1)  develop a business strategy that optimizes product/market fit and 2) build a financial model that demonstrates the financial potential of the company.

Some of the specific skills developed in this workshop will include:

• How to identify and evaluate new business opportunities
• Market identification, sizing, trends and analysis
• Development and assessment of competitive and business strategies for companies in different areas (biotech, IT and engineering) 
• Building financial models for new ventures 
• Financial forecasting and valuation for start-ups
• Methods of structuring start-ups (holding company/subsidiary) and corresponding investment/exit strategies for founders/investors
• Sources of & mechanisms for financing startups (e.g. convertible loans, equity investment and share swap) & their pros and cons
• Different fundraising options, their pros and cons, strategies for different options
• Factors that will affect investors’ decision-making when evaluating financial plans and investments   
• Strategies for negotiating funding deals

About the Speaker :
Douglas Abrams is the founder and CEO of Expara, an early-stage venture capital fund management and venture services company that has made 70 investments across Southeast Asia and East Asia and trained more than 6,500 entrepreneurs and 1,000 investors across the region. Expara has been involved in early-stage investments and entrepreneurship development in the region since 2000 and has launched six accelerator programs across Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore, Expara has presence in the emerging markets of Southeast Asia- Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam and has recently established presence in Hong Kong and South Korea.  Douglas has launched 6 funds since 2007. He is the former Chairman of the Business Angel Network of Southeast Asia (BANSEA) and has been a Director since 2002.  He was a founding partner of Parallax Capital Management, a Singapore-based funds management company in 2000. Prior to coming to Singapore, Douglas managed information technology at J.P. Morgan for 14 years.  He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore’s Business School where he lectures on New Venture Creation for undergraduates and post-grads.  He is also a Visiting Professor in Venture Capital for the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.  He graduated from the Annenberg School, University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Communications and received an MBA from The Wharton School.

Registration :
For HKU Staff and Students : https://goo.gl/TgHTEP
For Others : https://goo.gl/jdYXRt

Workshop Materials for downloading : https://bit.ly/2GcugD4