Why Governance Matters for Startups

"Building your global business anywhere."

Corporate governance has been one of the most important topics for business management, mainly for public companies and rarely a priority for startups. In light of governance failures to some of the most prominent names in the startup ecosystem such as WeWork, Uber and Theranos, there are now calls for startups to refocus their attention on the company’s overall governance practices. High valuations, unrealistic revenue projections, voting power, serious failures of culture, ethics and compliance have all led to the downfall of the most promising startups. As such, good corporate governance practices in a company is now an attractive asset to investors. Being an entrepreneur/founder of a startup company is a challenging task. Startup companies will usually need to raise a significant amount of money. But this need for money raises a series of daunting questions: “Who should we turn to for investment?”; “What kind of money do we want to attract?”; “When is the right moment to seek investment?”; and “How should the investment be structured”? This workshop focuses on building the capacity of entrepreneurs to look into the “Black Box” of potential investors and other actors/partners. Development of this capacity is crucial to identify the particular partner who is best placed - not only to provide money - but to deliver a meaningful, long-term relationship that will fill capacity and expertise deficits, and by doing so add genuine value and give a young firm the best chance of scaling. We will term this approach “smart investor readiness”. By end of the workshop, participants will:

• Learn about the best practices in establishing and growing startup businesses
• Develop a deeper understanding of the “venture capital ecosystem”
• Discuss how to approach investors and recruit advisors and board members
• Understand the terms and conditions of an investment term sheet

Learning Outcomes

• Develop a business growth strategy for a startup company
• Understand how to work with investors
• Understand the corporate governance of a successful startup
• Know when and how to approach investors