THE CHALLENGE

Falmouth University’s Launchpad programme aims to create a new generation of globally impactful startups in Cornwall.

Launchpad participants develop ideas over the course of two years, gain vital business and entrepreneurial skills, and build their startups into viable businesses. They emerge with an MsC in Entrepreneurship and a startup that can go the distance.

We were invited to run an investment readiness workshop for the September 2020 cohort’s second year who were fully focused on developing their businesses.

“We wanted to give students a realistic and practical understanding of what it's like to raise seed funding and how to do it. Inkwell clearly understood the cohort's needs. The team worked hard to clearly explain concepts, share practical examples and make sure the sessions were really engaging, all backed up with excellent speakers.”

— Adrian Scales, Senior Investment Manager at Falmouth University

The workshop needed to educate startups about the different types of investment and set realistic expectations about the funding process. It also needed to tick the real-world box with expert speakers who could provide unique investment insights and answer questions about each startup’s journey.

​THE PROCESS

Investment is a huge topic and something that can be daunting for first-time founders. We decided to break the workshop down into four 50-minute sessions – in-depth enough to give startups what they needed to hear, but short enough to digest information.

The other key consideration was how to capture and hold attention during the sessions. Startups needed to take away practical learnings; bombarding them with stat-stacked slides wasn’t the answer.

As a result, we opted for the following solutions:

• Run a short ice breaker at the start

• Invite questions from the audience during each session

• Vary the speakers and session formats

• Feature case studies and quotes from other startups throughout

Session one: What investors want

The first session covered different types of investment and what to expect from the investment journey.

This gave students a basic understanding of what investors look for, so they could understand how to approach them and had realistic expectations about the fundraising process.

Session two: Investor and entrepreneur Q&A

We invited active angel investor Mark Panay to join us, who has backed dozens of early-stage startups including OLIO, which just raised a $43m Series B. Mark brought years of experience of watching startups’ investment pitches and could provide unique insight into what angel investors look for in a pitch.

To join him on stage, we also invited local business owner Ben Treleaven, who raised £100k seed from angels, £1.1m through crowdfunding and £1m through debt.

Ben brought a relatable startup perspective to the journey of raising investment, advising where to seek investment and the challenges he came up against.

Session three: Pitch deck workshop

We knew that the cohort had started putting together pitch decks, so this session provided practical advice on what makes a great deck.

To kick off the session, we invited one startup to pitch with their deck and get feedback from peers. From there, we brought in some of the decks we’ve seen running The Pitch to create an open debate about what makes the decks effective and what could be improved.

Session four: Investor Q&A practice

Prior to this session, we’d asked the investors in our network about the questions they most frequently asked startups. We pitched these questions to the cohort of startups, encouraging them to think about how they’d answer if they were in the room with the investor.

It was a great way to provide soft practice of pitching to investors and answering common investment questions.

​THE RESULTS

The session successfully provided a mix of practical takeaways about securing investment and real-world insights from investors and entrepreneurs.

“Inkwell ran a half-day course to set realistic expectations about the funding process, understand what different types of investor are looking for and develop their pitch deck. The content was really engaging and we had great feedback – we'd definitely recommend universities work with them.”

— Adrian Scales, Senior Investment Manager at Falmouth University

“The investor readiness session was second to none. Launchpad startups were placed in front of valuable insights and information from investors, thought leaders and co-founders.

“This session gave us the opportunity to ask questions in a safe space to people who have lived the pains we currently experience as startup entrepreneurs. The key takeaways from this event and others are valuable to helping us shape our knowledge, mindsets and ultimately, strategise our businesses.”

— Natalie Campion, co-founder of Launchpad start-up Kevri

“Understanding what’s important when asking for money in exchange for magic beans is difficult and subjective at best; the session at Launchpad was a friendly and warm environment to discuss and explore the fundraising process with a room full of interesting people with interesting businesses.”

— Mark Panay, angel investor