Marco Deck for French Entrepreneurs
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Marco Thompson is a technology entrepreneur and investor in San Diego. He has founded or been part of founding teams for 40 startups and invested in 50 startups. He mentors 100 CEOs and is the founder of EvoNexus, an incubator, and board member of Connect, a nonprofit. The document provides an overview of the startup process in California, including idea formation, raising angel investment, joining an incubator, proving product-market fit, raising venture capital investment, scaling the company, and exiting through acquisition or IPO.
Marco Deck for French Entrepreneurs
- 1. Marco Thompson 619-518-3001 [email protected] https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcothompson/ San Diego Innovation Economy Why San Diego? – Some statistics California Startup Culture Basics Marco 101 Technology Entrepreneur Innovation Angel $ Innovation VC $$$ Founder EvoNexus Board Member Connect Founder SD Sport Innovators WakeSurf Teacher Mostly Retired Founder or team on 40 startups Investor in 50 startups Mentor to 100 CEOs over 20 years Gilles can forward you my slides! Note: Heavy plagiarism of Connect, Biocom, Evonexus and other sources…
- 17. Life Sciences Cluster Deep Dive (Some info borrowed from BIOCOM)
- 22. More on EvoNexus Later in the Week (Here are a few important details)
- 24. California Startup Culture • Idea Phase • Quit your day job / Formation • Raise some Angel / Friends and Family $$ • Get into an Incubator • Prove Product / Market “FIT” • Raise some Real Money • Scale your Company • Sell your Company
- 25. Idea Phase • 2 founders and a dog • Full time jobs at Qualcomm, Illumina… • Meetings at Starbucks • Test the idea with potential Angels • Test the idea with potential customers • Figure out if we have the passion and persistence to make the leap into the unknown • Whole process could be 2 weeks or 2 years, depending on how good the idea is…
- 26. Quit your day job / Formation • It’s not a real company until 2 people are doing it full time • Incorporate in Delaware • “C” corp, not LLC • Establish Employee option plan • Founders establish initial ownership % • Must have equity vesting, especially for the founders
- 27. Raise some Angel / Friends and Family $$ • Most startups raise $500,000 - $1,500,000 before they are ready for VC • Raising money from Angels is a “sales pipeline management” process • San Diego has a great Angel community, but many are “hidden”
- 28. Get into an Incubator • There are many incubators to choose from • Select one with a history and success in your domain • 30% of startups have a “founders fight” in the first 2 years • Get engaged with the Incubator Mentors and Peer CEOs
- 29. Prove Product / Market “FIT” • Venture Capitalists (VCs) Need to know that your innovation meets a market need • Customer traction that is evidence of future scalability • Unfair Advantage in “Time to Market” or Intellectual Property
- 30. Raise some Real Money • Team in Place, with missing team members located and ready to join • Financial Plan for achieving Milestones that will increase the company value for the next round • Preferred Equity vs Common Equity • Must have 3-4 interested investors or the deal will not be favorable to the founders • Get a term sheet and negotiate • “Due Diligence” and “close”
- 31. Scale your Company • Different issues for every company and every domain of business • In the tech space, it is all about successful launch and customer delight • In in the pharma space, it is all about trials and FDA
- 32. Sell your Company • Most Exits are Mergers or Acquisitions with existing players • Very few companies can exit thru an IPO • Hire an M&A Advisor – they get 5% • Public vs Private M&A • Lockups • Earnouts • Wealth building – Rinse and Repeat…