About the Program
For all EU angels
Women Investing In Tech is a very special to our hearts program. It's an advanced practical angel investing course, aiming at women who already invest or looking to begin their angel journey as we continue to expand a diverse presence in the venture ecosystem in Europe and beyond.
This yearly program is traditionally free of charge, with participants selected based on the questionnaire – while looking for the most synergy during each cohort. The guest speaker list includes super angels, angels, BAN leads and VCs from EU, UK and USA.
Program goals:
- Get practical experience in startup evaluation
- Build your personal angel investment strategy and exit scenarios
- Learn how to structure your investments from legal perspective
- Join an extensive network of investors and startups right away
- Build a syndicate and co-invest with other program participants
Program results
Participants will be able to:
- Evaluate startups using several methods
- Build personal investment strategies and exit scenarios
- Apply a decision-making framework to investments
- Negotiate financial terms with startups depending on the stage of investing
- Understand the legal side of investing, with a syndicate, in co-investing and in leading the deal
- Avoid most common mistakes in the first steps of angel investing
- Build own early network of founders and investors
About this week:
Introductory week aims to outline a systemic view of venture investing, angel's role in it, opportunities for angel investing in EU & Baltics, and some startup evaluation frameworks. This week will help narrow down practical questions over personal strategies in angel investing and manage expectations on venture capital.
Day 1. Introduction to angel investments
An eagle eye overview of Pan-European venture ecosystem, key players and how to work with them, role and profile of angels, significant gaps and opportunities for angel investing, changes happening over covid time, (eventually) required competence / experience to be a successful angel.
Day 2. Startup evaluation framework
We will go through several approaches to startup assessment and evaluation, to be applied over the next 4 weeks hands-on.What is a startup and what is not? How to read a deck? Which evaluation frameworks could apply for different stages of investing? What metrics mean and how to read them? Lessons learned from typical startup and investor mistakes.
About this week:
This week's dive is going to be all about startup assessment and evaluation: good and bad decks, early and later stages, different industries, different metrics, a variety of deal structures. We will also have a field trip to a startup fair to apply what we have already discussed in practice.
Day 1. Advanced startup valuations
How to assess the deal, and how to assess if the deal is right for you? Assessment and valuation is a skillset, that needs to be trained in practice, the more the better.
Day 2. Online pitch and evaluation session
Let's test our framework and see how it works in practice. We will listen to startup pitches, discuss them, and narrow down practical questions over your next steps as an angel.
About this week:
This week aims to provide guidance on how to create a repeatable and coherent investment decision-making framework that works for you over time, identify what is working and not in relations with founders, and manage expectations over a learning curve of an angel investor. Matching your risk profile, liquidity expectations, personal preferences, experience strengths, access to dealflow and network to specific investment strategies where you can hit founder-product-market-investor fit easier.
Day 1. Let's use the evaluation frameworks
An open feedback and Q&A session to focus on your questions after a live pitch event. Explaining your own assessments, sharing peer-to-peer insights and questions, listening to experienced angels and VCs evaluating companies will provide a bigger view on frameworks, process, and skillset. It will also help you refine your angel profile and strategy.
Day 2. Building your angel profile and startup relations
Understanding the role of investor, areas of responsibilities, typical investor and founder mistakes in decision-making (who is in charge of what). Understanding investment risks, expected time horizons, and how your role and impact may change or evolve over the time. What's your reasons to invest in startups? What's your personal skillset and aligned investment strategy? How can you find startups? How startups are going to find you? What's your appetite for risks and available liquidity to invest? What's your time horizon for exit? What's your network and where can you find great ideas to invest in? Who you partner with for investments and exits?
About this week:
This week is going to be about due diligence - and of two distinct types of investment strategies for angels: follow and lead. Previous workshops have given you a glimpse over what the work of an angel investor typically consists of, and what of that workload you would prefer to do yourself, join forces or outsource. Through the next two workshops we will dive deep into step-by-step work process to help you fine-tune your preferences, interests, and investment approach.
Day 1. Due Diligence for startups and investors
We are going to dive into the intricacies of due diligence for startups - and for other invesors. What's the red flags to check in a team and on a cap table? What's the potential implications of previous investments conditions? What's the reasonable check-list to go through in pre-seed, seed or later stages - and what is the difference?
Day 2. How to lead and syndicate deals
Key syndicate features, how to find and join them, responsibilities of a backing angel, expected workload and decision-making. One of the options of an easier entry point into angel investing while learning and building up your own network. Responsibilities and expected workload of a lead angel (in a syndicate or simply bringing other investors together), pipeline and paperwork, co-investment network, portfolio management.
About this week:
Getting to a program close, we will briefly cover all topics of previous weeks, concentrating on your personal learnings, findings, insights, practical questions, and next steps.Practice, practice, practice: analysing markets, networking with founders and other investors, going to pitches or receiving them, making your own assessments even if on paper, – and eventually investing your money over what you consider a reasonable assessment, even if (or especially) it will turn out to be a mistake over time.
Day 1. Round table with angels and VCs
How to train yourself to become and be a better investment decision-maker? What were your biggest learnings over time? What do you consider your investment failures / misses? How long did it take to define, outline and polish your repeatable investment decision-making process?
Day 2. Wrap-up of the program and reflection session
Your personal and group learnings, insights, surprises, perspectives. Feedback for the program.
Our Partners
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Business Angel School Speakers
Many professional VCs, Superangels and other investment ecosystem players have been joining the Business Angel Leaders program as guest speakers.
Sandra is a Founding Partner at Baltic Sandbox Accelerator and a GP at Baltic Sandbox Ventures – a VC that supports early-stage Deep Tech and Life Science startups in Northern Europe. For the past several years, Sandra has been actively engaged in lecturing activities, working with students and business managers / corporate innovators in "Innovation and Investment Academy" by BMI, ISM University of Management and Economics, Vilnius University Business School, etc. She also co-founded "Business Angel School" – a set of educational programs for the EU business angels. Over 150 angels graduated from the programs, alumni invested over €3M in startups and won "Angel of the Year" nominations in different countries.
Jana Budkovskaja, with a decade in innovation and entrepreneurship, champions female founders and gender-balanced teams. Today Jana manages the successful and growing cleantech early-stage fund and accelerator Beamline, leading and highlighting the urgent state of the Climate. As a partner at The Better Fund, she aids female-founded startups in the CEE region, emphasizing sustainable investments. Jana, a PhD candidate in innovation and sustainability, formerly led Prototron Fund, where she catalyzed tech ideas into flourishing businesses. She's also the brain behind OBJEKT, a northeastern Estonian hub for innovation, and boasts expertise in management and environmental impact.
Liina is an advocate for gender equality and has been involved with multiple early and late stage companies, currently also heading the expansion in CEE at the fastest growing startup ever Deel. Collaborating with accelerators as a mentor as well as an operator in high growth startups directly. Liina is bringing together The Better Fund - women investing in diverse teams in CEE. Liina's goal is to close the investment gap and build a new and more equal environment in Europe.
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Janiina is a B2B SaaS founder turned into an investor, currently working as an Investment Director at Vendep Capital, an early-stage B2B SaaS VC in the Nordics and Baltics. From an extensive agency background in strategic marketing and communications to SaaS Co-Founder, CMO, and marketing team lead roles, Janiina’s wide ranging experiences cover everything from listed companies to startup life. In her freetime Janiina is a mountaineer and published author.
Viktorija Trimbel, Managing director at CoInvest Capital, early stage VC, co-investing with business angels. Seasoned expert in strategy, governance and finance.
Jone Vaituleviciute is a founding partner of FIRSTPICK, an early-stage venture capital fund focused on Baltic tech founders. Prior to establishing her own fund, Jone was a partner at Startup Wise Guys, one of the largest European accelerators. She is also a board member of the Lithuania Venture Capital Association, where she contributes to female inclusion-focused projects.
Triin Hertmann is the co-founder and COO/CFO of Grünfin (sustainable investment platform). She has more than 20 years of experience in technology and fintech being an early employee of Skype and second employee of Wise building up the payment and financial processes. She's an active angel investor with 25+ investments and with a keen focus on impact start-ups and female founders. Recently she was awarded as Wise Wallet (Investor of the Year) by Estonian start-up community.
Kaari is an investor at Estonian-based early-stage VC Superangel where she looks for ambitious founders who have the potential to build industry-defining companies, such as Bolt, Veriff, Starship. She does not come from a traditional corporate / finance background that is likely for a VC investor. Instead, she's worked as an operator in a small health-tech startup Triumf Health building scalable mental health services for children and did product marketing for a category-defining SaaS startup KOOS in Estonia. After having worked in or along startups for several years, she moved into an investment role in Superangel where she looks to deploy up to 1M€ per an impactful technology startups.
Nela, as NIF’s fund-of-funds investment investor, focuses on strengthening regional capabilities, fostering European ecosystem growth, and enhancing global recognition for deep tech in emerging areas. Nela also works on connecting with relevant venture capital managers in the NATO region. Nela always had a passion for impactful entrepreneurship and wanted to contribute to a larger mission of service and leadership development. During her undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley, Nela served in the US Military Air Force ROTC program where she trained, as the only international student accepted, to become a captain. Nela also founded a nonprofit in Croatia that worked together with the Croatian Ministry of Defence to support landmine victims. Nela also completed a competitive program at Haas Business School and obtained her Masters in Business Management from Imperial College Business School in London. Previously, Nela worked at London-based generalist venture capital firm DN Capital. She was also at Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Sure Ventures.