On June 5th 2017, a group of 30 aspiring angel investors sat in front of an improvised stage at Chiado 8 in Lisbon, waiting to hear the gospel from 7 experienced investors. The goal of this event, anti-climactically named Investors Academy, was to provide participants with the unique chance to learn best practices, first-hand experiences and receive concrete help on how to define their investment roadmap from seasoned players.
The idea was Beta-i’s brainchild. But the immersive, full-day program was co-designed and developed along with its speakers: Marvin Liao, David Haynes, Rodrigo Martinez, Ricardo Sequerra, Cristina Fonseca, Luís Roquette and Alex Hoye.
We’ve been in the event curation business for a while and, truthfully, there’s a lot stuff out there that is just plain vanilla (we share the blame on this as well). But what we’ve come to learn is that when you bring speakers on board and actually involve them in the process of designing the audience’s experience (a tough job because it’s a thin line between being inclusive and just plain bothersome) something magical happens.
And I believe that’s what happened at the Investors Academy in 2017. Speakers are present on stage at all times during each other’s presentations, and have carte blanche to intervene and share thoughts on what’s being discussed. The audience is heavily encouraged to do the same. As a result, when a participant asked “how hard is it to invest in startups?”, Marvin Liao’s answer was simply: “in this game, if you’re not willing to lose all your money, you should quit while you’re ahead.” That’s the kind of honesty that matters.
With a range of topics from Investment Lifecycle, Different Approaches to Investing, What Post Seed VCs Are Looking For, The Impact of Negotiating Terms and The Importance of Building Relationships with Founders, our goal is to increase the odds in favour of aspiring investors.
The Investors Academy will be back, with a new roster of speakers and a limited class, this time on June 5th 2018. If you’re looking to take your investor skills to the next level, make sure you get one of the 30 Ultimate Investor Ticket available.