The Israeli startup scene is flush with people who need help and people who want to help. On one hand are the young entrepreneurs who are looking for any piece of information which will help them promote their ideas and their businesses. On the other hand are experienced entrepreneurs, investors, and other key figures in the local ecosystem, who would be happy to share their knowledge.
Generally, budding innovators can gather that knowledge through different means from lectures and "meetups", to participation in an accelerator, or even through shared workspaces. One of the primary topics of conversation in these places is how to raise money from investors a basic need for any hopeful startup.
Now, however, the Technion has launched a new specialized course focusing on funding. The university, one of Israel's premier academic institutions, will offer the class in partnership with accounting firm BDO Ziv Haft, with the goal of teaching young entrepreneurs to properly present their ideas to investors.
The seven-part course will be conducted at the Technion's campus in Tel Aviv's Sarona complex starting in November. It will be led by Dr. Yuval Avni, a former investor in Giza Venture Capital, is the CEO of Beta O2 which developed an artificial pancreas and a surgical doctor, as well as an alum of the Technion.
Avni will be joined throughout the course by familiar names like angel investor Gigi Levy, Canaan Partners' Izhar Shay, Moneta Seeds' Meirav Harnoy, and Yaniv Cohen, who leads the Technology & Global Cluster at BDO Ziv Haft.
According to Avni, the course intends to provide the practical tools and knowledge needed by startups including the legal and financial background necessary to understand the process of raising funds.
In response to the question over the necessity of an academic course on the topic when the issue is constantly debated at different events in the local startup scene, Avni said "at other places, what you have is a lecture of an hour, maybe an hour and a half, by somebody with a vested interest. For example, a VC manager who ends by telling the startups that they need to know how to pitch him if they want to raise money. What we offer here is not a generic overview or a biased take."
Avni added that the class would cost NIS 4,500 and is intended for "whoever wants to dedicate the time and the money to listen and learn."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 10, 2015
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