On January 30, Startup Grind Fremont hosted Atelier Advisors & Finance for Entrepreneurs’ founder, Lili Balfour. Lili has advised more than 100 companies across various industries, helping them to raise more than $200 million. She has also served as a finance expert to universities, accelerators, and media outlets.

The event took place at Peerbuds Innovation Lab in Fremont and brought together nearly 40 attendees. Lili engaged the audience and shared techniques aimed to better prepare entrepreneurs for speaking with investors in their own language. The discussion focused on the following topics:

  1. Establishing target metrics for enterprise software, SaaS, services, marketplace, and commerce platform business.
  2. Identifying what growth is the right growth to show.
  3. Considering what assumptions are important to highlight in the financial model.
  4. Asking: Do you really have to have answers for all the questions an investor might ask? What are some questions that we can answer with, “No, we do not know?”
  5. Leveraging places/portals/publications to find information about financial modeling, industry fundamentals (to be used in financial model), and metrics benchmarks for a certain industry.
    .

Lili Balfour speaking to StartUp Grind attendees on January 30, 2018

In another event earlier this month, Startup Grind attracted over 7,000 entrepreneurs to the Global Conference in Silicon Valley. The conference featured two days of sessions led by top CEOs and influencers, dynamic networking events, meetings with investors, access to invaluable resources, and more. Check out StartUp Grind’s website for details on speakers and topics covered at the Global Conference.

At the upcoming event in Fremont on March 8, Startup Grind Fremont will be speaking with second-generation entrepreneur, Herman Yau. Herman co-founded Tend Insights, Inc., which develops award-winning smart home lifestyle products and was named Silicon Valley Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 in 2015. Under his leadership, Tend’s products have been awarded CES Innovation Honoree 3 years in a row and are available at most major US retailers. Join us on March 8 and hear from the IoT pioneer himself on how technology can serve and impact people’s lives in a positive way.

Don’t miss out! Get your tickets online. Can’t make the next event? Not to worry — Startup Grind Fremont has more events coming up. Visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Facebook to stay informed.