School Programme

Day 1: Setting the Scene

An essential part of the Bio-Entrepreneur School is the formation of a group of like-minded people who will stay in touch well beyond the attendance at the School. This ‘entrepreneur’ community will have the capacity to gather and share information whilst offering the opportunity for mutual peer support in a sustainable way. Day 1 will therefore consist of exercises to help you learn about each other and each other’s business ideas and lay the foundations for the rest of the School and beyond.

The morning section will consist of introductions and exploring together what makes entrepreneurs entrepreneurial. In the afternoon we will look at the difference between entrepreneurs, managers and leaders and explore different aspects of networking, business development and generating leads. This includes discussions from the participants’ personal experience and will enable you to identify your strengths and how best to capitalise on these as well as how best to improve areas for development.

The evening will be a structured yet informal networking reception where you will have the opportunity to learn first-hand from a number of successful bio-entrepreneurs and establish initial contact with a range of key players in the bio-technology sector, including investors and specialist accountants and lawyers in the sector. This reception should have a significant impact, as you are able to see and meet like-minded individuals who have travelled the journey you are about to take.

Day 2: Planning Success

The second day will kick off with a review of lessons learnt on Day 1. In the morning we will be looking at three key aspects of intellectual property, namely Confidentiality – the problem of how much you tell and what you keep quiet, Surviving due diligence which is an integral part of any investment, and Patenting strategy – not just patenting inventions but creating a defence for your eventual product. This will be followed by a facilitated discussion on different routes for bio-companies to get to market and as well as exploring different models for bio businesses and how to structure funding propositions in a business plan.

The afternoon is aimed at providing you with an overview of the business planning process and helping you to structure a plan for your business. This will be followed by an introduction to how investors think, what investors look for in an investment opportunity and how you can best prepare for investment.

The evening will offer a formal dinner and guest speaker at the University of Nottingham sponsored by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. This will give you the opportunity to network further with people from a wide range of professional services, including investors, patent attorneys, lawyers, banks, accountants and general business advisors. This will be followed by questions and answers, discussion and networking (another opportunity to practice those skills introduced on the first day).

Day 3: Creating Success

The third and final day will build on the learning from the previous days and take a closer look at the planning process with a focus in the morning on strategic planning and marketing.

The early part of the afternoon will be set aside for you to meet individually with a number of mentors to help you prepare a pitch which you will be required to present in the second part of the afternoon. Particular focus will be given to helping you think through the business proposition, how it will create value and how investors will get their money back, as well as how you can best distil that thinking into a clear, concise and compelling presentation. The pitch itself will be a friendly ‘Dragon’s Den’ style presentation to a panel of investors, bankers, accountants and consultants who will critique the presentation, offer advice and signpost to follow-on support. The panel will also assess each pitch against a range of criteria with a view to selecting a number of winners who will receive a ‘bio-entrepreneur business pitch’ award and token prize to be determined.

You will also receive a certificate of attendance and will leave with an action plan and clear direction of how to turn your idea/dream into reality.