http://torch.io/aws-fundraising-lab-2022/

AWS Fundraising Lab 2022

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In partnership with Graham & Walker, AWS is launching Fundraising Lab, a 4-week program to prepare
underrepresented startup founders to raise venture capital. The inaugural cohort of women founders will learn how to create a fundraising strategy in four 90-minute weekly sessions covering a range of themes important to raising a seed or series A round, including how to combat unconscious bias and navigate terms sheets. Upon completion, founders are added to the AWS Slack workspace and have lifelong access to community events like fireside conversations with investors and founders, founder-focused workshops, and networking events with investors. This cohort is tailored to women founders, and designed for women-led startups at the pre-seed & seed-stage of funding, regardless of cloud preference.

Goal of the program:

The primary goal of the program is two-fold. 1/ Help women founders create a fundraising strategy and 2/ Support underrepresented investors and their portfolio companies raise capital.

What will founders learn:

Understand the venture capital ecosystem
Target the right investors for fundraising
Learn best practices for investor engagement
Learn how to navigate term sheets, capitalization tables, and syndication, all with the goal of minimizing
risks
Navigate unconscious bias while fundraising from investors

Date and time:
The program will run from November 30th – December 16th, 2022 and sessions will be held each Wednesday from 12:00PM ET- 1:00 PM ET.

Who should attend:
Women founders from startups at the pre-seed and seed-stage of funding. Please only one person per startup. See the schedule below for more details.

Topics to be covered

Week

Date and Time

Week 1

Fundraising in 2023

Schedule

Preparing for your Fundraise

- Your Fundraising options
- How Venture Capital Funds work
- How to calculate your valuation
- How to build your cap table

How to navigate and address fundraising bias during fundraising

- Welcome cohort (what to expect) & Icebreakers questions
- Overview of Venture Ecosystem
- Investor Engagement and Best Practices

Week 1: 11/30/2022, 9:00-10:30AM PT

Week 2: 12/07/2022, 9:00-10:30AM PT

Week 3: 12/14/2022, 9:00-10:30AM PT

By registering, you agree to the AWS Event Terms and Conditions and the AWS Community Codes of Conduct.

Navigating Fundraising Bias

- Welcome cohort (what to expect) & Icebreakers questions
- Overview of Venture Ecosystem
- Investor Engagement and Best Practices

Company name *

Company website *

Full name *

Email address (work email, please!) *

Job title *

City *

Country *

Zip code *

State

LinkedIn profile *

Are you a founder / co-founder? *

Total Funding (enter a number in $Ms. Ex: $3M) *

Startup stage *

Company size *

Industry *

Primary cloud provider *

How did you hear about the program program? (Name of VC, accelerator, AWS Startup team, etc.)? *

Are you interested in receiving information about AWS credits and other benefits? *

Yes

No

Are you an underrepresented founder? (Underrepresented founders are founders that belong to a group that the venture industry as a whole underinvests in relative to the percent of the overall US population. This definition includes founders that are women as well as people of color, including those of African, Latin American, or Native American descent and individuals who identify as LGBTQ+. For the purposes of this questionnaire, this definition of an “underrepresented founder” is US-focused, however, you do not have to be located in the US to be considered an underrepresented founder.)

Yes

No

Prefer not to answer

1) What are the Criteria?
Startup leadership - one of the following must be true. a) a founder owns at least 25% of the business; b) collectively, founders own at least 25% of the business; or c) C-suite executive owns at least 10% of the business (e.g., CEO, CTO, CFO, etc); Pre-seed to Series A stage, Technology or technology-enabled solution (software or tech-enabled business, High-impact - solves an important societal problem, Scalable - disruptive product with large market size.

2) How many founders will you invite to attend?
We will start with a max cohort size of 150-200 women-led startups to gain insights from founders.

3) Is there an application?
This process comprises a registration form. No application is needed.

4) What are program deliverables?
Help women-led founders create a strategy for raising their first round of funding.

Frequently Asked Questions

Term Sheets

-Term Sheet Overview and Economics
- How to Negotiate the Deal (VC/URF Panel)

Week 4: 12/14/2022, 9:00-10:30AM PT

Title

Fundraising in 2023

11/30/2022

9:00 - 10:30 AM PST

Week 2

Preparing for your Fundraise

- Your Fundraising options
- How Venture Capital Funds work
- How to calculate your valuation
- How to build your cap table

12/7/2022

9:00 - 10:30 AM PST

Week 3

Navigating Fundraising Bias

- How to navigate and address fundraising bias during fundraising

12/14/2022

9:00 - 10:30 AM PST

Week 4

Term Sheets

- Term Sheet Overview and Economics
- How to Negotiate the Deal (VC/URF Panel)

12/21/2022

9:00 - 10:30 AM PST