This webinar was held on Apr 22nd, 2021 at 4PM CET

What will be covered

Ultimately entrepreneurship is a leap of faith. Entrepreneurs tend to drastically underestimate what it will take to build a successful venture. Whilst ‘lack of resources’, ‘inability to attract buyers’ are without doubt common reasons for setbacks or outright failure, 65% of start-ups problems stem from co-founder conflicts & people problems. Building a business involves so many decisions that disagreements are inevitable. Do you really have the right team to survive and flourish? How well do the team members really know each other? Are the team members strengthening and complementing each other? How well can the team handle stress and challenging situations? Despite these critical questions and the figure above, all too often insufficient resources are allocated (and questions raised), both from an investor perspective and by the founding team members themselves. Gut feelings and traditional CVs still dominate team composition and due diligence decision making. Such approaches can have a critical impact both in terms of securing venture funding and for the long-term success of the venture. This interactive and thought-provoking session we tackle this topic by sharing experiences and approaches that can be deployed to deal with key aspects such as diverging visions, the sense of urgency, missing competences, and how to learn quickly - ensuring the foundations for thriving and long-term success.

About the speaker

Based in Brussels, Paul is a Partner within the AnyChange Group. AnyChange is an expert in sustainable leadership, advising businesses and organisations on how to become more future proof. The investor community is a notable stakeholder in AnyChange.

Paul is an experienced leader in transformation, strategy, and growth with 25 years of international and multi-sectoral expertise. He began his venture building journey at the Swedish Investment Group, Kinnevik, as an early pioneer at Tele2 Europe. He has since been a board member at Tech Tour/Europe Unlimited, Co-Founder at Cultr, Partner at 3k Transformation, COO at WPL and held management consulting positions at EY & KPMG.

For many years, Paul has been an expert/jury/mentor at many start-up accelerators and competitions. Current activity includes the EC’s Invest Horizon Accelerator, Cambridge University Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), Tech Tour & Tech Nordic Advocates.