Inside Venture Capital - Resources for entrepreneurs
Free resources, videos, readings and Q&A for Expara Academy members
What will I learn in Inside Venture Capital courses?
Venture capital investing is hard. Even top VCs have failure rates of more than 50% across their portfolios. The difference between success and failure can come down to the performance of 1 or 2 investments out of 30. Venture investors must know how to identify potentially successful ventures, how to structure deals with entrepreneurs and how to generate the high returns that characterize successful venture capital investing. In our courses you will learn the key skills for successful VC investment: evaluating high-potential investment opportunities, using financial projections to arrive at proper valuation for start-ups, and structuring and negotiating good investment deals. Our courses are hands-on, interactive and experiential and the learning can be applied immediately beyond the online classroom.
What free resources are here?
In this free resource pack you will find sample videos and readings from our Inside Venture Capital courses, and fully-functional, downloadable tools that you can use to evaluate start-ups, do financial forecasts and valuations, and structure venture capital investment deals. If you want to learn more about any of these topics, and learn how to use the tools, you can sign up for one of our courses below.
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3 sample videos
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3 sample original readings
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Pro-forma Valuation Excel Model for start-ups
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Start-up business plan outline and evaluation checklist
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Term sheet template
Course curriculum
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1
Welcome to your resource library!
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How to access your resources
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2
Sample videos
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Why every start-up needs an exit strategy
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Avoiding common valuation mistakes
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Why start-up founders need to own their financial model
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3
Sample readings
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What are the best and worst times to raise money for your start-up?
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How much money should a start-up raise?
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Market leaders, dinosaurs, small mammals and asteroids
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4
Downloadable Resources
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Business plan and pitch deck outline and checklist
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Expara Proforma valuation model and term sheet template
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Three reasons not getting VC funding.pdf
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5
Ask the VC
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Ask the VC
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See what our participants have to say about Expara programs
Start-up CEOs and Founders talk share their experiences
Manna Foods
"Expara gave us a startup bootcamp, teaching us how to succeed in the VC world of raising money. Douglas is an excellent teacher and seasoned VC. His class involves no nonsense or buzzwords, just straightforward fact and practical theory. Each session we attended was super useful in our own fundraising journey. In fact, we raised a round ourselves thanks to the education we received from Douglas."
Swirl.GO
"Our experience with Expara has been invaluable. Douglas has been instrumental in the refinement of our business model, focus on customer segments as well as fund raising opportunities. We highly recommend the program to any startup"
Sesamilk Foods Co., Ltd.
“It was a great pleasure to be part of Expara mentorship program. Every session though out the program, I got knowledge from real expert in investment. It opened my world in raising fund. I come to the right hen. You are such a great incubator.”
Let's Plant Meat
“Expara had helped us so much in polishing our strategy and suggesting the important actions to maximize our startup potential. Having Douglas as our mentor is the best thing I got from the whole experience."
More Meat
“ Expara team did a wonderful job in leading the program. The team are professional, yet are fun and easy to talk to. During the program we had many opportunities to meet exciting people thanks to Expara’s great network of guest speakers, mentors, and consultants. Douglas, Krista, and Peach are valuable members who have gave us encouragement, guidance, and support, for this we are confident to overcome any challenges our business may face. We have learned so much and this has been a valuable experience for us.”
Anrich3D
"A very helpful and supportive environment to learn about the startup world and grow. Unlike other accelerator programs and entrepreneurship courses, we learn real term sheet clauses and conditions that are the most useful to an actual startup. Most other courses/programs focused only on making the pitch or business model canvas and what to “show”. With the detailed financial model analysis and several classes explaining the formulae and terms, actually teaches how we get the stuff that we need to show in the first place."
Eden Agritech Co., Ltd
"Although Eden went to many other accelerator or incubator programs before, but we never found ones who gave us golden tips like Doug and his team of experts. Their comments were direct and straight to the key point, which helped improving our current market and fund raising strategy to the next level. Truly honored to join and learn a lot from them."
Hydroneo
"In my opinion, the biggest differentiator to many startup-focused trainings is Expara’s strong focus on fundraising. With his vast experience as a Venture Capitalist, Douglas makes you understand how this very special industry works, how VCs tick and what is important for you as a startup to consider. He is able to cover it from A to Z and exemplifies the learnings with real life examples."
Facense Ltd
"We just finished the online VirTech Global Accelerator program for startups run by Douglas and the great team at Expara. Thank you for a truly unique and wonderful experience! The format of online lessons with people from startups from around the world worked extremely well. I really appreciate how Douglas focused on the most relevant and practical material needed for early-stage startups seeking funding, as well as the hands-on experience we received building a business plan and pitching to investors. I feel that we got some invaluable insight (the inside ""scoop"") into the thought process and motivations of VC firms, which helped us become much more prepared regarding who to approach for funding, as well as how to do it. All in all, I highly recommend Expara's program for any early-stage startup. We are much better equipped for the road ahead!"
SENSE Software
"Expara is a great platform for startups to be involved into. From the start, we all got all the support from the accelerator team, great mentoring opportunities. Demanding and instructive online courses not only helped us learn about perfecting the pitch deck and other formalities, but also gave us top quality throughout knowledge about building a successful startup. Weekly meetings were a great opportunity to meet fellow entrepreneurs, share and listen to other great business ideas. I can highly recommend the online academy!"
About Expara
SEA's leading early-stage VC and accelerator
Expara is a Southeast Asia's pioneer and leader in early-stage venture capital and venture services, as well as an experienced provider of acceleration, incubation, entrepreneurship training, and mentorship to start-ups from all around the world. The company is headquartered in Singapore with offices and presence in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines and Poland.
Expara's unique qualifications
As an active VC investor in SEA since 2003, our programs and courses are all based on our real-world experience. We are better educators because we are active investors. And we are better investors because we are active educators.
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Trained and mentored more than 8000 entrepreneurs from all around the world. More than 150 companies benefited from acceleration programs.
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Successfully launched 5 venture capital funds in Southeast Asia since 2007, invested in 80 companies.
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Deep experience in training and mentoring university and research institute spin-offs and working with academic and researcher entrepreneurs.
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Ability to serve as a bridge for between Europe and Southeast Asia, transfering knowledge from Asia and helping companies to scale
About Douglas Abrams - CEO of Expara
Expara Academy's lead instructor
Managing Director
Douglas Abrams
Douglas Abrams is the founder and CEO of Expara, Southeast Asia’s leading accelerator and venture fund. He has launched and invested 5 VC funds in SEA since 2007. Prior to coming to Singapore in 2000, Mr. Abrams managed IT at JPMorgan for 14 years. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the NUS Business School, (entrepreneurship) since 2001 and a Visiting Professor (venture capital) for Sasin at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok since 2007 and was a Visiting Professor in Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital at RMIT in Vietnam from 2016-2019. Mr. Abrams is a former Chairman of the Business Angel Network of South East Asia (BANSEA), was previously Deputy Co-Chairman and was a Director from 2002-2018. He has a BA in Communications from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from The Wharton School.
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Our participants' experiences speak for themselves
Start-up CEOs and Founders talk share about Expara's programs
Gheorg
"Expara was an amazing opportunity to hear from some of the best in business and meet some of the most talented startup founders in the world. The program covered all aspects of starting and scaling a startup, including financial modelling which is something we really needed at the time. Douglas Abrams and all the people that teach in the program are seriously brilliant. As far as accelerators go this program was exceptional."
XCLR8 Technologies
"We recently completed the Expara VirTech Global Accelerator program. I would have to say the Expara program was the most useful and impactful accelerator program I have attended.
The program helped us to clearly communicate our company’s story through our pitch deck, financial modelling, and business plan.
I would highly the Expara programs to any start up wanting to take their business to the next level."
XpertFlow Technologies (Pvt.) Ltd.
“Our experience at Expara VirTech Accelerator has been phenomenal. The program was well designed according to the needs of entrepreneurs. The whole team at Expara was accommodating and helpful, especially Paulina and Douglas who made our learning experience memorable. The sessions with Douglas and the other mentors provided us with a strong foundation on how to build a successful venture including but not limited to developing a business plan, financial models and fundraising. Our team consisted of tech founders and we were struggling in developing a sustainable business model but after completing the program I can say this with confidence that we now have all the tools required to develop sustainable strategies. Expara VirTech has a strong network of partners and mentors and we are still benefiting from it. I would like to congratulate Paulina on successfully completing the first cohort of Expara VirTech Accelerator.”
Scudo
"Great learning experience. Thanks to Douglas and Expara, we were able to improve our strategy based on actionable advise. The sessions are short and useful. Recommended for early stage, pre-seed, seed startups."
Omnious
"Expara provided a 3-month accelerator that was of great value for new entrepreneurs. It covered many important and difficult questions that are central to a start-up’s fundraising process. All the way from polishing the pitch & business plan to dealing with difficult questions around valuation, terms in agreements and to understand what how VCs think when picking their investments. After finishing the program, we were all well prepared to start conversations with investors and to quickly be able to answer their questions.”
Brain Pool Tech Pte. Ltd.
"The Expara Virtech accelerator was a great experience for our team and we are proud to be in the first batch of start-ups to graduate. The program is very well organized, contains many hours of educational material, and a valuable weekly workshop. Especially helpful were the one-on-one sessions with experienced entrepreneurs giving professional feedback for our company. The Expara Virtech accelerator is highly recommended for all start-ups that want to make a leap forward."
Khaisook
"Expara creates a great space for helping our team. Not only knowledge we got, but also friendships and mentorships"
Orgafeed
"The mentorship and guidance from Douglas and his team at Expara have been a crucial part of our business planning and development. They have provided us with helpful resources to improve our business strategy. One of our favorite part of the program with Expara is their straight-to-the-point feedbacks and suggestions on how to improve our business. Big thanks to Douglas and Expara team!"
2CANs Co., Ltd (Quali-Fresh)
"Expara gave us more than just a class. Now we have been crafted to be ready for business"
Artificial Anything (EIS)
"With 1 year spending in the program, my team got to know a lot about how things work in business and fundraising. Mentorship in the program is practical and applicable. Kudos to everyone in Expara!"