Educational Webinar
Recent Educational Webinar
Linking Strategy and Sales in an Entrepreneurial Venture
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Presenter: Frank Cespedes
HBS Senior Lecturer and Author
Thursday July 20, 2023
9:00am PT, 12:00pm ET
About this Event:
For most ventures, and especially early stage ones, the biggest expenditures after product development are the money and time spent on linking sales with growth goals. Research indicates a big gap in this area, with wasted effort for both entrepreneurs and investors. Drawing on data and examples from a new book, Frank Cespedes in this session focuses on ways to close that gap and improve selling in a venture. You will leave this session with a better understanding of how to get better ROI from marketing and sales investments, the challenges of change in buying processes as your venture grows and the implications for building effective business development in areas including hiring, training, and performance management practices (spoiler alert: even early stage ventures should be engaging in performance reviews).
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Please join us for this insightful webinar, hosted by moderator Sameera Bazaaz, HBS Angels DC Chapter Chair

PRESENTER
FRANK CESPEDES
HBS Senior Lecturer
Frank Cespedes teaches at Harvard Business School and for 12 years was Managing Partner at a professional services firm. He has worked with many companies around the world on go-to-market and strategy issues, and has been a Board member at consumer goods, industrial products, services, PE and VC firms. He has written for numerous publications, including Harvard Business Review, European Business Review, Organization Science, California Management Review, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. He is also the author of six books including Aligning Strategy and Sales which was cited as “the best sales book of the year” (Strategy & Business), “a must read” (Gartner), and “perhaps the best sales book ever” (Forbes). His newest book is Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing (Harvard Business Review Press).
The Zoom Meeting information will be in your registration confirmation email.
Previous Educational Webinar
Intro to Cap Tables: What Every Angel Investor (and Founder!) Should Know
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Presenter: Michael Costa, HLS ’86
Thursday June 15, 2023
9:00am PT, 12:00pm ET
About this Event:
Please join Michael Costa (HLS ’86), member and sector lead of HBSAANY and member of the Board of New York Angels, for an interactive session on Cap Tables: What Every Angel Investor (and Founder!) Should Know…And Many Times Doesn’t! Some of the questions we’ll try to answer:
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How do you translate an agreed upon pre money value into a price/share?
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Ever wonder whether you should care as an angel investor whether the option pool is pre or post money?
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Is an angel investor diluted by a SAFE/Convert?
Material will be sent in advance of the session so you can follow along and even test your excel skills!
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Please join us for this insightful webinar, hosted by moderator Sameera Bazaaz, HBS Angels DC Chapter Chair

PRESENTER
MICHAEL COSTA
Harvard Law School, '86
Michael Costa is a senior level finance professional with deep experience in media, digital transformations, M&A/strategy and governance.
Michael recently served for nearly 10 years as a member of the Board of Directors of publicly traded media company Scripps Networks Interactive. There, working with the CEO and other board members, he directed the company from the spin off from its legacy newspaper parent to the acquisition by Discovery creating >$6B in value. As a member of both the Audit and Compensation Committees, he successfully advanced major international acquisitions, played a critical role in the CEO succession process, accelerated the transition from control by a family trust thru dual class stock to dispersed ownership and resolved a shareholder activist campaign.
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His M&A/strategy expertise is built on 25+ years as a strategic advisor and investment banker during which he initiated, structured and negotiated M&A transactions with a total transaction value of $300B+, including 35+ transactions exceeding $1B. While at Merrill Lynch and then boutique investment bank Cowen & Co., he lead successful advisory efforts in the sale of publicly traded marquee media and tech companies including AT&T Wireless, The Tribune Company and Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal.
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After a year as a Distinguished Careers Institute Fellow at Stanford University, Michael successfully pivoted from board member/strategic advisor to multiple large public companies in media and tech to a mentor/investor in start ups in those industries. Over the last three years he has sourced, cultivated and mentored over 50 startups in the digital media, SaaS, gaming and entertainment sectors resulting in several investments with an average capital raise of $1.5mm and a pre-money valuation of $8mm. He is quite active in the NYC Metro area ecosystem for entrepreneurs as a member with New York Angels and Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of Greater NY, a lecturer in SUNY Purchase's Entrepreneurship in the Arts MA program, a Lang Center Innovation Fellow at Columbia Business School and a Leadership Council Member with artificial intelligence company r4 Technologies.
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Michael holds a J. D. degree from Harvard Law School and a bachelor's degree from Colgate University. He is a Certified Financial Expert under SEC Rules.
He serves a a member of the Board of Trustees of Dean College where he is a member of the Executive Committee and Chairs the Investment Committee, piloting a near doubling of endowment to $50M and successful restructuring the college’s $25M debt obligations during the Financial Crisis.
EDUCATIONAL WEBINAR VIDEO LINKS
Linking Strategy and Sales in an Entrepreneurial Venture
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Presenter: Frank Cespedes
HBS Senior Lecturer and Author
Hosted by HBS Alumni Angels
Thursday July 20, 2023 9:00am PT, 12:00pm ET
VIDEO LINK:
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If you'd like to purchase a view-only ticket for this webinar, click here.
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Registrants & Attendees of this webinar, contact Administrator, Molly Lyons, for the link.
Intro to Cap Tables: What Every Angel Investor (and Founder!) Should Know
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Presenter: Michael Costa, HLS ’86
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Hosted by HBS Alumni Angels
Thursday June 15, 2023 9:00am PT, 12:00pm ET
VIDEO LINK:
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If you'd like to purchase a view-only ticket for this webinar, click here.
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Registrants & Attendees of this webinar, contact Administrator, Molly Lyons, for the link.
The Generative AI Gold Rush: Who Will Profit and How?
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Presenter: Simon Greenman
Partner at Best Practice AI and Member of the Global AI Council
World Economic Forum
Hosted by HBS Alumni Angels
Thursday May 4, 2023 9:00am PT, 12:00pm ET
VIDEO LINK:
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If you'd like to purchase a view-only ticket for this webinar, click here.
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Registrants & Attendees of this webinar, contact Administrator, Molly Lyons, for the link.
SVB Collapse: Faculty Perspectives
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Presenters: HBS Faculty
Hosted by HBS Alumni Angels and HBS Alumni Relations
Thursday March 16, 2023
9:30am PT, 12:30pm ET
VIDEO LINKS:
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HBS alums, to log-in and watch the video at HBS, click here
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If you are NOT an HBS alum, click here to watch the video
Webinar History
Past webinars have included:​
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Intro to Cap Tables: What Every Angel Investor (and Founder!) Should Know
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The Generative AI Gold Rush: Who Will Profit and How?
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SVB Collapse: Faculty Perspectives
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The Voltage Effect: How to Make Good Ideas Great and Great Ideas Scale with John A. List, Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago
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The Genesis Machine: Programming the Living World with Andrew Hessel, Microbiologist and Geneticist
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The Synergy Solution: A Conversation with Deloitte's Mark Sirower on How Companies Can Master Mergers & Acquisitions
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Converted: A Conversation with Google's Neil Hoyne on Using Data to Grow Your Business
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Sales Management That Works: a Webinar and Discussion with Professor Frank Cespedes, HBS Senior Lecturer
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How to Build a Sustainable, Scalable, and Sellable Business with Michelle Seiler Tucker, Author of Exit Rich
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Rita McGrath, Author, Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen
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Morgan Stanley's Multi-Cultural Lab Panel with Carla Harris & Alice Vilma
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How to Plan Platform Strategy in a Global Digital Landscape
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Wattpad - The World’s Most Innovative Social Network
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FOMO Sapiens: Overcoming Analysis Paralysis to Live and Work Decisively
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Launching Tech Products In Tough Economic Times: 3 Crucial Questions to Ask Before Launch-Not Afterwards!
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Getting Deals Done: It's What the Best Deal Leads Do
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Passion and the Pitcher: Building Strong Founder/Angel Relationships From the Start
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Investing with Impact: The Continuing Rise of ESG in a Post COVID-19 World
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Entrepreneurial Leadership: New Ventures, Inspiring Others and Running Stuff
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Pandemic Investing: Likely Impact on VC and Angel Investing
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Angel Investing and COVID-19
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Investing in Blockchain: The Big Opportunity
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Finding your Angels: Raising Capitol for your Start-Up
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Toss the Financial Model Spreadsheets
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Healthcare Start-ups: How to Distinguish Real Companies from Overhyped Ones?
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Who's Really Going to Make Money in AI and Machine Learning?
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How Safe are Safe's?
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"Best Practices" in Angel Investing
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The Shiny Penny: How to Maximize the M&A Value of Your Company
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Structuring Success: Building Term Sheets that Build Businesses
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Syndicated Investments
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Technology Disruption in Money Management
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Emerging Technologies in Financial Services
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The Science of Sales GrowthImpact Investing in Sustainable Food
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Building Term Sheets that Build Business
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Revenue-Based Investing
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Cyber Security Investing
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Angel and Venture Investing with Brad Feld
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The Ultimate Marketing Framework
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A Data-Driven Perspective on Early Stage Saas Investing
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Investing In Blockchain
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Internet of Things Primer
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Moonshots and Soft Landing
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Seed Investing in Consumer Products and Services