One Harvard New Venture CompetitionStartups and Founders: Pitches and Pitfalls - A Panel Discussion

Come hear an experienced startup strategist and fundraiser, Brett Sharenow of Broadscope Consulting, discuss how to put together a compelling pitch deck that gets your startup funded.

After Brett’s presentation there will be a panel of several startup advisors including Brett, James Jones (HBS MBA ‘99) of Ardito Advisors, and Georgia Athanasiou of Bay Area CFO Consultants discussing how to avoid common pitfalls of early-stage startups.
 

This event is part of our One Harvard New Venture Competition Series, and we invite our participating startups and broader entrepreneurial community to attend.
 

Agenda:

  • 5:00 – 5:10pm: Introduction of Panelists
  • 5:10 – 5:25pm: Presentation by Brett Sharenow of Broadscope Consulting on How to Create a Pitch Deck that Gets Funding
  • 5:25 – 5:45pm: Panel discussion moderated by Dan Beck (MBA ’09)
  • 5:45 – 6:00pm: Questions for panelists and concluding remarks


Date: Tuesday, January 26, 2021
Time: 5:00 - 6:00pm PST
Location: Virtual - Zoom Call Details will be sent to you after you register
 

Tickets: 
Harvard Club of San Francisco Members - Free
1HNVC Startup Competitors - Free
HBS Alumni Non-Members - $20
General Public - $25

*All tickets are non-refundable


Click here to register


About the Speakers

Brett Sharenow
Broadscope Consulting

Brett is Founder and CEO of Broadscope Consulting. He’s an expert on raising capital and helping founders create compelling business strategies required for a successful raise, growth, and exit. He’s developed broad expertise across a wide range of domains, including hardware, software, medical devices, telecommunications, CPG, aircraft, solar energy, biomass, health care, and services, among many others.

Brett has helped clients in the U.S. and Europe raise more than $780 million and has deep experience with Angel, Venture Capital, and Private Equity investors—he’s a go-to professional for start-up and high-growth companies.
 

James Jones, MBA '99
Ardito Advisors

At Ardito Advisors, James Jones gives CEOs expert finance cover by applying the practices learned through more than 15 years of experience in both startups and public companies. His roles included developing corporate and business unit strategies, assisting with fundraising, creating financial models, and improving operational processes.

As the interim CFO for early-stage technology companies, James is responsible for strategic and financial analyses, budgeting and planning, cash management, board of directors and investor presentations, human resource management, fundraising, capital structure planning, and business performance measurements and metrics. 

James has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Systems Engineering from the United States Military Academy. He also leads Bay Area support for the Admissions Office of the United States Military Academy.

Georgia Athanasiou
Bay Area CFO Consultants

As a CPA and on-demand CFO, Georgia has successfully helped her startup clients through high-growth periods and also economic downturns and product failures. She founded Bay Area CFO Consultants to help startups manage their finances, with a focus on cash flow, so they can achieve sustainable growth and profitability.  

Prior to BACFOs, Georgia ran F&A for a Smart Cities technology company that disrupted the intelligent transportation space.  As a founding member of the management team, Georgia successfully managed revenue growth of 3000% over a three year period.  The company debuted in 80th position on the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Companies, and 35th position on Deloitte's 500 Growing High Tech Companies.
 

About the Moderator
Dan Beck, MBA '09

Dan Beck, CFA, is a Financial Consultant with Equitable Advisors, where he has worked for the last four years helping individuals and small businesses with financial planning, investments, and insurance. Prior to his work at Equitable he ran a fundamental value investment partnership for four years, and he has also worked at State Street Bank, Parnassus Investments, and Starwood Capital Group.

Before his career in finance, Dan was a naval officer, and did three deployments to the Persian Gulf on a destroyer and cruiser. He is a CFA Charterholder, taught in the CFA Society of San Francisco review course for eight years, currently teaches a class in Behavioral Finance at the graduate level at the University of San Francisco, and is Series 7 and 66 licensed.

He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MA in History from the University of Maryland, and a BS, with Honors and with Distinction, from the United States Naval Academy. Dan loves his job as a Financial Consultant so much that he never plans on retiring.
 

About our One Harvard New Venture Competition Series: 
The HBS Association of Northern California is hosting our annual regional business plan competition on February 24, 2021. The competition is open to all Harvard (any Harvard school) startups who meet specified criteria (Learn more). This is part of a Global HBS New Venture Competition, which occurs in March. We invite all community members to join by registering here. Please save the date.

The event includes a line-up of educational networking events for competing startups to introduce them to important concepts, resources and referrals in Northern California.

At the regional competition, startup finalists will present their business plans live to a panel of judges, including notable investors, and will be eligible to receive cash prizes and complementary products and services. Last year, over $1 million of prizes were awarded to competing startups. Applicants will also receive mentoring sessions from the HBS Association of Northern California StartUp Partners in preparation for the competition. The top-scoring winner from HBS will move on to the global competition hosted by HBS. For more information, click here.

History of this event: This annual competition was started for HBS alumni over ten years ago by the HBS’s Rock Center for Entrepreneurship and Alumni Clubs & Associations. Our regional finals competition in Northern California is attended by 250+ participants each year with a significant number of notable investors, celebrity judges, and sponsors. 10-12 finalists typically present their business plans.
 

Learn more/competitors apply here

Questions? Contact nvc2021@hbsanc.org.

Event Content Questions: Dan Beck (MBA ’09)

Registration or Technical Questions: Sangita Shah