July 2007

Our July meeting was hosted by Collyer Bristow - a London based law firm dealing with both business and personal issues.

Unlike previous meetings, this one had no business pitches. This meeting was all about the very things that bug all entrepreneurs - how will I be judged by potential funders? How do I deal with the legal side of my business? Invaluable insights were given.

Speakers

Chris Parr, Collyer Bristow
Chris is one of the founders of 3Cs Community and a partner with Collyer Bristow. He advises on a broad range of corporate projects, many of which are international. These range from mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures to specialized commercial agreements; from agency and distribution agreements to international corporate structures. Chris also has a special interest in negotiations and techniques designed to reach mutually beneficial commercial arrangements and the settlement or avoidance of disputes, a subject he lectures on. He has previously held in-house roles at Monsanto, ConocoPhillips, John Brown Engineers, Air Products and Multiserv.

Chris took "questions from the floor" on legal issues which trouble, concern or interest the 3Cs Community.

Subjects included:
* Shareholder Agreements
* Agreements with suppliers and customers
* Non Disclosure Agreements
* Joint Venture arrangements
* Employee issuesWhat VCs want - Martin Tate

For 15 years, Martin Tate has been an independent IT & management consultant, specialising in applying formal decision-making techniques to high-risk projects eg procuring IT. About a year ago, he turned his toolset and facilitation to the science behind assessing investment proposals.

Martin Tate presented a summary from his projects for angels and venture capitalists, including findings from formal studies of VC culture, behaviour and the factors they use when assessing potential investments. This helps entrepreneurs create credible investment proposals, that reflect the venture survival factors, the importance of the team and national differences in European VCs.

Session handouts contained a set of resources for entrepreneurs and investors.Killer Business Plans - Colin Allison

Colin Allison is a former assessor for 3i, who carries the scars from over 1,600 desk assessments, 238 full pitch investigations and 42 actual investments. He co-founded 3Cs to groom entrepreneurs because he saw too many pitches with a good idea but no straightforward mechanism to become investor-ready.

Colin Allison covered killer business plans by explaining their importance, outlining a proven format and how to contact VCs with them.