Scale Up! Masterclass
From Idea to Exit
Scale Up! From Idea to Exit is one of the world’s leading methods to accelerate a startup’s successful funding journey. The Scale Up! Masterclass is designed to help founders understand the most common pitfalls in fundraising, help them learn about the global investor universe, craft long-term capital strategies and design a real-life successful capital strategy for their firm.
Online or In-Person
Can be delivered in person, or 100% online.
Different Formats
Can be delivered in two or three-day formats.
Flexible Groups
For groups of 5 to 100+ participants.
HOW WE HELP
What is Scale Up!
Scale Up! From Idea to Exit is an advanced learning and development program to help startup founders understand venture capital fundraising and ‘crack the code’ on their own funding journeys.
The participants will work in teams and step into the role of founders, competing with other teams for industry leadership. To scale, they will need to raise capital over multiple funding rounds, typically pre-seed, seed, seed extension, A, B, C and eventually exit. Along the way, they will need to develop a growth strategy, develop a capital strategy, build out the board, secure customers and early revenue and tackle a lot of the challenges most start-up founders face around the world.
“I’ve never seen a more unique and powerful way to help startups learn how to scale, raise financing and truly understand how to build better companies than the Scale Up! simulation.”
how we help
Experience the
Founders’ Journey
Improve the value you deliver to your start-ups and get your start-ups investor-ready in just hours, by gamifying entrepreneurship. From early PMF, setting up ESOPs, cleaning up cap tables, bringing in angels and dealing with complex term sheets; you get to experience the founders’ journey.
A Balancing Act
To win, you will need to be the first company to build an investor portfolio of 50 million and get across the finish line. However, that’s easier said than done.
You will need to collect investors along the way, match it with your company strategy, make difficult strategic choices, deal with a number of unforeseen circumstances, all without going bankrupt in your first round.
Better growth strategies
As you play, you will go through the different life-stages of a startup, and if you started out without a clear strategy, everything will soon come toppling down on you.
You’ll get valuable insights on how to successfully find and select the right investors, equip yourself with the skills and team you need to accelerate your growth.
Real-world lessons
Scale Up! The Entrepreneurship Simulator was built based on our work with hundreds of startups and scale-ups around the world and the typical issues they all face.
All the cases and cards featured in Scale Up! are based on real-life cases and real-world investors, which gives you a realistic view on the art and science of scaling better companies.
WHO IS IT FOR
Who Can Join?
Scale Up! has been delivered to global accelerators, VC firms, business schools, innovation agencies, angel groups and ecosystems.
EARLY-STAGE FOUNDERS
Pre-Seed, no capital raised
Participants with zero relevant experience in startup growth enjoy the simulation, albeit they also experience a (very) steep learning curve.
For this category, we recommend pre-teaching module(s) and extensive use of breakout teaching sessions.
Most common feedback:
“We have a lot to learn, but now we see what we need!”
EARLY-STAGE
Seed or Accelerator Stage
Participants with some experience in startups and fundraising, typically seed- or accelerator stage jump into the experience, quickly grasping most key concepts and terminology.
Many thrive on the challenge and really enjoy the competitive elements of the simulation.
In this category, short teaching sessions and team exercises is sufficient to get everyone up to speed.
Most common feedback:
“Wow, this will set us up for success!”
GROWTH-STAGE
A-B-Series and Beyond
Participants with extensive experience, most likely having completed 2-4 funding rounds and dealt with real-life challenges personally, tend to do very well, often stepping into key leadership roles (and teaching roles) within their teams.
These also take the most benefit from the advanced topics, like exits, investment bankers and Superinvestors.
Most common feedback:
“Oh,l I wish we had done this earlier. Now we see all the mistakes we have done”
PROGRAM OUTLINE
3-Day Masterclass
We spend a significant amount of time together with clients to truly understand current situation, aspiration and strategy challenges. Scale Up! is frequently used as a cornerstone of a larger accelerator or sprint program. Scale Up! can be delivered both in-person or 100% digital. We recommend the full 3-day format for maximum impact; or can deliver high impact in just two action-packed days.
DAY 1 (entry-level)
Introduction
DAY 2 (intermediate)
Boards, strategy, value
DAY 3 (advanced)
Outcomes, exits
Introduction, welcome participants
Opening presentation: Scale Up! Introduction
Coffee Break
Start Scale Up! Simulation
Split into teams, 2-4 people per team. Work in teams
Lunch Break
Scale Up! Simulation
Finding your first investors. Understanding valuation, term sheets and deal structures.
Coffee Break
Deep dive into strategy, investors, capital strategy.
Recap & Reflections on Day 1
Scale Up! Simulation intermediate level. Work in Teams
Coffee Break
Scale Up! Simulation
Deal syndication, investor negotiations, scaling strategies, business models
Lunch Break
Scale Up! Simulation
Building world-class boards.
Coffee Break
Balancing the power equation in your negotiations. Working with investors.
Recap & Reflections on Day 2
Scale Up! Simulation advanced level. Work in Teams
Coffee Break
Scale Up! Simulation
Outcome canvas & strategy.
Developing exit strategies, IPO readiness.
Lunch Break
Scale Up! Simulation
Value creation for the win.
Coffee Break
Reflection in teams; from idea to exit, personal mastery, next steps
Outcomes Day 1
- Understand different types of investors
- Understand pre- and post-money valuation
- Understand basic mini-term sheets (investor cards)
- Complete basic, simple funding rounds and maintain a correct, updated cap table
- Segment investors based on ‘Strategic Fit’ and ‘Follow on Capacity’ (the Investor Map)
- Complete 1-2 successful funding rounds
- Raise 1M – 20M in pre-seed/seed funding
- Deliver an updated cap table
- Reach 1M – 10M revenue
Outcomes Day 2
- Quickly analyze complex mini-term sheets (investor cards)
- Quickly analyze and segment 50-100 different investor cards
- Quickly complete new funding rounds
- Structure basic syndication rounds (multiple investors in one round)
- Plan 3-5 funding rounds, across multiple stages, valuations and terms. Quickly identify challenging terms
- Apply the golden rule of 3X, 10%-20% on a timeline with multiple funding rounds
- Develop a long-term capital strategy (both equity and non-dilutive funding)
- Complete 1-4 successful funding rounds
- Raise: 20M – 100M in growth stage funding, including multiple syndicates
- Understand the critical role of the board in capital strategy
- Deliver an updated cap table
- Create 10M – 100M in revenue
Outcomes Day 3
- Understand ‘value creation’ for startup
- Quickly analyze advanced Super investor term sheets (Superinvestor cards)
- Complete complex, multi-step investor syndicates (complex funding rounds)
- Successfully create between N and NNN in startup value
- Return minimum XXX investor value for early investors
- Understand how a VC firm works and how it raises its investor capital
- Develop long-term outcome scenarios for a startup
- Drive significant revenue (ARR), 100M+
- Work through multiple late-stage exit scenarios
- Successfully complete an exit transaction
oUTCOMES
What to Expect
Understand and master the entire startup journey in just hours. See how 100’s of global startups have cracked the code on investor readiness and accelerated their companies to €100M’s of valuation.
Understand the full journey from ‘idea to exit’
Understand how to think strategically for a startup
Learn how to deal with early-stage and growth investors
Learn how to think in terms of ‘value creation’
Practice your deal making skills, closely aligned to real-life fund raising
Master new tools for real life scale up success
working with strategy canvases
Scaling-up, Investor Readiness, and Startup Strategy
Having founded, co-founded, invested in, supported, or mentored more than 100 startups, we often find that most teams have zero idea on how to think about investors, how to build a funding strategy, or how to think about their long-term value development.
SCALE UP MAP
The Scale-Up Map helps startups to look beyond the now and build a short-, medium- and long-term growth strategy on a single page.
INVESTOR MAP
This is the investor segmentation tool that helps startups segment their investor prospects and select the right investor based on financial and strategic fit.
LONG-TERM FUNDING ROADMAP
The canvas helps startups develop a long-term capital strategy and help them identify ways in which they can secure long-term growth capital.
simulation we use
Scale Up! Simulation
Scale Up! The Entrepreneurship Simulator has you step right into the shoes of a startup or scale-up company.
In the simulation, you will battle to grow your company, face obstacles typical to those of a startup and learn to strategize and scale your company against all odds. Make smart strategic choices, balance your liquidity and try to secure as much investor capital as you can without going bankrupt.
Expect a rollercoaster ride through the life of a startup founder.
Learn More >
impact
High Impact Use Cases
Scale Up! is designed for startup founders, management teams, boards, business angels, advisors, national and regional innovation agencies, accelerators, incubators and innovation ecosystem programs.
Strategizing for Success: Scale Up! with Entrepreneurs’ Organization UAE
Learn More >
How Katapult Accelerator Gets Its Startups
Investor-Ready
Learn More >
Accelerating the Development of the Swiss Innovation Ecosystem
Learn More >
FAQ
Most common questions we get for planning and delivering a masterclass.
How many people is the Masterclass suitable for?
The Masterclass is designed for 10-100 people, more available on demand. The ideal group size is between 20(small) and 60 (large) groups. Frequently, we have 30-45 people attending.
What level is the Masterclass suitable for?
The Masterclass can easily be adjusted based on the level- and experience of the participants. We have successfully run the Masterclass with participants ranging from C-level, Board roles and top executive roles to young founders and bachelor-level students. The content is slightly adjusted in line with the level and experience of the group.
What is expected of the participants?
The participants will participate in a 1-hour pre-session webinar, review some light materials in advance and join the full Masterclass. The participants are expected to participate fully, work in groups and generally be active during the program.
How many experts will run the Masterclass?
The standard minimum team is 2 people to run the Masterclass. Beyond that, we bring one expert per every 20 participants, to maximize learning, facilitation and outcome for the participants.
What is the background of the facilitators (experts)?
All facilitators are global experts in their respective domains. All of them are trained and fully certified on the sim and materials. Most are also faculty at leading business schools and hold extensive experience in their fields from years of practice in the field.
What is required for room, venue, working space?
A successful Masterclass requires significant, vast workspace to accommodate for group work and breakouts. We recommend one plenary room (conference hall or lecture setup) and multiple large working rooms (classrooms or conference rooms) for group works. We plan for ca. 10-20 people per group.
get in touch
Bring Scale Up! to Your Startups
Get in touch with us to learn more and explore how we can work together, whether you’re looking to enhance entrepreneurship skills, foster teamwork, or cultivate strategic thinking.