By Dennis Ford, Founder & CEO, Life Science Nation; Creator of RESI Conference Series
It’s challenging to raise an early stage financing round. You need to build strong marketing collateral, and only then launch an outbound financing campaign. And then, you face the challenge of how to measure the effectiveness of the myriad partnering events you might attend during your campaign. How does a scientist-entrepreneur gauge how a meeting went and what are the metrics they should use? When running a fundraising campaign executives need to be vigilant in ranking which meetings were successful and may lead to further dialogue. One learning milestone for all fundraising CEOs is being diligent about which players stay on the list and which ones are removed because of lack of interest or lack of fit.
LSN’s RESI Conference Series offers attendees a partnering system with a built in “matching algorithm” that will parse all the investors and recommend with which investors the companies should try and connect. The algorithm is based on the investor’s criteria in terms of product, stage of development, and other key parameters. When a company gives a pitch at RESI Conference to an investor audience or meets an investor in a one-on-one meeting, they are pitching to potential partners that are a fit for them. Typically at other partnering venues, up to half of the thirty minute meeting is trying to determine “who is selling who” and what the person on the other side of the table is seeking. RESI Partnering has eliminated that downside.
Many conferences have partnering as a “me too” segment, as opposed to RESI, which is a dedicated partnering conference; all the partners at RESI have been screened for fit and vetted to ensure they are active investors with current investment mandates in order to comply with RESI’s investor pass program. Another distinct feature when you attend a RESI conference is that investors can also be identified by the red ribbons on their badges!
Here are some important metrics to consider:
–Fit. This is the most important metric in meetings. Did a company meet a potential partner that was a fit for their stage of development and product?
–Did the investor want to have a follow-up meeting?
-Did they express interest in signing an NDA?
-Did they refer you to other peers, colleagues or investors?
-Did they take the time to engage you at other times during the networking activities and receptions?
These metrics are what determines “success” at a partnering event. By using the information gathered by LSN’s Investor Research team fundraising executive and investors are more efficient and as a result have much more compelling meetings. With the possibility of booking up to 16 meetings at each RESI event, a scientist-entrepreneur attending RESI’s regular US and international events can connect with investors that are a good fit on a global level. As fundraising is a numbers game, good meetings that are a fit are the key to your company’s success.
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