Instructor: Drew Felker, CEO & Cofounder, Carboniferous

Drew reviews your submitted business plan and sets the direction for your 9-week journey based on where you’re starting. Format: Q&A based on submitted plans.

• Review of submitted business plans
• Identifying gaps and opportunities in your plan
• Setting expectations and goals for the program
• Understanding where you are in your entrepreneurial journey

Instructor: George Parrish, Chief Evangelist, Bay Angels

Before you build, you need to know what breaks. George Parrish has evaluated hundreds of early-stage companies as an angel investor. In this session, he shares the most common reasons startups fail—and what founders can do differently from Day 1 to set themselves on the right path.

This is not a lecture. It is a conversation with an active investor who will be evaluating your pitch at Demo Day. Understanding how investors think before the pillar sessions begin will shape every decision you make over the next 8 weeks. Attendance is highly recommended.

Instructor: David Shefler, Senior Director of Business Development

Concrete strategies for finding your first customers, building partnerships, and pilot collaborations tailored to your sector.

• Everyone is your customer: buyers, investors, talent, media
• The five-stage acquisition funnel
• Building your first 10 customer relationships
• Partnership strategies for early-stage companies
• Pilot program design and execution

Instructor: Lauren Creel, Madhuri Roy, Allison Pang & Ken Hartman, Cooley LLP

Incorporation structures, IP protection, equity allocation, and the legal frameworks investors expect. Followed by individual office hours (2:00–4:00 PM).

• Choosing the right corporate structure
• Intellectual property protection strategies
• Equity allocation and founder agreements
• Legal frameworks investors expect to see
• Individual office hours with Cooley attorneys

Instructor: Luis Martinez, PhD, Principal at Capital Factory

Early-stage hiring decisions, compensation structures, equity allocation, and building teams that scale.

• CliftonStrengths assessment for complementary team building
• When and how to bring on co-founders
• Compensation and equity structures for early hires
• Building a team that investors believe in

Instructor: Jason Sydow, Founding Partner at Next47

Understanding your market position relative to your competitors, defining competitive differentiation, and identifying your unfair advantage.

• Competitive landscape mapping
• Identifying your unfair advantage
• Positioning against incumbents and startups
• Market timing — why now?

Instructor: Carole-Lynn Glass, COO & CFO at Engine Room

Managing early-stage finances, building a scalable financial foundation, presenting your numbers to investors, and defining the ask.

• Payroll, tax obligations, and bookkeeping essentials
• Building finances for a scalable business
• Presenting your numbers to investors with confidence
• The ask — how much to raise, what it funds, how to justify it
• When to handle it yourself vs. bring in professional support

Instructor: Linda Liu, Partner at 3E BioVentures

Defining why your company matters—articulating the problem you solve, who you solve it for, and why you are the one to build it, in language that resonates with investors and customers.

• Translating technology into investor narrative
• The one-sentence test
• Positioning for your target market
• Differentiation that investors care about

Refine your pitch delivery, sharpen your executive presence, and prepare for investor Q&A.

• 3-minute pitch delivery practice (no slides)
• Real-time feedback on clarity, confidence, and presence
• Q&A preparation — handling tough investor questions
• Final business plan review

Present to a curated network of investors and industry experts and receive direct feedback.

• 3-minute pitch + 2-minute Q&A per founder
• Bay Angels investor evaluation (George Parrish & Simon Ng)
• Investors and Industry expert feedback
• Networking with investors and the Daybreak Labs community