News & Events

Wednesday December 9, 2020 at 2:30pm EDT

Getting Money, Time, and Commitment for Innovation and Commercialization – Pitch Building (at Any Scale)

How does an innovator make their case to a prospective partner, backer or investor to try and solve a problem in a new way? How would we use the tools of startup innovation to build compelling proposals in ways that are optimally convincing without ever compromising our ethics? What processes can help us write effective grants, investment cases, elevator pitches or negotiating terms?

Ed Thomas will review the ways startup innovation strategies and tactics can be coupled to simple narrative structure to develop proposals and pitches that use hypothesis tests and modelling to magnify our ability to engage prospective collaborators, partners and investors. Topics covered will include:

• Lean canvass models of value creation as a template for pitch building
• Value chain analyses
• Narrative structures
• Audience analysis & rhetorical approaches
• Decision-making models (generally)
• Models for investment decision-making

Wednesday December 9, 2020 at 2:30pm EDT

Getting Money, Time, and Commitment for Innovation and Commercialization – Pitch Building (at Any Scale)

How does an innovator make their case to a prospective partner, backer or investor to try and solve a problem in a new way? How would we use the tools of startup innovation to build compelling proposals in ways that are optimally convincing without ever compromising our ethics? What processes can help us write effective grants, investment cases, elevator pitches or negotiating terms?

Ed Thomas will review the ways startup innovation strategies and tactics can be coupled to simple narrative structure to develop proposals and pitches that use hypothesis tests and modelling to magnify our ability to engage prospective collaborators, partners and investors. Topics covered will include:

• Lean canvass models of value creation as a template for pitch building
• Value chain analyses
• Narrative structures
• Audience analysis & rhetorical approaches
• Decision-making models (generally)
• Models for investment decision-making

Presenter: Edward Thomas is the Associate Director of External Relations at the McDonald Institute. He supports partnerships, communications and business development between the McDonald Institute and the broader astroparticle physics community, academia, government, business, NGOs and the Canadian public. He is a masters graduate in chemical engineering. He has more than 20 years of experience in technology development, research administration, innovation support and business journalism. He is a part-time scholar of cultural history, dog lover, and avid cyclist.

Please register here: https://queensu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eDkm58nBRxkYknj (Registrants will receive confirmation upon enrolment and a Zoom link the morning of the event.)