The trainer
Dr. Thorsten Lambertus heads the company building & incubation activities at Fraunhofer Venture. He and his team have supported more than 150 high-tech projects from Fraunhofer and other research institutions in finding and leveraging their market potential. Coaching innovation teams from a market and a team perspective is Thorsten’s core expertise for almost 10 years. Thorsten has co-founded two companies himself, worked as an innovation consultant for several years especially in the automotive, energy and telecommunications sectors and did his PhD in Business Modeling at WU Vienna. He is also part of the executive education team at WU Vienna for agile leadership as well as innovation strategies. As an business engineer by training with a Diploma agree from RWTH Aachen, Thorsten genuinely understands those two worlds: engineering and business. Moreover, he is a certified Chief Technology Manager (RWTH Aachen) and Business Design Expert (Hasso-Plattner-Institute).
The workshop
Early-stage companies and innovations exist in an environment of extreme risk. Most new enterprises fail within their first few years of existence because they fail to discover a sustainable business model, make poor decisions with respect to “people” issues, or run out of financing.
This course offers the theoretical tools and practical knowledge necessary for innovators to make smart operational and financing decisions in the context of high-risk, high-reward environments. It puts emphasis on managing high-tech innovations. Participants develop a set of skills and approaches to becoming effective entrepreneurial managers. Topics include business models and key metrics, raising capital, deal structure and financial management, venture operations and organizational administration as well as business planning.
The class will consist of a mix of lecture format and active discussions centered on case studies or exercises. It is also expected that participants will learn from each other through a highly interactive environment that emphasizes class participation (both questions and comments). In some sessions, students may also be asked to give a small group presentation.
