How venture capital funds generate returns, the role of the fund manager, and the conditions needed to execute a venture capital strategy. Adapting international models to emerging markets and assessing the current state of your own fund.

Defining target sectors, stages, geography, and deal-sourcing advantages. Demonstrating the team’s expertise and the fund’s differentiation. Developing an investment thesis and positioning statement.

How investors assess fund managers, teams, investment track records, and market opportunities. Building a target LP list, prioritising outreach, and developing the key arguments for the fund pitch.

Fund size, management fees, carried interest, operating expenses, and reserves for follow-on investments. Building a financial model with return scenarios and testing whether the fund’s economics align with its strategy.

Fund operations, governance, regulatory compliance, anti-money laundering, and LP reporting. Preparing a checklist of required processes and documentation.

Sourcing startups, assessing founders, conducting investment due diligence, and understanding key deal terms. Developing a due diligence framework and reviewing term sheets: economic terms, control rights, and common structuring mistakes.

Presenting the investment thesis, financial model, and portfolio construction approach in small groups. Simulating LP negotiations, testing assumptions, and refining materials based on feedback. Turning a target investor list into a concrete fundraising plan.

Serving on boards and advisory bodies, supporting portfolio companies, and exploring exit opportunities in markets with limited liquidity. Delivering a final fund pitch in a simulated LP meeting and assembling a complete set of materials.

Exploring how current GPs establish and develop funds in Central Eurasia.

• Managing a fund in the region: building trust, developing local networks, and operating across fragmented markets.
• Fundraising case studies: setbacks, investor objections, flawed assumptions, and the adjustments fund managers made to their approach.
• Five markets: differences in startup deal flow, availability of local capital, institutional maturity, and cross-border barriers in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Azerbaijan.
• Regional competitive advantages: turning local networks, reputation, and market knowledge into a distinctive fund strategy.
• GP peer exchange: small-group discussions of participants’ actual operational and fundraising challenges.

Practical outcome: clearer regional positioning and peer recommendations on a current fund challenge.

Exploring the processes within an investor’s organisation: from the first meeting with a fund manager to the final investment decision.

• The investment committee process: how a proposal moves through internal discussions, recommendations, and approvals.
• LP portfolio construction: investment mandates, geographic capital allocation, concentration limits, liquidity, and investment timelines.
• Why strong funds are turned down: factors beyond the quality of the team or investment thesis.
• Different investor categories: comparing the approaches of development finance institutions, funds of funds, and family offices.
• What follows initial interest: follow-up questions, reference checks, internal approvals, and legal procedures.
• Closed-door discussion with LPs: manager selection, stalled negotiations, and reopening dialogue after a rejection.

Practical outcome: three changes to your LP engagement approach and a priority challenge to work on during Day 3.

Working on the concrete steps needed to move your fundraising forward.

• First-close readiness assessment: current fundraising status, target amount, active negotiations, and unresolved issues.
• Reviewing potential anchor investors and the LP pipeline: assessing investor fit with the fund’s strategy and identifying the next step for priority contacts.
• Roundtables on fundraising barriers: working through a specific challenge, such as stalled negotiations or excessive reliance on a single prospective LP.
• Group review of fundraising challenges: identifying three changes, three actions, and one immediate goal.
• The path to an investment commitment: identifying decision-makers, outstanding questions, required supporting evidence, and timelines for engagement with priority LPs.
• Action plan: target first-close amount, next steps, responsibilities, and deadlines.

A networking lunch and closing dinner provide further opportunities to connect with fellow GPs and invited investors.

Practical outcome: a prioritised pipeline of prospective LPs and a fundraising plan.