REPLAY: September 2024 Investor Lab Information Session
We were so happy to be able to meet all of you who were interested learning more about the Financial Feminism Investing Lab (FFIL)!
Luckily we recorded it for anyone who wants to know more about our program.
If you’re not familiar with the lab, (FFIL) is a 5-week, community-driven financial education program designed in partnership with Movement51 and the Haskayne Executive Education team at the University of Calgary. It’s designed to build your confidence as an early-stage investor, whether you’re starting or looking to sharpen your skills.
During this information session, Movement51 Program Director, Arielle Land, and Manager of Learning and Development Programs at the Haskayne School of Business, Haskayne Executive Education, Loriel Anderson, walked us through:
An intro to Movement51 and our collaboration with the Haskayne School of Business teams
Key timelines of the program
The modules that make up the 5-week program
How this helps build your investor confidence *through an inclusive women and gender-diverse lens
What you can expect and what’s expected of you
Find the full recording and session slides below. The full sessions transcripts are included below too if you prefer to read.
Want to get sponsored by your company to take the course?
As mentioned during the info session, there are opportunities to approach your company with a sponsorship request for FFIL. Check out this article for tips on getting sponsored for professional development, including a sponsorship request template.
For questions about the Investor Lab or any of our other programs, please reach out to our friendly Program Manager, Emily, at emily@the51.io.
You can learn more about the FFIL here, or if you’re ready to jump right in and join us in the spring cohort (we love to hear it!), register now.
And remember: early bird pricing is on. If you enrol by September 30, you’ll automatically get 10% off the program.
Full Session Transcript
Hi, everyone. We know that it's your lunch break. Feel free to eat or do whatever you need to do, but if possible, we'd love to see your faces. It's always nice to connect with you virtually. So feel free to turn your cameras on, make use of the chat function and all of that. We'd love to connect with you in real time if possible.
Awesome. Well, let's jump into today. Welcome everyone, it's great to see you. before we get started, we wanted to take a little bit of time to get to know who you are. so if you can put in the chat where you're joining from and what you're looking for, that will give us a chance to know a little bit more about you and what you're interested in knowing as we go through this journey together.
So jump in the chat, share your name and where you're from and that would be great to hear from you.
Hello Newfoundland. Hi Stacey. This is not lunchtime for you Stacey. Hi Tracy. Hi Christina. Hi Sabina. Hi Erica. we got a good representation of across Canada today which is great to see. All right, let's jump into it. So welcome. I'm Arielle. I'm the program director here at Movement 51, and I'm really excited to have here with us today Loriel Anderson, who is the manager of learning and development programs with Huskane Executive Education at the University of Calgary.
We are very proud partners. So really excited to have Loriel here. Thanks for being here, Loriel. And we'll be presenting together today. So what are we going to chat about? So today we're going to go a little bit, over Movement 51, sharing our background, mission and vision, and what we do as an organization.
Loriel is here, as mentioned, and she'll share some information about the Huskane Executive Education at the University of Calgary. And next we're going to go over the program overview. So what can you expect over the course of the next five weeks? and what the different modules are, and what you will learn during those five weeks of the program, we will go through as well, some of the different types of participants that we have in the program, it ranges quite a bit.
So sometimes people think, you know, maybe I'm not at the stage or maybe I'm not ready, but you're going to see through some of our alumni that. The participant profiles might really resonate with you. we're going to go over some of the common questions that people have. We're going to go through the registration process, and if there's any questions at the end, please don't hesitate to throw it in the chat or speak up during the question period.
So, Movement 51 started just over two and a half years ago with the mission to empower the full economic participation of women in the economy. By 2030, 65 percent of Canada's wealth will be in the hands of women, which is really great. And what we do, is really aimed to increase the financial literacy and financial acumen of women across Canada and beyond.
When we get there, we'll know we have reached our vision and achieved radical change. So why did we start the project? Financial feminism investing lab. Well, we wanted to create an education platform to help drive a more equity driven financial community. does anyone here know why movement 51 is called, 51?
All right. So, it's called 51 because women make up 51 percent of the population. And we know both in stats, both in startup and fortune 500 companies that women led businesses are outperforming their male counterparts. The stats over and over again, also show us that only about 1. 9 percent of all venture capital.
Is being received by women worldwide. Now that's not an exciting stat. And so we're here to make change and we're here to look at the system in place. when we look towards a traditional capital allocator, most of the time they are male. And so they might not be seeing the opportunities laying in front of them, such as Femtech.
So Movement 51 partnered with the University of Calgary to create an education program that focuses on this in both learning and investing in women led businesses or investing in funds. So I'm going to pass it over to Loriel, to share a little bit more about the background. Thanks so much, Arielle.
we're really proud to partner with Movement 51 on this program. We've been involved in it since its conception. we're now heading into our eighth cohort, which is super exciting. for those of you who aren't familiar with Huskane, or executive education, our mission is to advance research with practical applications.
So we do, we design and deliver programs that are tailored to today's dynamic business environment. We're really dedicated to helping people to achieve high performance and, real sustainable results. And so, obviously, we're really passionate about improving, the financial landscape. In particular, ensuring that women have the education they need to feel confident and capable in this investing space.
And so, this is something that's been really a passion project for us and something that we're really proud to partner with Movement 51 on. I'm going to go, just a little bit into kind of the program overview, tell you a little bit about what you could expect from the program. And, how we structured and designed this program.
So, for those of you who aren't familiar with the structure, it is delivered fully online, so you can join from anywhere, which is fantastic. So we do have people from all across Canada and really even North America. Last year, we even had people from Japan who joined the cohort. So, that's one of the benefits of being online is you can really join, from anywhere and access the education from anywhere, which is really important to us.
we do have a couple of events, which I'll go into in a bit more detail in a moment, where we do bring those who are physically able to come together, to join in person. So there are some, connection points, over the course of the program, but we always make sure those are hybrid. if you're joining virtually, you're welcome to join as well, and we try and make sure it feels really integrated and cohesive for you.
So it's five weeks of programming, which, might sound like a lot, but it's not every day. It's every Tuesday and Thursday at lunchtime. if you're Mountain time. so it's accessible. It's something that can fit in with your regular day, and that's purposeful as well because we know we're all Busy working professionals, we all have a number of other commitments on our plate, and we want to make sure this is something that can integrate with your day to day lifestyle.
As much as possible, it's very actionable. So the content is based in research, it's based in industry, and our faculty are fantastic at kind of giving you that kind of practical insight into the material. we have a really great blend of kind of that academic insight, but the practical application, our faculty members live and work and breathe in this space.
And so they kind of know the ins and outs of it. And so they're really great at making it make sense for you. and as Ariel said, it really is for everybody. you don't need to be an accredited investor to participate. You don't have to have a certain amount of capital. We really firmly believe that education is for everyone.
Education has a power to transform lives. And so, really what we're trying to achieve with this program is making sure people have the knowledge they need to feel confident, to feel capable, to join the investing ecosystem, and to feel like they can make a contribution regardless of their financial status.
one of the real benefits of the program is that it's peer learning. so even though it's delivered fully online, you'll really connect with others across the program. We do, learning pods where people can come together in smaller groups to ask questions, to make sense of the material, to connect with some of our alumni as well, and to get their insights into the course material.
So, even though it might be a larger cohort, you'll get to kind of really connect deeply with a few other learners throughout the course of the program. and you're all learning at the same pace. We're all moving through the material together. So it does really feel like you're part of a group and you can Interact.
It's a safe space, a place to ask questions, a place to kind of make sense of the new material. There's no judgment around questions. Obviously, we're all learning and we're all kind of growing and so it is very much around supporting one another in that journey. So one of the things we really pride ourselves in this program is, yes, you're with us for five weeks.
it's an intensive learning experience, but it doesn't just end when the program ends. You join a community of like minded individuals who want to help, make sure that other people have access to this education, who feel empowered to join the investment ecosystem and to be a part of a community of others across the country.
And so that's really important to us as well. It's not, not one and done. You're joining a whole movement, hence the name Movement 51. So, just to kind of dive deeper into the nitty gritty, it is five weeks of virtual sessions. The program launches, on October 29th with an orientation session which will be held online and then that evening for those who are able to join us in person, we'll have a reception together here at the University of Calgary, which is a really nice, time to kind of connect as a cohort, to get to know one another, to meet our faculty and the program team and, to just really connect with one another and celebrate the program.
so that's all happening on October 29th. week one starts, at the beginning of November. as I said, it's Tuesdays and Thursdays. Tuesday, tends to be more content driven. It tends to be, our faculty go through the meat of the content. Thursdays tend to be more, In breakout sessions, hearing from guest speakers, hearing from alumni, and it tends to be more interactive that way, but there's elements of both in both sessions.
Tuesdays are a touch longer as well. our faculty will stick around after the initial lecture for you to ask questions, for you to dive deeper into the material if that's something that you need to do. So, Tuesdays are, technically an hour of content, but then it's at about an hour and 15 they'll hang around and answer any questions you might have.
the first week is really looking at the capital landscape, helping you to understand the ecosystem in which we're all living, helping you to understand some of the key terminology around early stage investing. Helping you to kind of figure out what your investment thesis is. So who are you in this space and how do you show up and what matters to you?
the second week we look at, different types of evaluating opportunities. So this is where we're looking at things like how do you do your due diligence? What kind of questions should you be asking? How do you evaluate different business models? module three is looking at the math.
we're not going to ask you to go through a full evaluation process, but we'll explain some of the tools that are used in order to do that. we'll look at different types of investment vehicles. We'll look at things like dilution. diving deeper into the numbers a little bit more.
Module four is all about protecting yourself as an investor. helping to understand some of the legal considerations, some of the things that you need to be thinking about, if this is something you want to start actioning. Helping you talk through, term sheets and different types of legal documents you might need to be aware of.
Again, we're not going to make you legal experts in one week, but just helping you to really understand the questions to be asking and the types of considerations you need to be thinking about. And then week five, it gets really fun because we do a live pitch session. we conclude the program by bringing together all of the learning, where we're going to have a couple of different female founded, investors.
Sorry, female founders pitching to you in a live pitch session where you can pretend to be an investor. You can ask some of these questions. You can start to apply the learning in a very safe space. So, we're not by any means asking you to invest in these companies. We're just helping you to apply the learning.
in a real life environment. And so it's very structured. Our faculty will give you some supports around the types of questions to ask, how you would approach a founder in this type of scenario, just to kind of get your feet wet and start applying the learning. So that's really fun. it's a great opportunity to kind of tile the threads together and think about how you can apply the learning in a live scenario.
And then that evening, we're going to have a bit of a reception with movement 51, which everyone is more than welcome to join. Because as I said, You're part of an ecosystem. You're coming together, within this community. And so for those of you who are able to join, there will be a live reception on the evening of December 5th as well, which is really nice.
It's a great way to join the community and get to meet other people who are working in this space. so one of the things that we really love in this program, is even though it's delivered fully online, everybody receives a playbook. And the playbook is super handy. It's basically your cheat sheet, your textbook, as you work through the course.
So each week there are questions, there's reflective questions in the playbook, there's, terminology for you, so There's a bit of a dictionary there that you can work through. There's some different graphs and diagrams, some additional information for you. Everybody will be mailed a copy of this.
So you get it and it can be your guide as you move through the investing ecosystem. It's something that we work through together over the course of the program, but it's something you get to take with you as you move forward in this space. it's a really fantastic tool.
it's something we really love about this program is that you get something that's really tangible that you can take with you, and make notes in. And it's really a place for inspiration, for thoughts and ideas as you kind of work your way through the course. So, everybody will receive a copy of this as well.
and it's a great resource for you.
Thank you, Loriel. and I wanted to share a few participant profiles with you. these are two examples that we've had in the past. Now, to date, we've had, just over 230 alumni across North America. As Loriel mentioned, we are going on to our eighth cohort, which is crazy and super exciting.
and we have a 91 percent NPS score, which is really, really strong. So it shows the program works. People are happy with it with a 4. 6 star rating. Now, at the end of the day, ratings can mean something, but it doesn't mean everything. And as Loriel mentioned to you, what we really want to do is give you that community, those tools and resources to feel equipped in this space.
So we really want to ensure that you are connected and, feel valued in the community that you are now a part of. Nora here is from Platform Calgary. She says, I would recommend this course to anyone who not only works in the tech ecosystem, but is also curious in changing the world for the better by investing their own money in the companies they believe in.
And then we have Kewin Wood from Etch Resourcing. the hands on interactive approach, real world. Case studies and focus on value aligned investing makes this program invaluable. I now feel more confident navigating the early stage financial landscape. So I really appreciate their reviews. And yes, Christina, it is a high NPS score and we're very, very proud.
So thank you. All right, so let's get going to some details, some key timelines. So what is it going to look like for you? So registration deadline is October 22nd. So I appreciate all you early birds here. we have an early bird deal going on right now up until September 30th, where it's only 900. in terms of investment.
This includes all the teaching fees, all academic material, the playbook that Lorielhas shown, and access to online course week. And you will have access to all this course material for Six months,
Thanks Loriel, appreciate that. So the course itself, as mentioned, is five weeks long. The kickoff is on October 29th at noon. It will be virtual, and then there will be that reception, that is optional, that evening. The first class will be November, 5th, which is a Tuesday, and then from there we will go through those five weeks.
so we would like to share with you some of the questions we often hear from you, and then we will pass it on to you to see if you have any additional questions. one of the questions that we hear often is, do I have to be an accredited investor? And even if you don't know what that is, don't worry because we will teach you.
And no, you don't have to be an accredited investor. This course is open to everyone and anyone interested in early stage investing. So if you want to know more about being an accredited investor, this is the course to take and we can send you details ahead of time as well. what we hear as well is, we have working professionals that take this course and, most work full time and so they're wondering if they have to take time off in order to, take this course.
Well, the answer is, no. Most of our participants are taking other jobs, and are in a full time job and are taking other, educational demands as well. we've worked really hard to make our program accessible and possible to add to a busy schedule. So, all of our classes are virtual and delivered at lunch, if you are in Mountain Standard Time, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
There is a little bit of homework, but don't worry, it isn't, a lot and, it's fun homework as well. At least I like to think so. So, can my employer sponsor this for professional development? Yes, in the pursuit of gaining, advanced skills and knowledge, we find about 25 percent of our participants is sponsored by their employer.
So if you would like to approach your company with a sponsorship, Request form. We have a customizable template already built, ready for you to use. we'll send this in the follow up email. you can also email us, for the template as well. And Loriel, would you like to cover some of the additional questions?
Yeah, absolutely. And this is a really great segue because I saw that, Christina just asked a question about whether or not the sessions will be recorded. Because it's delivered online, yes, we can record the sessions. We will make sure that those recordings are available in case you want to go back and review the material.
or in the event that you may need to miss a session, but as much as possible, we do really encourage you to attend the sessions in real time. Most of the learning that happens is with one another. And so, as much as you can watch back the recording, it's having the opportunity to ask questions in real time, to engage with the faculty, to engage with one another.
That's really where you're going to get the value from the program. We understand things come up. we all have very busy lives. So if you do need to miss a session, absolutely. that's fair, but we would encourage you as much as possible to attend the live sessions. we do track your attendance as well and so we do ask that you not miss more than two sessions in order to successfully complete the program.
Again, because it's very interactive in nature, it's really difficult to ensure that people have the adequate knowledge from the program if they're not attending the live sessions. So, that's just something to be aware of. Will you receive a Certificate of Completion? Yes, absolutely. So that's one of the benefits of partnering with the University, is that we can give you a Certificate of Completion from the University of Calgary that's co branded with Movement 51.
And you'll also receive a digital badge, which you can use to, share this accomplishment on LinkedIn, and really tell others about the learning that you've completed. So, yes, absolutely. Those who successfully work their way through the program do receive a Certificate of Completion and a digital badge.
And then Arielle mentioned the homework word. I know that can be scary. People don't love homework. as she said, it's fun homework. It's pretty digestible. we're not going to keep it, you know, it's not going to be super onerous. I'm not going to be asking you to read, you know, three pages of a textbook or anything like that.
but you know, it's, Where possible there'll be articles to read, there'll be videos to watch. It's really just to ensure that you're grounded in the material, that you have sufficient knowledge to come into the classroom with questions, with an understanding of what's going on.
We always review the pre work so it's not something that you're doing and then never hear from again. At the start of the sessions our faculty are fantastic at asking for feedback. So what did you learn? What made sense to you? What resonated with you? What questions do you have? And making sure there's opportunity to connect with one another about what you're reading.
As I mentioned, we do have learning pods as well over the course of the program where you can connect with another smaller group of learners to make sure that you can go through the material and ask questions of one another. See what made sense to you. See what didn't make sense and make sure that you have opportunities to engage with the work.
So it's not onerous. I would say a most you could expect a couple of hours of reading over the course of a week. So for each of the two sessions, I would. say it would be up to two hours. Some of the homework is working through the playbook.
so it's might be, reflecting on some of the questions, thinking about your investment thesis, for example, and crafting that. it's really just to make sure everybody's grounded in the material and that you all have a similar understanding so that you can engage with one another in an intelligent way in the conversations in the classroom.
So, Yes, there is a little bit of homework, but it's nothing that should put you off. I did see there's a couple of other questions in the chat as well, around the typical size of the cohort. it really does vary. Usually we have, I would say, between 25 and 30 people in the cohort. it depends on the time of year.
Sometimes our spring cohort is a little bit fuller than our fall one and vice versa. but yeah, it tends to be a really nice group. Enough people that there's a Diversity of viewpoints and experience, but not so many that you feel overwhelmed or that you don't have an opportunity to ask questions. we've had up to, I think, 45 people at once.
That would be our limit, I would say. I don't think we would really want many more than that because we want to make sure everybody has an opportunity to ask questions, to connect with one another, and to feel like you're part of a group. even though we could, have an unlimited number online, we do try and keep it fairly cohesive so you have opportunities to really engage with one another and with the material.
So I don't know if this is you or me. It's me. Sorry. we would love it if you could join us on this learning journey, for five weeks, really connecting with one another and understanding this early stage investing ecosystem. It's super engaging. It's really fun. it's a great way to kind of learn a little bit more about something that's obviously of interest to you in a really flexible curriculum.
As I said, our faculty are fantastic. They are very engaged in this space. they know. exactly kind of what, it is like to be an early stage investor. They're super supportive and they're great resources to ask questions of. The course material, as we said, is very digestible. It's something that you can engage with and really make sense of.
And the peer learning groups are probably our biggest benefit. So you really get to connect with other people, over the course of the program. And as we said, it's not a one and done. You're joining an ecosystem. You're part of a community of other like minded individuals. One of the benefits of that is by signing up to this program you do receive a year of free of the financial feminist membership which Arielle maybe you could tell everybody a little bit more about.
Yeah so that is with the 51 which is our sister company and so that is a venture capital fund all to support female founded businesses and the membership includes many events and opportunities to connect with the greater community. And so, you know, that's the Sip and Connect is one of those special events that they're doing that they've extended an invite to us as well.
So that being said, why don't we extend? the microphone to, all of you and hear from you. Do you have any questions, for us? I see a few questions in the chat, so, I will address that. we've got, what are the opportunities to invest in early stage ventures after the course is completed?
Well, Sabina, that is your journey and, we will share with you many avenues for you to invest, whether that's through a fund, whether that's through angel investing, but that will be really a journey, that you will utilize the community and embrace the community for questions that you might have along that journey.
can I just jump in there as well? So one of the things we do ask, because everybody comes from this space and has, a different background and experience, one of the first things we ask is what's happening in your community? What do you know about, what are the ways that you can get out and get involved?
And so really, as a group, we find people are fantastic at generating these opportunities, encouraging others to take part. And you can go with a friend that you make over the course of the program. So you're not doing it alone. You're not venturing out there on your own. Obviously, there's no requirement to invest in an early stage, company following the program.
We're hoping that you feel confident to do so, that you feel like you have the knowledge to be able to successfully do that, but there's no requirement to do that. but being part of the movement of the 51 and the ecosystem, really gives you those opportunities to get out there and see what your options are.
and that might be anything from investing, you know, a certain sum of money to investing your time and really thinking about where do I have expertise? How could I contribute to a female founded firm in a variety of different ways? And so there's no official requirement, but hopefully following the program, you do feel like you're ready to take that next step in your journey.
Thank you, any other questions? I see there's one from Christina as well about potentially missing the last week, and if we're going to run the program again in the spring. That is our hope, but at this point we, we don't have dates set for the spring yet, so, if this is something you're considering, I, I would encourage you to attend this cohort if possible.
Obviously, we want you to be able to join the last session if you can, but if not, we've had other individuals who've gone through the program and then attended a live pitch in Edmonton or in Vancouver and applied the learning, themselves in a slightly different way. And that's something we can talk through with you on an individual basis in more detail, if that's a benefit to you.
but I wouldn't want that to be a deterrent from taking part in the content itself and in the learning over the course of the program. So, have a think about whether or not it's the right time for you. It's not high pressure sales here. But you know, I legitimately don't know if we're going to run this again in the spring.
So hopefully, but we can't commit to that moment. Any other questions or comments or anything else we can tell you about the program?
Arielle and I will stay around after the info session if people want to ask us anything directly. we'd love to connect with you. Hopefully you will be joining our cohort and we'll get to know you and work with you over the course of the coming weeks. we do really appreciate you taking the time to be with us here today.
if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to either of us or to movement 51. We'd be more than happy to answer any questions with you or hop on a call and discuss the program in more detail as well. Thank you, everyone. Thank you.
