L-SPARK: No Stupid Questions: Preparing Your Startup for the Impact of Economic Down

About this event

Facilitated by Laith Shukri and Tony Barkett of Silicon Valley Bank, this workshop will give you the tools you need to understand and navigate the impact of economic downturn on your startup.

Great for any founder, you'll leave this workshop with an in-depth understanding of the state of the economy and how this will impact both the market and your fundraising efforts.

Learn about the controllable and uncontrollable elements at play and how you can take meaningful action to strengthen your balance sheet, cashflow model, and gross margin integrity.

We will also dive into:

• How do you raise/secure additional capital? Should you? How to better position yourself better to do so
• What sectors could/would struggle most?
• What stages will struggle most?
• How does a funder keep track of the portfolio?

If you would like to reserve one-on-one time with Laith and Tony after the workshop, please send an email to Stef Reid, Senior Marketing Manager at L-SPARK at  stef@l-spark.com.

Please note that this No Stupid Questions workshop will be hosted as a webinar. Details for connecting to the call will be sent in a follow up email.

Meet Your Workshop Facilitators:

Tony Barkett, Managing Director, Technology Banking

Tony Barkett is a Managing Director for Silicon Valley Bank focused on helping technology companies in Canada’s growing innovation economy. Previously, Tony managed SVB’s Eastern Cleantech practice and worked with technology companies under $100M. Prior to this role, Tony managed SVB’s Southeast Asset Based Lending Group. Over the course of his 13 years at SVB, he has provided a variety of financing solutions to technology companies at every stage.

Laith Shukri, Senior Market Development Manager

Laith Shukri is a senior market development manager for SVB in Toronto, where his role is to build and strengthen relationships between the bank and early-stage companies in Canada. To this end, he consults with innovators to identify ways that SVB can best serve their needs as they scale. Laith is particularly passionate about using his background and talents to help founders move to the next opportunity; his services include providing feedback on pitches and business models as well as fostering connections between Canada’s upcoming game-changers and the most influential peers, organizations and programs in Canada’s innovation ecosystem that can help set new ideas in motion.

Prior to joining SVB, Laith served as a senior analyst for ScaleUP Ventures, a Toronto-based VC fund. In this capacity, he was responsible for deal-flow management, coaching founders and cultivating partnerships with significant programs and conferences.

About Silicon Valley Bank:

For more than 35 years, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has helped innovative companies and their investors move bold ideas forward, fast. SVB provides a full range of financial services and expertise to companies of all sizes in innovation centers around the world. SVB is recognized as one of the world’s best employers by Forbes, and is a member of the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index. Learn more at svb.com.