This course covers the essentials of angel investing. It is targeted towards new business angels, but it is also suitable for experienced business angels who are looking to refresh their knowledge.

The course includes a glossary of angel investing terms, interviews with the speakers who are both experienced angel investors and FiBAN's partners who are experts in their fields, presentations and lectures by the speakers, and a Q&A session after their lectures. The course is in a video format, and the course will track your completion progress automatically so you can get back to where you stopped easily at any time.

After purchase, the course will be available for you for 365 days.

You can choose to participate in just one track or the entire program. All presentations and materials are in English.


What you'll learn

  • How to make your first angel investment

  • How to identify red flags when screening startups

  • How to conduct due diligence for a startup

  • What methods can you use to value a startup

  • What every angel investor should know about IPR

  • What are the basics of investment contracts

  • And a lot more…

What will I get out of the course

  • Over 7 comprehensive video lectures and interviews with field professionals

  • Real-life experiences from experienced business angels who have years of experience in angel investing

  • Best practices from FiBAN’s partner organizations who are experts in their fields

  • 1 whole year access to the course

Course curriculum

  • 01

    Let's get started!

    • Introduction to the course

    • Glossary
  • 02

    Making your first investment (~30min)

    • Introduction to the chapter

    • Interview with Mikko Rieger, business angel

    • Presentation slides

    • FiBAN process in angel investing

    • Time management

    • When to lead a case?

    • Before investing - what to keep in mind?

    • Key thoughts to take on

    • Q&A with Mikko

    • Chapter 1 survey
  • 03

    My top Investment criteria (~40min)

    • Introduction to the chapter

    • Interview with Reima Linnanvirta, experienced business angel

    • Presentation slides

    • Introduction + why develop your investment criteria?

    • Screening and due diligence approach + findings

    • Introducing my six investment criteria

    • Examples of rejection reasons

    • Key takeaways

    • Q&A

    • Chapter 2 survey
  • 04

    Startup valuation methods (~60min)

    • Introduction to the chapter

    • Interview with William Cardwell, experienced angel investor

    • Presentation slides

    • Why valuation matters

    • Market forces

    • Valuation realities

    • Seraf method overview

    • Implementing the Seraf method

    • Real-life example of the Seraf method

    • Discussing valuation

    • Q&A with William

    • Chapter 3 survey
  • 05

    Conducting Due Diligence for a startup (~60min)

    • Introduction to the chapter

    • Interview with Pontus Stråhlman, experienced business angel

    • General guidelines

    • Commercial due diligence

    • Financial due diligence

    • Technical due diligence

    • Legal due diligence

    • Q&A

    • Chapter 4 survey

    • Presentation slides
  • 06

    Legal due diligence (~20min)

    • Introduction to the chapter

    • Interview with Annina Hyrskyluoto, Senior Associate, Alder & Sound

    • Presentation slides

    • Introduction and agenda

    • Purpose and process of due diligence

    • Startups - Financial and tax matters

    • Startups - Legal matters part 1

    • Startups - Legal matters part 2

    • Typical findings in startups

    • Examples of practical implications

    • Q&A

    • Chapter 5 survey
  • 07

    Eyes on IPR (~30min)

    • Introduction to the chapter

    • Presentation slides

    • Introduction

    • Part 1: What every angel investor should know at least

    • Part 2: The quality of IPRs

    • Part 3: Case: Reactive technologies

    • Chapter 6 survey
  • 08

    Basics of investment contracts (~60min)

    • Introduction to the chapter

    • Interview with Reima Linnanvirta, experienced business angel

    • Presentation slides

    • Term sheet

    • Investment agreement

    • Shareholders agreement part 1

    • Shareholders agreement part 2

    • Shareholders agreement part 3

    • Shareholders agreement part 4

    • Syndication agreement

    • Q&A with Reima

    • Chapter 7 survey

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Meet the lecturers

Mikko Rieger

Business Angel

Mikko Rieger is an advisor and independent consultant in payments that started with angel investments over the last 15 months. He has a background in Nordic FinTechs - small and large - Cloud deployment in Europe and Software Platforms in the Telecom industry. In his area of experience he sees next larger developments and changes coming from cryptocurrencies and cryptoassets and data markets with value distribution according to data contribution. As a talkative German Finn, he’s happy to exchange thoughts on those developments over a cup of coffee or glass of good wine. Mikko is married, father of three, with a dog to fit the Espoo stereotype. He holds a Bachelor degree and Dipl. Ing. in Computer Engineering and an MBA from the Kellogg School.


Reima Linnanvirta

Business Angel

Reima is a full-time angel investor and the Chair of the Board of FiBAN. His portfolio consists of over 20 startups (including e.g. Cambri, Innovestor, and OGOship), with the main focus on early-stage B2B and Software / SaaS startups. Reima has a background in consulting relating to e.g. transactions, financing, and law. As an entrepreneur, he did his first exit in 2003 when he sold his accounting and consultancy company 2003 to Administer. In 2010, Reima co-founded Alder & Sound (exited in 2015 in an MBO); he is also a co-founder of Rocket Office.


William Cardwell

Business Angel

Mr. Cardwell is currently a partner in the venture capital funds Courage Ventures (Finland) and Open Circle Capital (Lithuania), and Professor of Practice at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina, and lecturer at Aalto University and Helsinki School of Business.  He has been a member of FIBAN since 2015.  Will has been investing in startups since 1999.  Since then he has been involved in more than 200 early-stage investments.


Pontus Stråhlman

Business Angel

Pontus is a partner at Nordics' leading deep tech venture capital firm Voima Ventures, serial entrepreneur, angel investor and startup coach. He is an entrepreneur at heart and spirit, and an expert in investing in Artificial Intelligence, Food and Agri Tech, and Med Tech. What brought him to the startup scene was the passion that drives people to take action into their own hands and solve problems through ventures of their own. In 2019, Pontus joined Voima Ventures where he is combining his expertise with world-class scientists and research, and thus contributing to the creation of many groundbreaking and disruptive startups.


Annina Hyrskyluoto

Senior Associate at Alder&Sound

Annina is an experienced legal advisor with a strong background in domestic and international corporate law advisory in various legal engagements. She specializes in general corporate law, employment law, commercial agreements, and corporate transactions. Annina has worked at Alder & Sound Oy in Tax & Legal Services for a year, assisting a varying client base from small startups to multi-national corporations. The goal of Alder & Sound Oy is to be a trusted advisor for its clients in important matters. In her position, Annina is acting as such; a trusted advisor for multiple companies and entrepreneurs with her hands-on and practical way of handling legal matters.


Petri Liuha

Patent Tteam Leader at Kolster Tampere

Petri Liuha is a patent team leader at Kolster Tampere.  He has a Master of Science in Engineering degree from Tampere University of Technology. Petri has a long experience from Nokia as people leader, liaison of corporate R&D collaboration, manager and technology expert. At EIT Digital he worked with start-up incubation as innovation director, where he was running an innovation commercialization project portfolio in Industry 4.0, logistics and retail related topics. He has also co-founded Eximap, a startup in digital solutions for services in automotive sector.