I recently had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Fariba Hashemi. As we talked about her passion for entrepreneurship and investment decisions, the idea came up to present this to a wider audience in an interview.
We at SNGLR also find the ETH’s approach of offering a focused, specific course on this topic highly relevant for Family Business and Family Offices.
And now to the interview I conducted with Dr Fariba Hashemi (ETH lecturer at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, where she teaches the yearly Entrepreneurial Investments course) and one of her former students Hendrik Dik (ETH MAS MTEC Zurich, 2019):
Fariba, „Entrepreneurial investments“ the name of the course you teach at ETH, D-MTEC, has obviously two aspects: entrepreneurial and investments. Why do you think these two aspects need to be combined?
When I first began teaching at ETH Zurich ETH Zurich | ETH Zurich a few years back, I knew of the University for its outstanding achievements in scientific and engineering research (today, among the most prestigious prizes ETH members have received are 21 Nobel Prizes, two Fields Medals, two Pritzker Prizes and a Turing Award: ETH in figures | ETH Zurich).
What I did not know back then, and have learned since, is the extensive ongoing activities by the ETH Zurich community, turning advanced research results into pioneering innovative solutions to address global challenges we are facing today and tomorrow. The 500+ ETH Zurich spinoffs founded since 1996 demonstrate this continued knowledge transfer: ETH transfer | ETH Zurich
Thus came along the idea for the Entrepreneurial Investments course offered yearly since 2017 to graduate students from across all disciplines of ETH Zurich. The objective of this course is to help scientists and engineers with an entrepreneurial spirit, learn how to think about their expertise in technology, from the filter of an investor who is interested in accompanying and supporting them in their entrepreneurial journeys.
Given the appreciation for this ongoing course, ETH Zurich is now launching a parallel course on Entrepreneurial Investments and Wealth Management via the continuing education arm of the university: www.mtec.ethz.ch/entrepreneurial-investments
What is the difference to other investment courses one can take, if he / she likes to learn more about investment decisions and investment cycle?
This is a 6-days intensive course tailor made for young high potential individuals in Switzerland and abroad, eager to stay close to the cutting edge knowledge the institution is continuously acquiring. It is of interest to investors inspired to learn about what is going on at the forefront of technology and sustainability investing. A mix of theory and practice, the course provides the highest level of education and access to expertise of world renowned ETH Zurich faculty, their research findings, and to ground breaking technological innovations originating at the institution.
The learning format includes class lectures by ETH Zurich faculty, real-world case studies, and small group interactive casework and exercises. Participants will be offered opportunities to learn about the extensive startup/spinoff experiences of ETH Zurich. Experienced entrepreneurial investors and entrepreneurial family business owners will collaborate with course faculty to share their wide-ranging experience.
For example, we will hear from Prof. Dr. Didier Sornette (Prof. Didier Sornette – Chair of Entrepreneurial Risks | ETH Zurich, Professor of Entrepreneurial Risks at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich), an expert in exploring data patterns to help predict crises and extreme events in complex systems, like global financial crises, with particular applications to risk assessment in economics and technology.
Professor Jan-Egbert Sturm Professor of Applied Macroeconomics at D-MTEC and Director of the KOF Swiss Economic Institute at ETH Zurich, will share the latest research insights of KOF.
I will follow with the implications for Entrepreneurial Investments and Wealth Management.
Dr. Silvio Bonaccio, head of ETH transfer, will share insights about the extensive startup/spinoff scene at ETH Zurich.
Moreover, ETH Zurich faculty will be joined with highly experienced investors who will add a real world practical dimension to the course learning process.
Hendrik, you took the course some time ago as part of your MAS MTEC studies. What were the most important insights for you? Why did you like this course so much?
The content of the course itself was excellent. It covered all of the essential areas of investment that apply to the intersect between start-ups and finance. Decision-making, value calculation, and how to assess investments more broadly. I completed an MBA 15 years ago, and I was doing refresher studies at the school of ETH MAS MTEC. From the entire degree, this was maybe the best single course, it linked together many of the ideas from the MBA and the MAS and grounded them in real-world practice.
It was also great to have this located at ETH in Zurich, the campus is a global centre for technology development and it naturally attracts really interesting people.
The networking opportunities were also amazing. We met investors, leadership from successful start-ups (the CEO of Beekeeper, an amazing Swiss start-up) joined the class and helped us understand how strategic and investment decisions in the course of their start-up lead to their current success.
Even though I attended the course several years ago, I still work with connections I made in the course on a daily basis.
Fariba, how is the idea to offer such a course emerged? What requirements have you identified ( Research, Analysis, Facts)?
The seeds for this course were planted during a research project I was involved in on entrepreneurial investments, which culminated in a co-authored book specifically written for a wide audience : ‘The Empowered Investor’: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781137366863.
Many business families are eager for their young generation to follow a short and intensive training on investments in order to prepare them for important responsibilities within the family business.
Consider a family business going through a liquidity event. This family would benefit from a training on investments, specifically designed for the next generation who suddenly find themselves facing serious wealth management responsibilities. Having completed a university education is great. However it does not always equip these individuals with the necessary skills and know-how for investment decisions in the real world. The present course attempts to fill this gap with a short and intensive training on investments, focusing on technology and sustainability.
The latest course , which will start April 1st, is now open to the public and is targeting family offices and members of family businesses, especially next generation members. What will they do differently after the course?
Methodologies and tools presented throughout this course serve to help the young generation gain the necessary skills and confidence to identify, evaluate and manage entrepreneurial risks and navigate the complexities of entrepreneurial investment decision making within multiple stakeholder settings. The objective is to help strengthen the individual’s analytical thinking and problem-solving skills for investment decision-making.
In particular, the course provides a unique opportunity for those interested in tech and sustainability, to learn how to evaluate new and emerging disruptive technological innovations. It offers the possibility to get close to the state of the art knowledge continuously generated at ETH Zurich and be connected to the forefront of technology. This enlarges the horizon of the next generation who typically tend to invest with their immediate friends, in their inner circles.
Furthermore, a small class size allows in-depth interaction with a network of like-minded individuals and offers an opportunity to form life-long friendships and exchanges.
You encourage the participation of multiple family members. Can you explain the reason for this a little more? What are the benefits?
Often, when multiple family members of a family business follow a program together, the sharing of learnings amongst family members provides a plus. Each family business is confronted with a unique set of challenges and opportunities. Learning about the cutting edge knowledge ETH Zurich is continuously acquiring, would allow teams of family members to collectively identify how the new knowledge is shaping the future of their family business. The objective would be to leverage the intrinsic strengths of one’s family business in shaping the future strategic direction of the business; often this may involve the need to renew the family and/or corporate portfolio.
Hendrik, having successfully completed the course, what do you particularly recommend to new participants?
The course gave a rare opportunity to understand how entrepreneurs and investors can work together to benefit each other. I left the course with a much better appreciation for the many funding tools available for start-ups, at the time especially for my own work in the start-up space.
I also took the time to talk with some of the other guests after the classes. For instance, I spoke with Cristian Grossman, the CEO of Beekeeper after the last class and this led to a great working relationship that is still going today.
Other famous Swiss success stories such as Sensirion also attended the course. These are very busy people and it can be difficult to find opportunities to have conversations like that, to network and talk outside of normal business situations. I feel like it really gave me a chance to understand how they are working. I would definitely make that effort again.
Thank you both very much for your valued contribution and I wish you Fariba continued success with this exciting topic and you Hendrik many good entrepreneurial investment decisions!
About:
Dr Fariba Hashemi is an ETH lecturer at ETH Zurich, where she teaches the yearly Entrepreneurial Investments graduate course. Fariba holds a PhD in Economics from the University of California in Los Angeles and has extensive experience in the academia as well as in the private sector, building bridges between the two:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fariba-hashemi-565b33157/
Hendrik attended the course in 2019 as part of the ETH MAS MTEC postgraduate degree.
He is a Business Unit Manager at Consulteer, a Swiss Software and UX firm working in the DACH region, their clients range from startups to large multinationals. He has an MBA and works daily in the commercialisation of new technologies.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hendrikdik/