The Dragon's Den

The project aimed to expand the Dragon's Den program into a digital platform to equip life science startups, early-stage entrepreneurs, and students with the skills needed to secure venture capita...

The project aimed to expand the Dragon's Den program into a digital platform to equip life science startups, early-stage entrepreneurs, and students with the skills needed to secure venture capital. By addressing the common challenge of attracting international capital, the project sought to improve participants' knowledge of the venture capital industry and enhance their ability to present strong financial cases to investors. Additionally, the program aimed to increase digital readiness for both educators and participants, fostering skills in using digital tools for education, collaboration, and networking. The collaboration between SmiLe Incubator and IESE Business School would strengthen European networks, allowing startups to access broader resources and connections.

In the course of our project, we implemented several key activities to ensure its success. These included recording educational material, recruiting participants, and setting up the e-learning platform. We structured and integrated all content in a pedagogical and organized manner. One of the primary activities was testing and piloting the digital platform with various stakeholders, including business and innovation advisors, early entrepreneurs, students, and start-ups. These pilot tests allowed us to fine-tune and make necessary adjustments, ensuring the program’s quality and relevance. Following the test runs, we revised the course structure, content, complexity, and level of detail to optimize the learning experience. A deliberate focus was placed on refining the e-learning content before broad outreach to stakeholders. Although this extended the timeline for some activities, we believe this approach led to a higher-quality program. These activities ensured that the program was not only well-structured but also delivered valuable, hands-on resources to participants.

The primary objective of the project was to develop and launch a new, jointly created digital program focused on helping startups, early entrepreneurs, and students learn how to raise capital, with an emphasis on venture capital. This goal was successfully achieved with a official launch of the final program in spring 2024. Across all three phases—Pilot 1.0, Pilot 2.0, and official launch — 57 participants took part, with an overall completion rate of nearly 74%, meaning 42 participants finished the program. Among the participants who completed the program, there was a diverse mix, including 5 business advisors/coaches, 11 European life science startups, 25 students, and 1 from another category. We successfully met our internal goal of engaging 25 startups/students. Participant satisfaction was high, with overall program ratings of 9.3/10 in the pilot 1.0, 9/10 in Pilot 2.0, and 8.7/10 in first official launch. We had an internal goal of reaching a minimum of 8/10 in satisfaction rate. Additionally, a self-efficacy study conducted before and after the program showed an average 2x improvement in participants' perceived knowledge, doubling their confidence across all phases.