Shahram Hejazi

I am a life science investor and entrepreneur with general management experience in both early-stage ventures and large global companies. As Managing Director and CEO, I am responsible for the overall leadership and strategic direction of BioAdvance. My areas of investment focus are research tools, devices, diagnostics and digital health. I serve on the boards of Halo Labs Inc., WellTrackOne Inc., Talex Medical LLC, Bainbridge Health LLC, RightAir Inc., Oncora Medical Inc., Wellsheet Inc. and Keriton Inc. I am also the founding CEO of a Princeton spin-off company called Optimeos Life Sciences, developing the next generation of nanoparticle platform for intracellular delivery of RNA therapeutics. I am the Chairman of the Oversight Committee for the Pennsylvania Pediatric Medical Device Consortium at CHOP. I was also the 2014 James Wei Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship at Princeton University, where I am currently a part-time faculty and teach a well-regarded course on the topic of venture capital. I am the author of over 10 scientific publications and have a PhD in electrical engineering with emphasis in biophysics from SUNY at Buffalo and an executive business education from Stanford University.

What will students be able to take away from your classes?

I teach two courses. From my VC class (EGR 395) the students will learn:

Introduction to Venture Capital, funding stages and structure
Alternative sources of capital such as crowdfunding
Investment process and funding rounds
Building a venture fund and raising capital
Developing an investment thesis
Financial projections and modeling, including return on investment (ROI) analysis
Developing operating financial skills
Understanding valuations and market analysis
Risk analysis and use of capital to create value
Finding and evaluating investment deals
Developing term-sheets, and understanding key terms such as investor/shareholder rights
Negotiations and deal closing