The Screening and Coaching Process for Entrepreneurs

This past week, we welcomed our new intern, Kayla Villnow to ZINO Society.  Kayla is a second year MBA candidate at the Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington, with a concentration on corporate strategy.  She is already making herself invaluable as she works directly with ZINO Society COO, Rob Brown, to support and facilitate the entrepreneur processes for ZINO Society.  In the photo above, she is reviewing and compiling the green screening evaluation sheets which the screeners and coaches fill out during our monthly screening meetings.  These sheets provide valuable feedback and suggestions to the entrepreneurs to help them make their brief presentations more understandable and compelling, which is one of the most important support services we can offer.

Yesterday, our screeners and coaches met to view the entrepreneur presentations live that made it through the first electronic screening round for our upcoming ZINO Life Investment Forum.    Each of the entrepreneurs had seven minutes to present followed by two minutes of question and answer and input.  See photos of some of the screeners and coaches above and as they diligently fill out the green evaluation sheets.

Taking into consideration all the feedback and input we receive from the screeners and coaches, we ultimately choose who to feature at our investment meetings and forums and then line up those entrepreneurs with individual coaches who will help them polish and finesse their presentations so they can be most effective in getting their messages across.  It is interesting to note that though most entrepreneurs think they do not need or want coaching, but since we insist on it, almost every entrepreneur comes back to us saying that their coaching was invaluable to them in making their message stronger and clearer.  It is Kayla’s role to match up entrepreneurs with coaches to ensure that each presenting ZINOpreneur has that important support.

On the day of the event, each presenting ZINOpreneur will have a special ribbon on his or her nametag showing that they are presenting so that potential investors can easily connect with them.  Following the event, Kayla will once again communicate to the entrepreneurs sharing any input from the event attendees and sharing any contact information for those members or guests who expressed interest in any specific investment opportunities.

Our ZINO Society screeners and coaches deserve huge kudos for the important service they provide these entrepreneurs!