BGA Speaker Series: Negotiating for the Long Game with Maura O'Neill

​BGA presents a speaker series for deep tech founders and builders.

The Berkeley Gateway Accelerator Speaker Series puts experienced operators and investors in a small room with the people building what’s next. Every session is invite-only and capped at 20 people, so there is real room for questions, honest conversation, and one-on-one time with the speaker. It’s built for founders, builders, and aspiring entrepreneurs working on deep tech.

This session: Negotiating for the Long Game

​Speaker: Maura O’Neill
Maura is a Distinguished Teaching Fellow and Lecturer in entrepreneurship and innovation at the Berkeley Haas School of Business, and a serial entrepreneur who has founded four companies across electricity efficiency, smart grid, e-commerce, and digital education. She was appointed by President Obama as the first Chief Innovation Officer of the U.S. Agency for International Development, where she served from 2009 to 2013, and she co-created the Development Innovation Venture Fund, which grew into the Global Innovation Fund.

In this session, she’ll focus on how founders can approach term sheets and negotiations with the long game in mind, drawing on her experience as a founder.

If you’re a founder heading toward a raise, this is a practical look at how to walk into a negotiation prepared and come out with terms that protect your upside, from a serial entrepreneur who has built four companies.

Who should attend: Founders, builders, and aspiring entrepreneurs working on deep tech. Space is limited to 20, so please request to join and we’ll confirm your spot.

About the Berkeley Gateway Accelerator
BGA is a deep tech accelerator and fund in Berkeley, California, that turns breakthrough science into world-changing companies. Our founder-centric, five-month commercialization program includes funding, housing, and office space. Founders work with an embedded team of entrepreneurs in residence, UC Berkeley faculty and students, and outside experts, with warm introductions to VCs. We’ve evaluated 120+ technologies and made two dozen early-stage investments, including modular robotics, solid-state power electronics, and quantum AI hardware.

Building a deep tech company? Apply to the next BGA cohort here