The aim of this workshop is to help participants have a thorough understanding of how to:

• Build a successful company
• Prepare a company for an exit (IPO or M&A sell-side)
• Determine the best acquirors (strategics and PE)
• Determine the best pre-IPO and IPO investors
• Optimize investor returns through an exit

The workshop will cover:

• The importance for companies of achieving meaningful commercial scale, positive EBITDA and profitability
• Rationale for partnering with large corporate strategics
• How to find the right pre-IPO investors
• How to decide whether to pursue an IPO, M&A sell-side process or dual process (IPO and M&A)
• Key performance indicators (KPIs) that companies typically needed for an exit
• How far in advance a company should prepare for an IPO, M&A, or dual process
• The steps involved in the IPO, M&A, and dual process
• How companies can maximize synergies for an M&A transaction
• Most effective strategies to achieve a successful exit

The workshop is valuable for agriculture and food industry participants. AgTech & FoodTech company executives and investors will find the session beneficial at it will provide key insight on how to achieve a successful exit.

Meet Your Expert Workshop Leader:

Adam Bergman is a Managing Director at EcoTech Capital where he works at the intersection of technology innovation and climate change. Adam is a sustainability executive leader with almost 30 years’ investment banking experience raising capital and executing M&A transactions. He also provides strategic advice and financial guidance to senior executives and boards on capital raising, growth strategies, M&A, and partnerships. As one of the first investment bankers to focus exclusively on the CleanTech sector, starting in 2005, Adam is recognized as a leading subject matter expert and is a frequent speaker at industry events and publisher of articles on sustainability.

Adam has built industry leading AgTech investment banking practices at Citi and Wells Fargo by creating a broad ecosystem to help drive adoption of technology and innovation throughout the food & ag value chain. Adam established the AgTech cohort for Wells Fargo’s innovation incubator (IN2) at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2018. He is a technology advisor to Western Growers Association, which represents local and regional family farmers who grow over half the nation's fresh fruits, vegetables and tree nuts. Adam also is a technology advisor for SeaAhead, a bluetech startup platform in Boston, Massachusetts, whose mission is to support new, innovative ventures, with a focus on sustainability and the oceans.

Adam has a B.A. in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. Additionally, he holds an M.A. in International Development from the International University of Japan.