Are you a women entrepreneur in the health and life sciences, with or without a direct connection to Oxford? If so, WE ACE is for you.

 See application details below. Recruitment closes on March 14th 2021

WE ACE returns for 2021!

WE ACE is a training and coaching program dedicated to women entrepreneurs in health and life sciences, with a focus on leadership and negotiation. The inaugural cohort of the program ran in the Summer of 2020 with great success.

This is what participants said about the program:

“This was one of the best entrepreneurial courses I have ever had (and I have had many). The course was so applicable, we gained a new tool in every session, which is so valuable to our growth.”

“I had the realization that I tend to avoid negotiations because I considered them uncomfortable, but they can be empowering with the right perspective, practice, and preparation! Definitely something everyone should learn!”

“I learned so many applicable tools that I can use now. The women in the course are so impressive. The non-stop feedback was so useful and powerful.”

“I was more engaged here than face-to-face! I feel like I poured more energy into this than any leadership coaching I’ve had in the past.”

“I learnt so much about myself with Milly’s leadership and body language course, I truly feel empowered. Ellen’s simulations on negotiations, deal making and understanding of term sheet has bolstered my confidence as a founder.”

The WE ACE program described by the experts and facilitators:

Meet co-instructor  Milly Sinclair, who will share what excited her about co-leading the program with Ellen J. K.

Ellen J. K. also co-developed and instructed WE ACE. She describes the program as: 

“WE ACE focusses founders on the skills they need at the individual, firm, and market levels to negotiate and create high-impact deals to fund and grow their ventures. It is a highly applied program which teaches entrepreneurs through individual development and real-time simulations of how to prepare for and confidently negotiate deals that are complex, fast-paced, and high-value.
 
Each WE ACE session combines lectures, simulations, reflection, and practice. We focus on developing each entrepreneur personally and professionally. Founders learn by “doing”. Founders learn to craft deals involving high-stakes approaches, complex relationships, novel technology, and market uncertainty. Following the WE ACE 2020 program alumnae have negotiated novel agreements with major global partners, venture capitalists, and co-founders.”

Want to Take Part?

We are currently recruiting participants for the Spring 2021 cohort of the program.

• The sessions will run for six weeks
• Tuesday afternoons 14:00-17:00 (UK time)
• Hosted via video conference software. 
• The program is planned to start on March 23rd 2021, but this is subject to confirmation.
• Recruitment closes on March 14th.

Link to the 2021 Program application form is here.

Thanks to generous support from the University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division and the Oxford Bioescalator we are delighted to be able to offer the program free of charge to participants. However, space will be limited due to the focussed nature of the workshops and participants will need to guarantee attending all sessions.

WE ACE 2021 Programme Dates (14:00-17:00 UK time)

16th March: Introduction and overview

23rd March: Session 1–Who am I and what is my offer to the world?

30th March: Session 2–Entrepreneurial dealmaking and negotiation

6th April: Session 3–Leadership presence

13th April: Session 4–Term-sheet negotiation practice

19th-23rd April: One-on-one coaching sessions

27th April: Session 5–Practice your real situations

4th May: Session 6–Embedding learning and next steps

The History of WE ACE

In 2018 Innovation Forum Oxford (IFO) created ACE (Awareness, Connectivity, Exchange) Saturdays–a series of workshops aimed at nurturing a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship amongst academic and clinical researchers in the sciences at the University of Oxford. Feedback from participants and experts in previous workshops highlighted a particular need for more women-focussed training and initiatives to address the unequal representation of women entrepreneurs. As a call to action, IFO collaborated with two experts, Milly Sinclair and Ellen J. K. to create WE ACE (Women Entrepreneurs ACE). Thanks to the generous support of the University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division we were able to offer this world-class program to participants free of charge.

You can read more about the inspiration behind the 2020 cohort of WE ACE here.

Selected past participants of WE ACE (2020 cohort)