The document discusses risks that startups face and provides strategies for risk management. It notes that poor risk management is a major cause of startup failures. It identifies several categories of risk that startups should consider, including strategic, technical, operational, financial, legal and regulatory, market, competition, people, reputational, and systemic risks. The document advocates a three-step risk management process of risk identification, assessment, and developing control and mitigation strategies. It provides examples of common risks startups face related to their market, competitors, operations, finances, legal issues, and other factors. Overall, the document aims to educate startups on properly analyzing risks and developing plans to mitigate threats to their long-term survival.

1. www.medtechchallenge.com

2. • Understand common startup risks
• Evaluate risks for your startup
• Develop risk mitigation strategies

4. •In Australia, only 44% of business survive 4+
years
•In any given year, among firms with employees,
almost as many firms close or go bankrupt
•Poor risk management is attributed to most
failures

5. What’s your chance of
survival?
https://www.equitynet.com/crowdfunding-
tools/startup-risk-calculator.aspx

6. o A chance of losses
o The possibility of unfortunate occurrence
o Unforeseen events, eventualities
o Occurrence of economical loss
o Unpredictability
o The probability of an unwanted or
unavoidable event

7. What types of risks
should you consider
within a startup or
commercialisation?

8. oStrategic
oTechnical
oCompliance and/or
Regulatory and/or legal
oOperational
oFinancial
oMarket and/or Competition
oCareer and/or People
oReputational
oSystemic and/or Political

10. 1. Likelihood of occurrence
2. Severity of potential consequences

12. is the art and science
of thinking about what
could go wrong, and
what should be done
to mitigate those risks
in a cost-effective
manner

13. 1. Risk Identification
2. Risk Assessment
3. Risk Control (and/or Mitigation)

15. Ignored Nuisance
Insurable Killer
Minor
Consequence
Major
Consequence
Low
Likelihood
High
Likelihood

16. Risks with
• relatively minor consequences
• relatively low likelihood of occurrence
• minor consequence as a result
Not worth spending a huge amount of time worrying about

17. • Little things that often seem to go wrong, simple solutions
• Impacts are easy to minimize through behaviour change
Usually solved with a common sense approach

18. • Risks that could have major consequences but are relatively
unlikely to happen are often insurable
Usually solved with appropriate insurances and procedures

19. Risks with both:
• a relatively high likelihood of occurrence
• major consequences
Individually, they may seem manageable, but
collectively, they represent a true challenge

21. 1. There’s a 90% chance that you’ve identified a genuine market need
2. There’s a 90% chance that your addressable market is as big as you
think it is
3. There’s a 90% chance that you can actually implement your
innovation
4. There’s a 90% chance that you can figure out how to sell it for more
than it costs you to make it
5. There’s a 90% chance that you have assembled the right
management team to do the job

22. 6. There’s a 90% chance that you manage to stay one step ahead of the
competition
7. There’s a 90% chance that you don’t get sued into bankruptcy
8. There’s a 90% chance that you won’t get buried in regulatory red
tape
9. There’s a 90% chance that you don’t run out of money
10.There’s a 90% chance that nothing else goes wrong

24. Market Risks
Competitive Risks
Technology &
Operational Risks
Financial Risks
People Risks
Legal &
Regulatory Risks
Systemic Risks
Fall into these categories:

25. Refers to whether or not there is sufficient demand for
what you have to offer at the price you set
Many entrepreneurs
have failed while
clinging to the belief
that the market would
beat a path to their
door if they designed a
better mousetrap

26. Every venture has more
competitors and fewer
competitive advantages than it
thinks
Figure out what you do better
than all of your competitors —
whether it be price, features,
quality, or some other advantage
— and focus on maintaining your
leadership in that category

27. • Can your team finalise the product
design on a limited R&D budget?
• Will your product work as intended?
• Can you find reliable vendors?
• Can you manufacture it?
• Can you optimise the logistics of product
distribution?
• Can you create an effective product
support infrastructure?

28. The end of the road for any business is
running out of cash
For startups, the biggest financial risk
stems from not having a Plan B in case
investors and lenders say no
If you do succeed at raising capital, the
next trick is to figure out how to start
generating enough revenues to cover
your costs before you run out of
money

29. People are, at the same time, the most crucial and least
predictable element of any business

30. The list of possible problems with
legal or regulatory is almost
endless: tax complications;
disputes from poorly structured
agreements; lawsuits filed by a
competitor for intellectual
property dispute.

31. Systemic risks are those
that threaten the
viability of entire
markets, not just a
single firm within a
market

32. In your teams, identify one
killer risk from each
category….
Market Risk:
1. _________________________
Competitive Risk:
1. _________________________
Technology & Operational Risk
1. _________________________
Financial Risk
1. _________________________
Legal & Regulatory Risk
1. _________________________
Systemic Risk
1. _________________________
People Risk
1. _________________________

34. A pragmatic risk management plan is straightforward in concept
Risk Factor
Risk Type
Likelihood
Consequences
Mitigation Tactics
Mitigation Costs
Status

35. 1. Tolerate/Accept the Risk
2. Terminate/Elminate the Risk
3. Transfer/Share the Risk
4. Treat/Mitigate the Risk

47. Be a leader rather than
following in the footsteps
of another.

49. • Know your killer risks
• Have mitigation strategies in place
ISO 31000 has defined management framework as a set of
components supporting and sustaining risk management
throughout a business organization. (Iso.org, 2012)

50. • Develop mitigation
strategies for your
killer risks

51. Dr. Laura Faulconer
COO
laura@stcaustralia.org
0413 467 201

52. Assumption Possibility of
wrong
assumption
(1-5)
Level of Impact
if you are
wrong (1-10)
Total
Risk
Level
My target customer is the owner operator
of a tractor trailer truck rather than the
owner of a small or medium fleet
3 9 27
Their problem is that they need to buy as
much gas for their truck as large fleets,
but they don’t get the fuel discounts that
group purchasing affords
2 7 14
There are no good options for fuel
discount cards that allow owner
operators to save 10 cents per gallon or
more
5 5 25
Owner operators of trucks get
information on new products from trade
periodicals and online message boards
5 3 15
The average discount fuel card that
owner operators use saves them 5 cents
or less
4 3 12
Less than 50% of owner operators use
any discount fuel card
4 8 32
We can sell discount fuel cards to owner
operators through an inside sales force
over the phone
4 8 32