Maximise Your Raise: The Valuation Playbook for Founders

Most early-stage founders focus on building — the product, the team, the traction. When it's time to raise, they pitch investors, negotiate a valuation, and hope for the best. Few stop to ask whether the way they've structured their company is costing them equity before the conversation even starts.

The gap between what a startup is worth and what a founder actually captures in a raise is often larger than anyone expects. Small adjustments in corporate finance positioning and legal structuring can shift equity value by 25–35% in the founder's favour. Most founders don't know this — until it's too late.

We're excited to welcome John D. Evans, Founder & Director of SEIML, and Roger Dong, Counsel - Corporate at Ashurst, to this Startup Grind Hong Kong virtual event. Together, they bring decades of experience across investment banking, corporate finance advisory, venture capital law, and early-stage fundraising — spanning China, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia.

In this session, John and Roger will break down how founders can apply corporate finance fundamentals and smart legal structuring to maximise the value of their next raise — with practical, real-world examples from the companies they work with.

📅 Date: Wednesday, 24 June 2026
⏰ Time: 7:00 PM HKT
📍 Location: Online (Virtual Event)

🎤 Meet the Speakers

John D. Evans is the Founder & Director of SEIML, a corporate finance advisory firm operating across China, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia. With 24 years in investment banking — spanning Toronto, New York, and London — John has deep experience in debt and equity capital markets, strategic advisory, and working with large institutional funds. He later moved into academia, designing and running MSc programmes in investment management at universities in the UK and China, and building one of Europe's larger financial professional training organisations.

Since 2016, John has focused on supporting early- and middle-stage startups, including serving as Director of the Hong Kong Founder Institute and Programme Director for the FI ASEAN Fintech Accelerator from 2023 to 2025. He moved to Hong Kong in 2024 to build SEIML's footprint in Southeast Asia.

Roger Dong is a Counsel - Corporate at Ashurst, one of the world's leading international law firms with over 30 offices across 19 countries. Based in Hong Kong, Roger specialises in early-stage fundraisings, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, and private investment funds. He has advised on transactions across Asia Pacific, Europe, and the US, covering industries from technology and fintech to biotech and energy. Before his legal career, Roger worked as a mining processing engineer in Beijing — giving him a rare engineering-to-law perspective on building and scaling companies.

💡 What You'll Learn

✅ How corporate finance techniques can increase the value of your equity raise 
✅ What founders consistently get wrong when structuring their company for fundraising
✅ The legal fundamentals every early-stage founder needs before approaching investors
✅ How to position your startup for VC, angel, and institutional investment across Asia
✅ Why aligning your finance and legal strategy early creates compounding advantages as you scale

🎯 Who Should Attend?

🚀 Early-stage founders preparing for or currently in a fundraising round
📈 Startup operators who want to understand how corporate finance impacts equity value
🏦 Angel investors and VCs looking for insight into deal structuring from the advisory side
🧠 Aspiring entrepreneurs exploring how to set up their company right from the start

🚀 Don't miss this opportunity to learn how to maximise the value of your next raise

📌 RSVP now to secure your spot