New Venture Finance: Startup Funding for Entrepreneurs
Details
About the Course
This course is for aspiring or active entrepreneurs who wants to understand how to secure funding for their company.This course will demystify key financing concepts to give entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs a guide to secure funding.
Examine the many financing options available to get your new venture funded. Learn the basics of finance, valuations, dilution and non-dilutive funding sources. Understand capital structure for new ventures, term sheets and how to negotiate them, and the differences between early-stage versus later-stage financing. Develop an understanding of how to develop winning investor pitches, who and when to pitch, how to avoid common mistakes that limit the effectiveness of the pitch, and how to ‘get to the close’. Key questions answered within the course include:
- When to raise outside capital?
- What kind of investors invest by stage and where to find them?
- What are your fundraising options?
- What are the key components of the term sheet?
- How to perform company valuations?
- How to pitch to investors?
- What techniques help the entrepreneur ‘get to the close’?
Recommended Background
This introductory course is designed for the entrepreneur who wants to understand the intricacies of what it takes to fund a new venture. While it does not require a background in finance or business, completing Coursera’s “Developing Innovative Ideas for New Ventures: The First Step in Entrepreneurship” before starting this course is highly recommended.
Outline
- Do you speak the language of raising start-up capital?
- Why should you start with the business plan?
- What financial statements do investors want to see?
- How do you develop a balance sheet?
- What should an income statement present?
- What is the purpose of the cash flow statement?
- What corporate structure should I use?
- How do investors view your early stage venture?
- Where to find investors?
- Why consider friends and family as investors?
- What’s bootstrapping?
- Are incubators and accelerators a fit?
- What are angel investors?
- When to explore early-stage venture capital?
- When are you ready for late-stage venture capital?
- What is due diligence?
- What is your company worth?
- How to negotiate a term sheet?
- How to establish common stock?
- When to use convertible notes?
- What is preferred stock?
- When to use alternative sources of capital?
- What do investors need to see?
- How to create the pitch deck?
- How to tell your story?
- What are the do’s and don’ts of the pitch?
- How to close the round?
Speaker/s
Lecturer in Technology Entrepreneurship
Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute
University of Maryland, College Park
Michael teaches and mentors students in University of Maryland's Minor in Technology Entrepreneurship Program and the General Education Program of the University. His career spans 35 years in management and finance, in both domestic and international organizations, and almost two decades in startups and venture capital, having raised over $100 million for eleven different startup ventures. Michael is the co-founder and Managing Partner in Select Venture Partners LLC, an early stage, post-seed/pre-Series A investment management firm. Prior to co-founding Select, he was co-founder and CEO of SpydrSafe Mobile Security, Inc., a mobile application security management platform that safeguarded enterprise data by controlling apps on smartphones and tablets (iOS and Android). SpydrSafe was acquired in February 2014. Prior to SpydrSafe, he was COO of CardStar, Inc., a mobile loyalty company sold to Constant Contact (NASDAQ: CTCT). From 2006 to 2010, Michael was the CFO/COO of Trust Digital, Inc., a venture-backed Mobile Device Management company sold to McAfee (NYSE: MFE). Prior to Trust, he was CFO of Galt Associates, Inc., a venture-backed software company sold to Cerner Corporation (NASDAQ: CERN) in July 2006. His earlier professional experience includes CEO of CrossMedia Networks Corp.; CEO of Point of Care Technologies (sold to Siemens Healthcare in 1999); various senior finance and operating roles with Mobil Corporation, including President and General Manager of three Mobil subsidiaries. Michael began his professional career with Arthur Andersen & Co. He holds a BS in Finance from East Carolina University, an MBA from Massey University in New Zealand, and an MS in Marketing from Johns Hopkins University.
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