About this course: Start-ups can benefit from a wide variety of financing options on the path to profitability, but how do you know which one to choose? This course explores different financing models, including bootstrapping, organic growth, debt and risk capital, and also provides a clear overview of equity financing including the key types of investors: angels, venture capital, and crowdfunding. You’ll learn about terms, and term sheets, exit modes and what exit strategy might be best for you. By the end of this course, you’ll have an understanding of what success looks like and how it can be financed. You’ll also be ready for the capstone project, in which you will get feedback on your own pitch deck, and may even be selected to pitch to investors from venture capital firms.

Created by: University of Pennsylvania

Taught by: Kartik Hosanagar, Professor
Wharton School
Taught by: Lori Rosenkopf, Vice Dean and Director, Wharton Undergraduate Division
Simon and Midge Palley Professor of Management
Taught by: David Hsu, Richard A. Sapp Professor of Management
The Wharton School
Taught by: Laura Huang, Assistant Professor
Management
Taught by: Ethan Mollick, Edward B. and Shirley R. Shils Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor of Management- Wharton School
Taught by: David Bell, Xinmei Zhang and Yongge Dai Professor, Professor of Marketing
Marketing
Taught by: Karl T. Ulrich, Vice Dean of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
The Wharton School

Basic Info	Course 4 of 5 in the Entrepreneurship Specialization
Commitment	4 weeks of study, 1-2 hours/week
Language	English
How To Pass	Pass all graded assignments to complete the course.
User Ratings	4.7 stars Average User Rating 4.7See what learners said

Syllabus

WEEK 1

Business Models and Keeping Customers

This module was designed to introduce you to some of the key activities you can do in order to reach and sustain profitability. You'll learn the most important rule of entrepreneurship, the different kinds of business models, how to determine who your best customers are and how to develop strategies to retain them. You'll also hear from a successful entrepreneur and venture capitalist from Greylock Partners, who will talk about what indicators of success his firms looks for when deciding where to invest. By the end of this module, you'll be able to use business models to create customers who will come back for more, and know what key attributes to emphasize if you want to attract investment from venture capital.

4 videos, 1 reading

Video: Introduction to Financing and Profitability
Video: Crafting Your Business Model
Video: Lifetime Value of Customer
Video: Greylock Partners: Joseph Ansanelli
Reading: Lecture Slide PDFs

Graded: Building a Business Model and a Customer Base Quiz

WEEK 2

Financing, Valuation, and Terms

In this module, you'll learn the five most common methods of financing, and explore the financing process in depth. You'll also learn strategies for valuing your own company, and how venture capital and angel investors use valuations in negotiating milestones, influence and control. You'll discover how term sheets work, and what the terms mean, and you'll also examine the other terms used when financing with angel investors, friends and family, loans, and crowdfunding. By the end of this module, you'll be able to pick the financing pathway that's best for your enterprise, use common valuation strategies to set a reasonable price for your company, and negotiate favorable terms.

4 videos, 1 reading

Video: Financing Pathways
Video: Financing: Rounds and Raises
Video: Equity Financing: Valuation
Video: Equity Financing: Terms and Term Sheets
Reading: Lecture Slide PDFs

Graded: Financing Methods and Valuation Quiz

WEEK 3

Private and Public Financing, and Calculating Breakeven

This module was designed to give you a closer look at the advantages and disadvantages of both public and private financing, and to provide you with some simple but powerful tools for estimating how much capital you will need. You'll learn about the added benefits of working with venture capital firms, when and why to consider debt financing, and the latest trends in crowdfunding. You'll also learn to calculate how much money you are losing each month (the burn rate), and when you can expect to become self-sustaining (the breakeven point). By the end of this module, you'll be able to perform your own breakeven analysis so you can make a more informed choice about the best source of financing for you company.

5 videos, 1 reading

Video: Venture Capital and the Financing of Innovation
Video: Financing: Crowdfunding
Video: Debt Financing
Video: Burn Rate
Video: Breakeven Analysis
Reading: Lecture Slide PDFs

Graded: Choosing Financing, and Calculating Breakeven Quiz

WEEK 4

Elements of the Pitch and Exit Strategies

In this module, you'll learn the three key elements of your pitch to funders, and the examine the most common methods of exiting the entrepreneurial phase. You'll learn the structure and best practices for an executive summary, your pitch deck, and your pro-forma financial statements, and discover why these are so important to potential investors. You'll also learn the key differences between taking your company public and having it acquired by another, larger firm, and explore which method is best for preserving innovation. By the end of this module, you'll be able to create an effective pitch, and begin developing an exit strategy for your company that's relevant, effective and profitable.

4 videos, 1 reading

Video: Executive Summary and Pitch Deck
Video: Pro Forma Financial Statements
Video: Entrepreneurial Exits
Video: Course Wrap-Up
Reading: Lecture Slide PDFs

Graded: Strategies for the Pitch and the Exit Quiz

FAQs

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How It Works

Coursework

Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.

Help from Your Peers

Connect with thousands of other learners and debate ideas, discuss course material, and get help mastering concepts.

Certificates

Earn official recognition for your work, and share your success with friends, colleagues, and employers.

Creators

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania (commonly referred to as Penn) is a private university, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. A member of the Ivy League, Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and considers itself to be the first university in the United States with both undergraduate and graduate studies.

Pricing

	Purchase Course	Audit
Access to course materials	Available	Available
Access to graded materials	Available	Not available
Receive a final grade	Available	Not available
Earn a shareable Course Certificate	Available	Not available

Ratings and Reviews

Rated 4.7 out of 5 of 310 ratings

Excellent wrap up of do's and don'ts.

This class wrapped up and expanded on a lot of base concepts that were covered in the earlier classes. The first two weeks were a little redundant but the last two had a ton of information. This class teaches you how to put together a pitch deck and executive summary so that you can go to venture capitalists etc to get money. It explains what you and the investors expect when you take money, funding stages / rounds etc and also how to use / best use funding like crowd sourcing. Also it explains a lot of business models that you can identify your business with, utilize correctly or try instead with your problem / solution.

Excellent. Just what I needed.

Great

Entrepreneurship 4: Financing and Profitability

Entrepreneurship 4: Financing and Profitability

Entrepreneurship 4: Financing and Profitability