Financial Management and New Venture Financing
Learn the essential marketing concepts and practical commercialization strategies to bring your new venture to market.
Delivery
Online
Duration
12 Weeks
Commitment
8-10 Hours per Week
Instructor Rating
3.7 / 4
This course provides the essential tools and know-how to build a strong financial foundation for a new technology venture. This practical course guides you through important accounting principles as well as methods for keeping firm financial control of your enterprise. Insights are shared on navigating the multitude of financial barriers that may block your entrepreneurial success, as well as how to raise the right amount of capital at the right time from the right source.
What You'll Learn
- Learn how to create financial statements for new technology ventures
- Understand the differences between debt and equity financing and how and why to use each
- Use valuation techniques for understanding how to assess and grow the value of the venture
- Develop skills for applying methods for structuring funding deals to benefit both the financier and the startup entrepreneur or corporate innovator
Who Will Benefit
- Aspiring entrepreneurs working to identify a viable new business idea from which to develop their own company.
- Active entrepreneurs seeing to validate and enhance their existing business idea and accelerate their company’s success.
- Corporate professionals interested in understanding how business and technology shape the creation of new products and services by established companies.
- Educators, consultants, and organizational leads desiring to improve their capacity to teach, advise, or empower their constituencies to succeed in startup entrepreneurship or corporate innovation.
Course Topics
Module 1: The Entrepreneurial Finance Spectrum
The investment landscape. The language of new venture finance. The entrepreneurial spectrum. The pros and cons of bootstrapping.
Module 2: Financial Statements
What financial statements do investors want to see? The balance sheet. The income statement. The statement of cash flows.
Module 3: Financial Statement Analysis
Proactive financial statement analysis. Income statement analysis. Understanding financial ratios.
Module 4: Cash Flow Management
Cash flow management. Cash flow forecasting. Managing accounts receivable. Managing accounts payable.
Module 5: Company Valuation Basics
Valuation basics. What is your idea worth? Key factors influencing valuation. Valuation methods.
Module 6: Capital Formation Strategies and Trends
Sources of capital. Understanding private equity markets. Common mistakes in raising capital. Capital formation strategies. Due diligence. How to establish common stock. What is preferred stock. When to use convertible notes. Are you ready to raise capital?
Module 7: Equity Financing
Fundamentals of equity financing. Private placements. Private equity firms. Small business investment companies (SBICs). IPOs and public equity markets.
Module 8: Anatomy of a Venture Capital Transaction
Venture capital transactions. How do you negotiate a term sheet? Aligning term sheets with investor concerns. Legal documents. The next round and down rounds.
Module 9: Crowdfunding and Other Financing Alternatives
Crowdfunding and other sources. Customer and vendor financing. Franchising, joint ventures, co-branding, and licensing.
Module 10: Pitching Investors and Closing the Round
What do investors want to see? How to create a pitch deck. How to tell your story. The do's and don'ts of the pitch. Closing the financing round.
Learning Experience
Asynchronous Lectures
Coaching and Mentoring
Live Office Hours
Peer Interactions and Networking
Project-Based Learning
Real-World Assignments
Faculty
Michael R. Pratt
Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute
University of Maryland
Michael Pratt teaches and mentors students in the University of Maryland's Master of Professional Studies in Technology Entrepreneurship and Corporate Innovation, Minor in Technology Entrepreneurship, and General Education courses. 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.
Take a Peek at Financial Management and New Venture Financing
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