Section 001: Bidgood 219, 12:30 - 1:45
New Venture Finance (MGT 481) provide students with working knowledge of financing mechanisms such as friends and family, venture capital, angel investments, and debt instruments for creating and operating a new venture; valuation methods for determining pre- and post-money; creating capitalization tables to track equity ownership assignments and investment rounds.
MGT 300 and MGT 386
see this Google doc
Three paperback (or ebooks) available at Amazon.com
Founder’s Pocket Guide: Friends and Family Funding $7.99 ($3.03)
ISBN 978-1-938162-11-4
Founder’s Pocket Guide: Startup valuation $7.99 ($3.99)
ISBN-13: 978-1938162046
ISBN-10: 1938162048
Founder’s Pocket Guide: Term sheets and preferred shares $7.99 ($3.99)
ISBN 978-1-938162-06-0
The lowdown: You can probably get through this course without these books, but I purposely chose these books because of their quality, conciseness, and price.
This course is for aspiring or active entrepreneurs who want 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 create milestones to delineate the progress of the new venture?
How to pitch to investors?
What techniques help the entrepreneur ‘get to the close’?
(Adapted from https://www.coursera.org/learn/startup-funding)
Student learning objectives include at a minimum the following:
Recognize and anticipate situations where entrepreneurs should raise outside capital
Identify appropriate types of investors by stage and recognize where to find them
Identify and evaluate fundraising options that are appropriate the to type and stage of development of the venture
Understand and differentiate the key components of the term sheet
Perform several different approaches to company valuations
Understand the components of an effective pitch to prospective investors
Recognize, evaluate, and select situation-appropriate techniques that help the entrepreneur ‘get to the close’
Professor Craig E. Armstrong, Ph.D. | Alston 155 | MGT481BAMA@gmail.com for all course communications.
I update this resources page as I find new material to build into the course.
You will turn in a graded activity nearly every week of the semester beginning the week of September 6. In addition to the practice quiz, which is provided to help reinforce what you've learned after viewing the assigned readings and video, you'll have a graded assessment activity. This could be in the form of a written analysis, a brief case write-up, or an additional quiz. All assignments are due by 11:59 pm, Friday evenings. The points I've assigned to each module are intentionally set so that messing up on any one particular assessment won't crush your grade (or your soul). Ten assignments each each worth 10 points all add to 100 total points for the course.
August 23-25, Course Ice Breaker with Proof Eyewear
Financial Analysis Assessment, August 30 - September 1,
Pro Forma Financials Assessment with Autoshop, September 6-8, September 8 graded activity IN CLASS is the Financial Analysis assessment above; here's a shortcut link to the google doc you'll complete Quiz 1 due September 9 (10 points)
Working Capital Management Assessment, September 13-15, September 15 in-class activity on Crimson Coffee working capital (10 points).
Overview of Sources of Financing Assessment, September 20-22, graded activity will take place on Sept 27
Founders Assessment, September 27-29, not graded; WE will do this assignment in class on Thursday, Sept 29 in teams 10 points
Friends and Family Assessment, October 4-6, 10 points - I will email you a quiz after class on Thursday, Oct 6. Here is the pop non-quiz we discussed in class on Thursday 10/6 (google doc with questions and annotations)
Early Stage Valuation In-class team assessment or QUIZ due October 11-13, 10 points - Announcement: River Pitch is coming soon
Angel Investors, no lecture on October 20, QUIZ due October 21, 10 points
Venture Capital In-class team assessment or QUIZ due October 28, 10 points. In-Class Extra Credit Activity, October 27. (debrief)
Cap Tables In-class team assessment or QUIZ November 1-3, 10 points
Term Sheets (11/8) and Harvest, (11/10) November 8-10; no graded activities or quizzes
More on Harvest and introduction to Search Funds November 15-17, QUIZ November 18, 10 points; Beatbox Beverages: In-class term sheet and harvest activity for extra credit
Search funds in-class simulation on Tuesday and Thursday. Here is PART I of the simulation we'll run in class on Tuesday. We will run PART II of the simulation on Thursday and finish with an overview of your teams' efforts and a debrief. Team presentations, Lecture and in-class practice on November 15-17; prepare November 29 for presentations, present on December 1, 10 points
Resources you can (should) use, but not *required* for this course. We professors do a lot of curating!
US Small Business Association (SBA.gov): Financing Options for Small Businesses (45-minute course).
This self-paced training exercise is an introduction to financing options for your business. Topics include; determining your financial needs, loans, grants, venture capital, angel investors, crowd funding and other financial options available to small businesses.
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