Financing Innovative Ventures

University System of Maryland and University of Maryland, College Park via edX

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Details

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Provider

edX
Pricing

Free Online Course (Audit)
Languages

English
Certificate

$189.00 Certificate Available
Duration & workload

4 weeks, 2-3 hours a week
Sessions

On-Demand
Level

Beginner
Subtitles

English, Arabic, German, Spanish, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Portuguese, Swahili, Telugu, Turkish, Chinese

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Innovation and Entrepreneurship

5.0

Overview

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This course will demystify key financial concepts to give aspiring and active entrepreneurs and innovators a guide for understanding their financials and securing funding. Assuming that our learners have no prior knowledge in accounting, economics, or finance, we will work from the ground up to:

● Examine the many financing options available to get your new venture funded

● Learn the basics of finance, valuations, dilution, and non-dilutive funding source

● 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:

● If and 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’?

Syllabus

Module 1: The Early Stage Investment Landscape

This session provides insights into the investment landscape, to include how investors and lenders evaluate new ventures. Key terminology and principles are addressed to provide learners without an accounting or finance background with an understanding of these areas.

Module 2: Sources of Capital for Startups and Corporate Ventures

This session examines the options that entrepreneurs and innovators face in where to raise their financial capital from in the early stages of their venture. From friends and family, to angel investors and venture capitalists, the pros and cons of each source of capital are explored. We will also explore the different sources of internal and external financing for the corporate venture.

Module 3: Getting Funded – Steps in the Funding Process

This session discusses the techniques and tools to secure funding for a new venture. This provides insights into how entrepreneurs can create a comprehensive funding strategy for their new venture.

Module 4: Pitching Investors and Closing the Round

This final session instructs learners on how to share their investment opportunity with investors and partners, to include those that manage internal corporate funding decisions. With practical tips on the do's and don'ts of pitching, learners are able to develop a compelling story for their new venture.

Taught by

Michael Pratt

Reviews

5.0 rating, based on 52 Class Central reviews

4.7 rating at edX based on 13 ratings

Start your review of Financing Innovative Ventures

Anonymous

I recently completed the Financing Innovative Ventures course on edX, and it was a highly valuable experience. The course provided a thorough overview of various financing options for entrepreneurs, from bootstrapping to venture capital. Each modul…

I recently completed the Financing Innovative Ventures course on edX, and it was a highly valuable experience. The course provided a thorough overview of various financing options for entrepreneurs, from bootstrapping to venture capital.

Each module was well-structured and filled with practical insights and real-world examples. The case studies were particularly beneficial, showing how different financing strategies are applied in real scenarios. The emphasis on both the advantages and challenges of each financing option helped me make more informed decisions.

The instructors were knowledgeable and engaging, making complex financial concepts accessible and interesting. Their expertise and willingness to provide feedback were greatly appreciated.

Overall, this course has been instrumental in my entrepreneurial journey, equipping me with the knowledge and confidence to explore various funding options. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to understand the intricacies of financing their business.

I hope this version meets your needs!
Anonymous

Wow! Very impressive course! To put things into perspective, I have no education background in business and finance was an absolutely mystery to me. From this course, I've learned a ton about the concepts and language of financing a startup, comm…

Wow! Very impressive course! To put things into perspective, I have no education background in business and finance was an absolutely mystery to me. From this course, I've learned a ton about the concepts and language of financing a startup, common methods used to fund new companies, other sources of funding for early-stage startups, and communicating your business ideas in writing and creating/delivering oral presentations. Seriously, this is the whole package! Michael Pratt, MBS, MS is an outstanding teacher, providing you with the right information that you need as an entrepreneur, especially for a person with no business or finance background. I highly recommend this quality course, which is full of practical information and resources.
Anonymous

Amazing and wonderful. It has a full information to start in this field. I suggest to support the course with a real example including and covering all the topics in one video and a pdf file.
Anonymous

Great instructor and course! I truly learned a lot about financing startups and term sheets and many of the terms that I've been hearing for a while.
Anonymous

This course gives you all the details (and more) for entrepreneurs in the early stages of their businesses. It is practical and well worth your time.
Anonymous

It is worth all of your time you need to watch this basic online business start up structures guidance, and terminology, well done and well-made
Dimitar Pavlov Ganchev

I would recommend this course to anybody who's planning to start a business or has an interest in the startup sector. I was very impressed by the way the whole course was set up and the information, the topics and the details that were presented and explained by lector. I was especially very happy with the fact that real life examples were included and that made things easier to understand. The book that was recommended at the beginning of the course also helped a lot with the whole learning experience. The course does a great job in describing a very important aspect in the path of the early entrepreneur and some of the hardships that one could face along the way.
Anonymous

This course is very informative and covered the subject matter quite extensively - especially on the quick pitch area. Perhaps very very rare- an issue could arise about being the only product - of having a product that solve a serious problem, that there really was no other product out there that provides the solution and you have the proprietary right. Certainly- this would be the exemption- that there is no competition.
Anonymous

This course gives a great introduction to concepts associated with financing Innovative Ventures.
For someone like myself who has no prior training in financing innovative ventures, this course was easy to understand and well-presented by a lecturer who clearly has great depth of experience in this area, and has the skills to communicate his experience in a manner that makes the content very accessible.
Anonymous

Excellent course on understanding “Financing Innovative ventures” Very simple to understand the most complex topics. Excellent videos, intersects quizzes. I could get a complete understanding of the subject. It will be very useful for my professional growth. The session planning , presentation were simply classic.
Anonymous

This short course covers the basics to start thinking of how to finance innovative venture in the US. The instructor has a lot of experience and provides technical and practical knowledge and advice. I recommend it to anyone interested in starting a…

This short course covers the basics to start thinking of how to finance innovative venture in the US. The instructor has a lot of experience and provides technical and practical knowledge and advice. I recommend it to anyone interested in starting any new company that needs funding. The logic of the financial instruments and funding mechanisms is simple but not intuitive or taught in many other countries or programs. For example, in most Latin American countries with nascent Venture Capital industries most people with skills think they have to have time(work) AND money to start a business. Similarly, a lot of wealthy people think that their resources are as more valuable than the work put in by the entrepreneurs. Taking a course like this (even though it does not go deep into company valuation techniques) will help anyone understand that money is just one part of a larger number of things that a company or project needs to succeed.
Anonymous

Very comprehensive overview of the presented topic and after even a bachelor degree completed in this field, many Aha!-Moments and new insights along the way. Thoroughly enjoyed this course and would not want to miss it.
Ron Jansen

Great content and very well presented. Despite being UK based, will be extremely helpful going forward.
Anonymous

The course is easy to navigate and understand. It is detailed yet does not take a long time to finish. I think one could finish this within a week. This is also perfect for those who want to know more about or enter into startup businesses or who ju…

The course is easy to navigate and understand. It is detailed yet does not take a long time to finish. I think one could finish this within a week. This is also perfect for those who want to know more about or enter into startup businesses or who just wants to expand their knowledge in the business world. This is also quite useful for well-established business, too!

If you love Korean dramas and are familiar with Start-Up, then this course can help you understand and appreciate that drama more. :D

Overall, I highly recommend this course for anyone looking into venture to a startup business or just wants to improve or broaden their knowledge in business. The tips provided can also be used if you're already part of an organization and have internal customers. Plus, the course is easy to understand and finish so you're basically gaining knowledge in a short period of time.
Anonymous

The Financing Innovative Ventures course is extremely informative, well-designed and engaging. I look forward to applying my newly gained knowledge.
Anonymous

Compliments to lecturer. Street-smart! Really useful. Much of what you need at one place. GREAT. Many thanks for your time to design this course.
Anonymous

Excellent course! Such a difficult subject made so easy! Very knowledgeable and experienced faculty!
Anonymous

The course is really useful to the beginners in financial and accounting, and especially helpful to the small business owners.

The teacher is very professional and hardworking. He could clarify the complex knowledge in simple words. The most important thing is that he has give the key points of financing the innovative ventures.

The templates are very convenient to download and easy to understand. Thanks to the teacher and other faculty and IT staff of EDX.
Anonymous

Very clear and good, useful information provided. I appreciated the links to downloadable materials.
Anonymous

A really good course, filled with useful information, told in a lean but interesting way by a personable and credible presenter. Really enjoyed doing it, and am looking forward to now putting my learning into practice.