MIT/Sloan Courseware: Entrepreneurial Finance

[niqolas]

"This class examines the elements of entrepreneurial finance, focusing on technology-based start-up ventures, and the early stages of company development. It addresses key questions which challenge all entrepreneurs: how much money can and should be raised; when should it be raised and from whom; what is a reasonable valuation of the company; and how funding should be structured. The subject aims to prepare students for these decisions, both as entrepreneurs and venture capitalists."

[robfitz]

I don't know if the people upvoting looked through the syllabus, course notes, and assignments, but I'm going to go so far as to say this is completely useless, and might even be damaging for a new entrepreneur to read.

The course is divided into 4 sections

  * Valuations
  * VC Deal Structure
  * VC Types & Strategies
  * Exit

The assignments are of the form: 1) read a case study 2) write your thoughts. You will answer inane questions like "What should the pre-money valuation be" and "Would you invest" with arbitrary answers like "$10M" and "Yes", spread over a 2 page memo.

Since it's from 2002, it is missing relevant information on angels, super angels, accelerators, and incubators. The VC market has also significantly changed. It doesn't address bootstrapping.

More importantly, it doesn't touch on how to actually run or think about companies. Spending the time on this will help you understand a few more items on your terms heets and deal packet, but you can also just as easily ask your lawyer or a founder friend when the time comes.

[ilamont]

The syllabus for the spring 2011 version of the course reads:

This course will use a combination of case discussions and lectures to study entrepreneurial finance. The course is targeted to budding entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. There are five main areas of focus.

1) Business Evaluation and Valuation: Here we will give you some tools to valuate early stage business opportunity. We will also review the standard tools of valuation applied to start-up situations and introduce the venture capital method and the real options approach to valuation.

2) Financing: In this module, we will highlight the main ways that entrepreneurs are financed and analyze the role of financial contracts in addressing information and incentive problems in uncertain environments.

3) Venture Capital Funds: We will look at the structure of venture capital funds and their fund raising process. This module will include issues of corporate venture capital and private equity funds in emerging market economies.

4) Employment: Here we will study the issues of attracting and compensating employees in start-ups.

5) Exit: How should founders exit? Should they sell to another company, take it public, or continue independently as a private company?

[swombat]

> As taught in: Spring 2002

So, then the answer to "How to value your company" at that point in time would be something along the lines of $0.