Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is the process of discovering new ways of combining resources. When the market value generated by this new combination of resources is greater than the market value these resources can generate elsewhere individually or in some other combination, the entrepreneur makes a profit.
Explore how startup entrepreneurs use the customer discovery process to build and refine their business models, from assessing market opportunities to developing an MVP.
- Startup Essentials
- Assessing Market Opportunities
- Business Model Canvas
- Validating the Problem
- Testing the Solution with an MVP
Measure customer demand by developing, testing, and optimizing a sales strategy.
- Validating Your Sales Strategies
- Choosing Your Team
- Understanding the Sales Environment
- Preparing for Test-selling
- Test-Selling
- Pivot or Proceed?
Navigate the venture capital funding process, from nailing an elevator pitch to closing a funding round.
- Introduction to Venture Capital
- The Funding Process
- How VC Firms Work
- Fund Life Cycle
- Fundraising Materials
- Landing a Deal
Discover what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur and learn how to create an effective business plan.
- Introduction to Business Plans
- Writing Your Company Description
- Analyzing the Business Environment
- The Management Summary
- The Operations Plan
- Marketing Plan
- Financial Plan
- Compiling the Executive Summary
Marketing & Economics
Use key economics concepts and models to better understand real-world problems and develop excellent analytical and problem-solving skills that are highly valued by employers. Explain complex data in simple terms to a diverse audience.
Evaluate important economic indicators and assess why the economy fluctuates.
- The Business Cycle
- Economic Indicators
- Calculating GDP
- Building Aggregate Demand
- Building Aggregate Supply
- Markets
- Unemployment
- Inflation
Explain how governments deal with fluctuations in the economy.
- What is Fiscal Policy?
- Fiscal Multipliers
- US Federal Budget and Policy
- The Money Market
- Monetary Policy
- Monetary Policy and the Market
Analyze why countries trade and how international trade affects labor, prices, exchange rates, and more.
- Why Do Countries Trade?
- Trade Restrictions
- Openness in Goods and Financial Markets
- Labor in International Markets
- Prices in International Markets
- Floating and Fixed Exchange Rate Systems
- Economic Development in the World
- Trade Wars
Examine foundational aspects of microeconomics such as supply and demand and explore how markets determine prices.
- What is Microeconomics?
- The Demand Curve
- The Supply Curve
- Law of Supply and Demand
- Equilibrium Shifts
- Understanding Consumer Demand
- Price Elasticity of Demand
- Costs of Production
- Revenues, Costs, and Profits
- Price Elasticity of Supply
Apply principles of microeconomics as you explore issues of information, market theory, elasticities, and international trade.
- Defining Economics
- Asymmetric Information
- Theory of Markets
- The Production Possibilities Frontier
- Marginal Utility and Budget Lines
- Elasticity and its Applications
- Deadweight Loss
- International Trade at the Local Level
Solve problems related to monopoly, externalities, and the environment.
- Perfect Competition
- The Short Run and the Long Run
- Monopoly
- Oligopoly and Monopolistic Competition
- Types of Goods
- Externalities
- Solutions to Externalities
- Economics and the Environment
Accounting
Accounting or accountancy is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting measures the results of an organization’s economic activities and conveys this information to a variety of users, including investors, creditors, management, and regulators.
Apply Financial statement preparation principles and bookkeeping mechanics to conduct basic transactions.
- Introduction to the Balance Sheet
- Fundamental Principles of Accounting
- All about Assets
- Liabilities & Equity
- Debits & Credits
- Revenues & Expenses
- Income Statements
- General Journal
- General Ledger
- Practice Makes Perfect
Account for revenues and expenses, including the cost of goods sold and depreciation.
- Revenue and Cash
- Expenses and the Matching Concept
- Realizing Revenues and Expenses Over Time
- Bad Debt
- Inventory and the Cost of Goods Sold
- Manufacturing Inventory
- Fixed Assets & Straight-Line Depreciation
- Other Depreciation Methods
- Depletion & Amortization
Analyze an entity’s earnings and cash position by examining the income and cash flow statements.
- Gross Profit
- Operating Profit
- EBITDA
- Net Income
- Operating Cash Flows
- Investing & Financing Cash Flows
- The Li’l Circus of Cash Flows
Finance
Finance is a term for matters regarding the management, creation, and study of money and investments. Specifically, it deals with the questions of how and why an individual, company or government acquires the money needed – called capital in the company context – and how they spend or invest that money. Finance is then often split per the following major categories: corporate finance, personal finance and public finance
Develop mathematical ability around the time value of money and master foundational financial terminology.
- The Time Value of Money
- The Timeline
- Moving Money Through Time: Compounding
- Moving Money Through Time: Discounting
- Moving Money Forward Over Multiple Years
- Moving Money Backward Over Multiple Years
- Moving Cash Flows Through Time
- Net Present Value (NPV)
- Fair Trade Finance
Forecast a company’s future free cash flows and learn how to value a company by discounting those cash flows back to the present.
- Discounted Free Cash Flow Valuation
- Free Cash Flow
- Calculating Free Cash Flow
- Forecasting Free Cash Flow
- Free Cash Flow Valuation
Value a company using the market multiples and liquidation methods and determine how to calculate a company’s enterprise and equity values.
- Enterprise & Equity Values
- Free Cash Flow to Equity Valuation
- Dividend Discount Model, Part I
- Dividend Discount Model, Part II
- Multiples ValuationLiquidation Value
Analyze a company’s balance between debt and equity as it assesses the profitability of proposed projects.
- Cost of Debt
- Cost of Equity
- Capital Structure & WACC
Under certain assumptions, the capital structure of a company is irrelevant. Removing assumptions reveals an optimal balance between debt and equity.
- What If There Were No Taxes?
- Return of the Taxes
- Bankruptcy Is Not Free
Prioritize what projects to invest in based on projected cash flows and constraints on capital.
- The Goals of a Firm
- The Net Present Value Rule
- Incremental Cash Flows
- One Metric to Rule Them All
- Accounting for Uncertainty
Marketing & Pricing
Marketing is profitably using the results of studying short term and long term needs of those who can pay for a one-time, or in most cases, a steady flow of service or product placement. Pricing is the process whereby a business sets the price at which it will sell its products and services, and may be part of the business’s marketing plan.
Design and create a marketing strategy, from the situation analysis to the value proposition, and everything in between.
- Marketing Basics
- Situation Analysis
- Segmentation and Targeting
- The Positioning Statement
- Value Propositions
- The Four P’s
Organize the tools needed to effectively bring a product to market.
- The Purchase Funnel
- Creating Your Product
- Place: Distributing Your Product
- Promotion: Spreading the Word About Your Product
- Pricing Your Product
- Brand Marketing
Design and leverage a strong brand using practical tips for bringing your brand to life.
- The Value of a Brand
- What Exactly Is a Brand?
- Brand Positioning: Defining the Competition
- Defining the Brand Vision
- Brand Naming
- Brand Marks
- Brand Messaging
- Measuring Brand Performance
Evaluate the methods and principles for pricing goods and services and determine how pricing relates to value.
- Introduction to Pricing and Value Creation
- Setting Prices: Main Approaches
- The Relationship Between Value and Price
- Measuring Psychological Value
- Pricing Strategies
- Determining the Right Price Level
- Communicating Value
- Biases in Consumer Perceptions of Price and Value
- Designing Product Offers
- Setting Multiple Prices
- Collecting Survey Data to Estimate Market Demand
- Analyzing Survey Data to Estimate Market Demand
Maximize profit by establishing varying price levels for different consumer segments.
- Price Segmentation: Benefits and Challenges
- Price Fences
- Versioning
- Bundling
- Price Promotions
- Markdown Management
Discover pricing strategies and practices used online to maximize revenue given extreme competition and price transparency.
- E-Commerce Pricing: Challenges and Opportunities
- Yield Management: The Airline Industry Model (Part I)
- Yield Management: The Airline Industry Model (Part II)
- Yield Management: Other Use Cases
- Maintaining Customer Loyalty Under Yield Management
- Online Auction Pricing
- Subscription Pricing
- Competitive Pricing in E-Commerce