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How to Finance and Grow Your Startup – Without VC

Approx. 23 hours to complete

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Course Summary

This course teaches the fundamentals of startup financing without relying on venture capital. Students will learn how to fund their startup through bootstrapping, crowdfunding, and alternative financing options.

Key Learning Points

Explore alternative financing options for startups
Learn how to bootstrap your startup
Understand how to leverage crowdfunding for startup financing

Learning Outcomes

Understand the basics of startup financing
Learn how to fund your startup through alternative financing options
Develop a financing strategy for your startup

Prerequisites or good to have knowledge before taking this course

Basic knowledge of startup finance
Familiarity with basic accounting concepts

Course Difficulty Level

Intermediate

Course Format

Video lectures
Quizzes
Assignments

Similar Courses

Startup Funding
Entrepreneurship 101
Small Business Management

Related Education Paths

Notable People in This Field

Founder, Virgin Group
Founder, SpaceX and Tesla

Related Books

Description

Who?

If you’re an entrepreneur at any stage of your journey, or even an aspiring one, and you need money to start or grow your business, this course is for you. What? This course will introduce, and help you put to use in your startup, the five models through which your customers can – and will, if you ask them! – fund your business. These five time-tested models have been put to use by entrepreneurial superstars like Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Richard Branson and more. Sadly, though, the five models are rarely talked about and not widely understood. Until now! The five models will be brought to life by the real-world stories of an inspiring collection of incredibly creative entrepreneurs from around the world – including successes and failures – through a series of captivating no-holds-barred interviews with founders and others, and investors, too. Why? More than two generations ago, the venture capital community – VC’s, business angels, incubators, and others – convinced the entrepreneurial world that writing business plans and raising venture capital constituted the twin centerpieces of entrepreneurial endeavor. They did so for very good reasons: the sometimes astonishing returns they’ve delivered to their investors and the incredibly large and valuable companies their ecosystem has created. But the vast majority of fast growing companies never take any angel or venture funding. Are they onto something that most of today’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has missed? Indeed, should a business angel or VC be seen as the first port of call for getting your nascent entrepreneurial venture off the ground or growing it faster? Perhaps not. How? You’ll be asked to do a series of exercises – out in the real world – to put your growing toolkit to use in your business or the one you hope to start. Hands-on, practical tools to help your business start and thrive – without venture capital. You’ll join our discussion board of fellow participants, if you like, and learn from others who are putting the tools to work, just as you are. And to suit today’s fast-paced lifestyles, we’ve broken what you’ll get – short lessons, interviews, thought-provoking questions, even some optional things to read – into bite-sized chunks, so you can log in and grab them whenever and wherever you are. And what else? If, after checking out and perhaps completing this course, you find your company in a position where seeking venture capital turns out to be the right thing to do next, John Mullins leads an inspiring and hands-on executive education course at London Business School – this one face-to-face – called Financing the Entrepreneurial Business. There, among a room full of investors and entrepreneurs, you’ll study a series of captivating real-world cases and learn everything an entrepreneur – or an investor, for that matter – needs to know to handle the person who sits across the deal table and take an entrepreneurial business from start-up to exit. See https://www.london.edu/education-and-development/executive-education/topic/finance/financing-the-entrepreneurial-business#.WIVY_FyTQ-0 for info.

Outline

Introduction: Why this course?
0.1 Why this course?
0.2 Glossary
0.3 Course outcomes
0.4 Assignment before starting Module 1
Get-to-know-each-other
0.6 Getting to know you survey responses

Module 1: Why taking venture capital is a bad idea
1.1 Introduction to Module 1, Part 1: John Mullins
1.2 Introduction to Module 1, Part 2: John Mullins
1.3 A customer-funded success story - Thomas Knobel
1.4 A Silicon Valley perspective - Interview with Sramana Mitra, Part 1. Sramana Mitra on bootstrapping; on why many great companies are not VC backable; on how to go to VCs as kings, not as beggars; and more.
1.5 A Silicon Valley perspective - Interview with Sramana Mitra, Part 2
1.6 A Silicon Valley perspective - Interview with Sramana Mitra, Part 3
1.7 A growth guru's perspective - Interview with Verne Harnish, Part 1. Verne Harnish on managing cash; on scaling up; on creating rhythm in your business; and more.
1.8 A growth guru's perspective - Interview with Verne Harnish, Part 2
1.9 A venture capitalist's perspective - Interview with Bruce Golden, Part 1. Bruce Golden on why capital efficiency matters; on controlling your destiny; on unicorns; and more.
1.10 A venture capitalist's perspective - Interview with Bruce Golden, Part 2
1.11 A venture capitalist's perspective - Interview with Bruce Golden, Part 3
1.12 A venture capitalist's perspective - Interview with Bruce Golden, Part 4
1.13 Module 1: Wrap-up, lessons learned, and a look ahead: John Mullins
1.14 Optional reading

Module 2: Matchmaker models
2.1 Introduction to Module 2
2.2 A matchmaker success story - Budgetplaces.com
2.3 A matchmaker failure story - ProFounder.
2.4 The 'Inside Story' - interview with Amelia Armstrong. A DogVacay dogsitter provides an inside view of life as a supplier to a matchmaker business.
2.5 Matchmaking: An entrepreneur's perspective - Interview with Nitzan Yudan, Part 1. Nitzan Yudan on pivoting; on the value of customer-funded traction; on building relationships with investors with lines, not dots; and more.
2.6 Matchmaking: An entrepreneur's perspective - Interview with Nitzan Yudan, Part 2
2.7 Lessons for matchmakers - Interview with Ivan Nikkhoo, Part 1. Ivan Nikkhoo on the Uber phenomenon; on striking the right balance and timing between supply and demand; on choosing VCs; on building a matchmaker model in emerging markets; and more.
2.8 Lessons for matchmakers - Interview with Ivan Nikkhoo.
2.9 Module 2: Wrap-up, lessons learned, and a look ahead: John Mullins.
2.10 Optional reading

Module 3: Pay-in-advance models
3.1 Introduction to Module 3: John Mullins.
3.2 A pay-in-advance success story - Funovation.
3.3 The 'Inside Story': From garage to global leader - Interview with Erick Mueller.
3.4 Eric Mueller on entrepreneurial teams; on why pay-in-advance works even for fledgling companies; on how to choose your first customers; and more.
3.5 A pay-in-advance failure story - The Loot.
3.6 When customer funding is all there is - Interview with Jon Smith. Jon Smith on addressing a real social problem - kids' literacy; on starting with no money; and on raising a first angel round. Part 1
3.7 Celebrating kids' writing - Jon Smith Part 2
3.8 Entrepreneurship in Latin America - Interview with Carlos Varela. Carlos Varela on the entrepreneurial landscape in Latin America; on government handouts for entrepreneurs; and more.
3.9 Module 3: Wrap-up, lessons learned, and a look ahead: John Mullins.
3.9 Optional reading

Module 4: Subscription models
4.1 Introduction to Module 4
4.2 Customer-funding winemakers - NakedWines.com
4.3 Building customer-funded SaaS Ventures - Interview with Bill Flagg, Part 1. Bill Flagg on winning your first customer; on identifying and delivering customer value; on earning ROI on new hires; on accelerators; and more.
4.4 Customer-Funding SaaS Ventures - Interview with Bill Flagg, Part 2.
4.5 Customer-Funding SaaS Ventures - Interview with Bill Flagg, Part 3.
4.6 Customer-Funding SaaS Ventures - Interview with Bill Flagg, Part 4.
4.7 A VC's perspective - Interview with Hussein Kanji, Part 1. Hussein Kanji on the hard part about SaaS models; on early metrics that matter; on proving scalability; on the trade-off between organic growth and scale; and more.
4.8 A VC's perspective - Interview with Hussein Kanji, Part 2.
4.9 A VC's perspective - Interview with Hussein Kanji, Part 3.
4.10 How not to do it: Lessons from failure.
4.11 Module 4: Wrap-up, lessons learned, and a look ahead: John Mullins.
4.12 Optional reading

Module 5: Scarcity models
5.1 Introduction to Module 5: John Mullins.
5.2 Speed and scarcity wins for Zara.
5.3 The hands-on nitty gritty of getting customer funds - interview with Rud Browne, Part 1. Rud Browne on getting customers to pay in advance and buyers to play ball; on managing through a downturn; on advice for entrepreneurs getting started today; and more.
5.4 The hands-on nitty gritty of getting customer funds - Interview with Rud Browne, Part 2
5.5 The hands-on nitty gritty of getting customer funds - Interview with Rud Browne, Part 3.
5.6 Easy money in India? - Interview with Ajeet Khurana, Part 1. Ajeet Khurana on 2015's easy money in India: Would it last?; on valuations in India; on mobile-first or mobile-only?; on positive cash flow; and more.
5.7 Easy money in India? - Interview with Ajeet Khurana, Part 2.
5.8 Easy money in India? - Interview with Ajeet Khurana, Part 3.
5.9 Module 5: Wrap-up, lessons learned, and a look ahead.
5.10 Optional reading

Module 6: Service-to-product models
6.1 Introduction to Module 6: John Mullins.
6.2 A customer funded journey (Part 1) - Interviews with Claus Moseholm, Jimmy Maymann, and Hillel Zidel. Claus (co-founder), Jimmy (CEO mid-journey) and Hillel (investor) on getting started; on raising their aspirations; on growth capital as a funding source; and more.
6.3 A customer funded journey (Part 2) - Interview with Jimmy Maymann.
6.4 A customer funded journey (Part 3) - Interview with Claus Moseholm.
6.5 A customer funded journey (Part 4) - Interviews with Hillel Zidel.
6.6 A customer funded journey (Part 5) - Interview with Jimmy Maymann.
6.7 A customer funded journey (Part 6) - Interviews with Hillel Zidel.
6.8 Module 6: Wrap-up, lessons learned, and a look ahead: John Mullins.
6.9 Optional reading

Module 7: Putting a customer-funded model to work in your business
7.1 Introduction to Module 7: John Mullins.
7.2 The Mom Test - interview with Rob Fitzpatrick (Part 1)
7.3 The Mom Test - interview with Rob Fitzpatrick (Part 2).
7.4 Module 7: Wrap-up, lessons learned, and a final look ahead: John Mullins.
7.5 Optional reading

Summary of User Reviews

Learn about startup financing without VC and find alternative ways of raising capital. Students appreciate the course's well-structured content, practical advice, and real-life examples.

Key Aspect Users Liked About This Course

The course provides practical advice and real-life examples.

Pros from User Reviews

Well-structured content
Practical advice
Real-life examples
Engaging instructors
Good pacing

Cons from User Reviews

Some sections may be too basic for experienced entrepreneurs
Lacks in-depth discussion of certain topics
No hands-on exercises
Limited interaction with instructors
Course material may not be applicable in all regions

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