Entrepreneurial Investment and Resource Acquisition

Catalog description

As resource integrator's, entrepreneurs must first understand what resources are needed to create a new venture (through Entrepreneurial Opportunity Creation) and then solicit and organize internal and external resources (aka Venture Capital). Although venture capital is often conceptualized as formal investments made by large investment institutions seeking high growth opportunities, a more inclusive definition of venture capital more aptly considers all forms of external resource sharing to provide the creation of value, new ventures and wealth. The entrepreneurial ecosystem offers an expanding number of tools to aid new venture creation. As such, successful entrepreneurs need to be aware of the options and understand their respective strengths and weaknesses. Today's entrepreneurs can utilize traditional investment tools such as banking, personal debt obligations and venture capital institutions as well as emerging forms of investment tools such as crowdfunding resources, angel investors and accelerators. This course will provide students with the insights into raising venture capital, more broadly defined as any necessary external assets, through business planning, networking, investment pitching and negotiating. This will require students to compile the learning outcomes gained through prerequisite material in opportunity creation into a comprehensive business plan including financial projections. Through these activities, students in this course will be prepared to engage with applicable external resources providers and/or investors.