Beginners Course to CORPORATE FINANCE for START-UPS [2023]

Hello, welcome, and thank you for coming to check out my Beginners Course to Corporate Finance for Startups.

If you are interested in starting your own business, or working in the corporate world, but feel overwhelmed by all the jargon and terminology, yet at the same time want to learn more about corporate finance but don't know where to start, then look no further.

I have created this beginner friendly course to serve as an introductory overview of the corporate and financial world, designed to cover all the basics, from the why, what, how and who are involved, in order to give you a better understanding of how it all fits together.

Company Life Cycle Model

The course is a part of what is known as the Company Life Cycle Model that explores each of the 5 main phases that categorize companies.

This includes:

1. The Adoption Phase that facilitates Start-up companies, which is what this course is all about.

Then there are the other 4 phases that aren’t part of this course, but I want to mention them to you so that you can get a good understanding of the overall grand scheme of things:

1. The Fast Growth Phase in which start-up companies take the next step as a Growing Firm.

2. The Profitability Phase where a small to medium sized firm expands on its journey to being an Enterprise.

3. The Large Scale Phase where the firm scales from being a small enterprise to a large enterprise.

4. Then lastly, the Restructuring Phase, where a Distressed Firm takes action to make vital changes in operation in order to either resurrect itself, or close its doors.

Types of Activities

Each of these phases is then divided into the types of activities that occur within a company no matter what phase they are in.

This is split into two main sections being:

1. Internal Activities.

2. External Activities.

Within Internal Activities we have the following activities:

1. Corporate Finance; which is the management of the financial resources and capital structure of the business, including handling funds, making investment decisions, and managing risks.

2. Compliance; which is the company's adherence to relevant laws, regulations, and standards in its operations, activities, and transactions.

Then within External Activities we have the following:

1. Commercial Banking; which are the services and products provided by a financial institution to help manage their financial transactions, such as accepting deposits, providing loans, and facilitating payments.

2. Investment Firms; which are financial institutions that provide funding and support to startup companies in exchange for an ownership stake or equity in the company.

3. The Big 4; who are highly regarded companies that offer impartial assurance and consulting services, including due diligence, valuation, M&A advisory, forensics, prospectus preparation, post-merger integration, and more.

4. Investment Banking; which involves providing financial advisory services, such as capital raising and M&A, to facilitate the growth and success of the company

5. Consulting; which refers to the professional guidance and support provided by external experts to help the company with various aspects of business operations, strategy, and growth.

In this course we will dive deeper by taking a closer look at all seven of these internal and external activities during the Adoption phase and how they pertain to start-up companies.

What You'll Learn

Ok, so what exactly will you learn?

Corporate Finance

Well; we will start with Internal Corporate Finance. Here you'll learn about monitoring expenses, as well as keeping track of available funds, and identifying any financial issues early on.

We’ll then talk about what some of the responsibilities are to achieve this including bookkeeping, accountant communications, and cash flow monitoring. From there we explore some of the spreadsheet and accounting software options available to startups, as well as the roles involved in the process.

Compliance

Next up is compliance, where we'll discuss why it's important to research tax and legal frameworks within the jurisdictions that the business operates and in doing so, establish basic rules and procedures that will aid in protecting the startup company from fines and lawsuits.

Commercial Banking

From here we move into the external section, where we'll dive into Commercial Banking. You'll learn about startup business accounts and the roles of the founder and external advisors.

Then, we'll explore Investment Firms and their role in funding the start of your business, including the types of capital available to you.

We’ll also discuss other related topics such as comparable analysis, and valuation methods, as well as what options are available to you when trying to raise capital.

Big 4

We’ll also briefly cover the Big 4 accounting firms, where you'll learn about financial statement assurance and the services they provide.

Investment banking

Investment Banking is also on the agenda, where we'll talk about the types of possible services they can offer a start-up company.

Consulting

Finally, we'll explore consulting companies, and the services and benefits that they could possibly offer, including providing expertise and experience, tailored solutions to business challenges, and access to networks and resources.

Disclaimer

Before finishing off, I want to be transparent and clear that this course is for absolute beginners in the field.

It's also important to understand that it does not teach you the intricate details on topics such as “how to start a business”, “how to manage your finances”, “how to work with spreadsheets” or even “how to get funding”.

Instead my course serves as a guide that outlines the possibilities available to a start-up company in the adoption phase of the Company Life Cycle Model.

It is designed to help you familiarize yourself with some of the jargon and terminology in the corporate world, allowing you to better understand what's out there and how it all fits together so that you can make informed decisions on what to learn next or who and why you should approach them.

So if these are topics that you are already familiar with, then this course is most likely not a good fit for you.

However, if this is something you want to learn more about and are starting from a beginner's standpoint then this course is definitely not something that you want to miss out on.

I want you to enjoy the course while learning something new along the way.

Hope to see you there!