Financial Projections: What Every Startup Founder Needs to Know

Running a startup involves a high degree of uncertainty. But that doesn’t mean as a founder, you don’t need to plan ahead. Just to the opposite, the more you understand the financial assumptions and business drivers of your company and plan your actions accordingly, the more you stand a chance to succeed. Besides, before you talk to potential investors, you want to make sure you understand what resources it takes to get your company off the ground, and what milestones you need to achieve by when.

In this course, seasoned financial executive Charlie Tillett will show you how to go about making financial projections for your company that will deepen your understanding of your own business and increase your credibility with investors. The course also shows you how venture financing works, and teaches you, through concrete examples, how external financing changes the equity structure of your company over time. After taking this course and completing the exercises, you will be better equipped to negotiate with investors and assess potential investment offers.

The course is mainly designed for entrepreneurs seeking external financing. But the principals and wisdom presented here are useful no matter how you plan to fund your company.

(Financial Projection: What Every Startup Founder Needs to Know is a derivative of Nuts and Bolts of Business Plans by MIT, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.)