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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Entrepreneurship 4: Financing and Profitability by University of Pennsylvania

4.8
stars
1,122 ratings

About the Course

Start-ups can benefit from a wide variety of financing options on the path to profitability, but how do you know which one to choose? This course explores different financing models, including bootstrapping, organic growth, debt and risk capital, and also provides a clear overview of equity financing including the key types of investors: angels, venture capital, and crowdfunding. You’ll learn about terms, and term sheets, exit modes and what exit strategy might be best for you. By the end of this course, you’ll have an understanding of what success looks like and how it can be financed. You’ll also be ready for the capstone project, in which you will get feedback on your own pitch deck, and may even be selected to pitch to investors from venture capital firms....

Top reviews

MG

Mar 31, 2017

Love this course, especially in planning a new start-up. I can take these lessons and incorporate them into my planning process. That is precisely what I'm going to do.

CS

Apr 11, 2018

I have always been in start up business, and I deal with these everyday, and yet I still learned plenty from this course. Many thanks to all the professors. :)

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1 - 25 of 142 Reviews for Entrepreneurship 4: Financing and Profitability

By Salfo B

•

Aug 17, 2019

The course is unnecessarily too expensive. The whole series of 4 + capstone courses should not cost more than $100.

By MQ

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Jun 11, 2019

This is a very frustrating course to review – on the one hand, there is a lot of good information here. On the other hand, it is incredibly, incredibly poorly presented. The lectures are all over the place in quality and organization. The slides are an absolute mess of information design and are really hard to follow. I also have no idea what audience they had in mind for this course – they claim back in Entrepreneurship 1 that this is an introductory course without prerequisites, but in practice they don't explain a lot of concepts they introduce in this course either at all or very well (including things like, accounting and financial statements, ratio analysis, breakeven calculation – just off the top of my head). If I hadn't already taken a few courses elsewhere on accounting and corporate finance, I could see myself being pretty lost here.

Much to my own surprise, I've found the entrepreneurship and financial courses on LinkedIn Learning (RIP Lynda.com) to be much, much better presented and more compellingly taught than these Wharton courses, they just aren't quite as comprehensive or densely packed as these Entrepreneurship courses. There's definitely value here, but it requires a lot more effort from me as a student to push through the mediocre teaching to get to it. If you've ever taken a lecture class at a research university with a professor renowned for their research but *not* their teaching ability, then you already know what you're in for here.

By Jafed E G

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May 14, 2019

Able to concentrate and stay focused for periods of several hours, even when tasks are relatively mundane, and doesn't make mistakes. He has a high boredom threshold. Always assured and confident in demeanour and presentation of ideas without being aggressively over-confident. No absences without valid reason in 6 months. Reaches a decision rapidly after taking account of all likely outcomes and estimating the route most likely to bring success. The decisions almost always turn out to be good ones.

This Course always completes any assignment on time and to a high standard. This Course has outstanding artistic or craft skills, bringing creativity and originality to the task. Aiming for a top job in the organization. He sets very high standards, aware that this will bring attention and promotion. This Course pays great attention to detail. He always presented work properly checked and completely free of error.

By Carlos F P

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Aug 2, 2020

Excellent material.

By Carlos J R F

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Sep 22, 2018

A 360 journey through entrepreneurship. Some lessons very easy to follow, others too packed with info and a rhythm that could be easier. Very grateful.

By Neha S

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Jul 19, 2017

As compared to the first two courses, this one was too short. what would help is if additional reading material/case studies can be provided (relevant to the course). The problem with so much information on the web is it is very easy to get distracted with irrelevant topics, so some direction w.r.t. sources on relevant topics will be of immense help.

By Ki N Y

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Nov 22, 2016

The class would have been better if the financing options/strategies had been further categorized according to different stages of development of the startup. I liked most of the content. Nevertheless, speaking of issues like IPO and several stages of funding did not seem relevant to a great majority of startups, at least for early stage ones. (As figures demonstrated in the class, many failed and the mostly adopted early stage funding options is from family & friends).

Anyway, it really was a great class, intense, interesting and important in entrepreneurship! Thank you!

By mehran f

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Aug 5, 2020

Good courses. Not everything will be useful at once and in the beginning of our venture but I'm happy to have taken the course. I appreciated that finally one of the instructors mentioned the courses were filmed in 2018. I wish Coursera would have the year stated for all the courses conducted (if they do, i have missed it). All in all, lots of good material. Now the challenge is coming up with a good idea :)

Gratitude from Chicago.

By Sudhir G

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Mar 3, 2021

The course is very well done. I liked every bit of it. The professors are experts in their fields. I was just amazed at the experiences they shared and some glimpses of the research they provided. This is the Coursera advantage where I am getting the best from the best people in the best universities worldwide without having to pay hundreds of thousands in tuition.

By Simon I

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Dec 23, 2017

Thanks to the all professors for their time to come up with this material. I would be very happy to see more stuff related to the accounting. Possible, at least on chapter could be devoted to that subject just to introduce newbies and to give a better direction. But again, this is my humble opinion. In overall, I've learned a lot of new staff. Thanks

By Viktor L

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Jun 27, 2019

The course is full of interesting information about starting an enterprise. Most of it is related to the US. Lectures are not long and are easy to pursue. When applicable lectures include examples from real companies.

In general, I think the course is good to get introduced and have some initial picture of how things work in the startup world.

By Claude Z

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May 7, 2018

I like this course very much. Even though I'm just a high-school student now, and I have to spend more time reviewing the courses' concepts and contents, but the session really interests me, and I will go on to finish other courses provided by Wharton school.

By Fahad F

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Oct 30, 2016

Excellent course. Brilliant use of real business case scenarios to help illustrate the theories and concepts. But more importantly this course was taught by exceptional well talented instructors, and thus making the course very interesting. Thank you all

By Shreeshiv P

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May 2, 2020

Course on Finance and Profitability by University of Pennsylvania is very insightful in terms of managing cash in startup. I learnt many things, how to make financial planning for a business. Most important lesson, I learnt is "Never Run Out of Cash" .

By Gabriel T F

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Jan 5, 2020

EN. A very detailed course in the alternatives for financing my idea, just what I expected and a bit more. PT. Curso bem detalhado sobre as possibilidades de financiamento para minha ideia, exatamente o que eu esperava e um pouco mais.

By Chaim L

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Dec 25, 2016

One again a wonderful and informative course. Being a former Wall Street veteran, I thought I know almost everything and these Professor taught me so much in such detail. Now I know everything!!! HaHa..almost! Thank you Wharton!

By Raad K

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Feb 9, 2021

Thumbs up! to all the lecturers for such an amazing & excellent specializations created for buddy entreprenuers. Looking forward to check out similar courses in future

Yayy, Finally looking forward for the capstone project.

By GIORGI L

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Jun 24, 2016

Great Course !

Aspirant Entrepreneurs many times make mistakes in the Innovative companies financial planning, This is great Course to Think about Financial Health of the startup and avoid Serious, OUT of CASH mistakes ...

By Byron D

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Jun 16, 2020

Great coverage of key topics. Whether you're just beginning a business career or have startup/growth experience, this course provides insight, review and perspective that would improve your performance.

By Devanshu S

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Feb 16, 2020

Fabulous!

truly worth it!

this course provided me with deep insight into how to grow one's business, finance it and how to "never run out of the cash!".

really great experience learning. thankyou Wharton!

By Luis A G A

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Nov 13, 2016

A course that give you the insights of financing your venture. You will get key resources related with the valuation of startups and many other tools to address funding. I highly recommend this course!

By Eli C

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Aug 31, 2019

This course was by far my favorite of the group so far. It definitely will have a bunch of tips on creating a FORMAL pitch deck, and other tactical strategies when pitching to investors.

By Marlon G

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Apr 1, 2017

Love this course, especially in planning a new start-up. I can take these lessons and incorporate them into my planning process. That is precisely what I'm going to do.

By CHIH T S

•

Apr 12, 2018

I have always been in start up business, and I deal with these everyday, and yet I still learned plenty from this course. Many thanks to all the professors. :)

By Jesus S O

•

Jul 18, 2020

Very useful, maybe its not the most interesting course, but it will help to know the types of financing you can use and the best for your type of business