The Startup Valuation and Financial Analysis Specialization teaches two of the most often used methods to find the value of a startup. You’ll learn how to find the value of founder’s ownership before and after additional funding, how to read financial statements and make pro-forma statements, and how to determine the financial health and status of a startup and estimate future earnings and value. You’ll then use various investment criteria, such as Net Present Value (NPV) and Individual Rate of Return (IRR), to make a decision about whether and where to invest your money. Specific topics include: the time value of money, discounted cash flows method, multiple method, financial statements analysis, free cash flows, capital budgeting decision rules and current trends. The Capstone Project will find the value of startups using the methods taught in the course.
Skills you will gain
How the Specialization Works
Take Courses
A Coursera Specialization is a series of courses that helps you master a skill. To begin, enroll in the Specialization directly, or review its courses and choose the one you'd like to start with. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. It’s okay to complete just one course — you can pause your learning or end your subscription at any time. Visit your learner dashboard to track your course enrollments and your progress.
Hands-on Project
Every Specialization includes a hands-on project. You'll need to successfully finish the project(s) to complete the Specialization and earn your certificate. If the Specialization includes a separate course for the hands-on project, you'll need to finish each of the other courses before you can start it.
Earn a Certificate
When you finish every course and complete the hands-on project, you'll earn a Certificate that you can share with prospective employers and your professional network.
There are 5 Courses in this Specialization
Valuation for Startups Using Discounted Cash Flows Approach
Discounted cash flow method means that we can find firm value by discounting future cash flows of a firm. That is, firm value is present value of cash flows a firm generates in the future. In order to understand the meaning of present value, we are going to discuss time value of money, first. That is, the value of $100 today is different from the value of $100 a year later. Then, what should be the present value of $100 that you are going to receive in 1 year? How about the value of $100 dollars that you are going to receive every year for next 10 years? How about forever? After taking this course, you are going to be able to find the present value of these types of cash flows in the future. Unlike most of finance courses, in this course, you are going to learn how to use excel to find present value of future cash flows. In addition to the present value, you are also going to learn how to find future value given investment; interest rate given investment and future cash flows, payments given interest rates, number of periods to wait given investment and interest rate, and so on. After learning the concept and how to find the time value of money, you are going to apply this to real world examples and company valuation. After taking this course, you will be ready to make an estimate of firm value by discounting its cash flows in the future.
Valuation for Startups Using Multiple Approach
In addition to discounted cash flow method, multiple method is one of the most popular methods of firm valuation. PER is often used among financial professionals to make a quick-and-dirty estimate of a firm value. In this course, you are going to learn the concept and usage of PER, PBR and PSR. In addition to these basic multiple ratios, you are going to learn how to make an estimate of enterprise value and founder’s ownership before and after additional funding. Startups require a number of financings before IPO. After taking this course, you are going to be able to answer questions such as What the price per share should be given the startup’s estimate of earnings in the future; How many shares the founder should give up to raise additional capital; and so on? In the discounted cash flow method and multiple method, you are always given earnings or cash flows to make estimate of firm value. In this course, you are also going to learn how to generate cash flows or earnings from the financial statements. After taking this course, you will be able to understand the meaning of financial statements such as balance sheet, income statement and cash flow calculation.
Financial Analysis for Startups
In the previous two courses, you have learned how to value startups using the discounted cash flow method and multiple methods. However, you have not learned how to estimate cash flows or earnings of startups. In this course, you are going to learn the concepts and usage of financial ratios. Using financial ratios such as profitability, liquidity, leverage, efficiency, and growth, you can tell financial health of a startup. Profitability ratios measure how profitable a firm is by looking at ROS, ROA, and ROE. Liquidity ratios measure how quickly a firm turns assets into cash to pay-off short-term liability and they include Current Ratio, Quick Ratio, and Cash Ratio. Leverage ratios measure how much long-term debt a firm has relative to its assets or equity. Efficiency ratios measure how efficiently a firm utilizes its assets. It is like a physical exam for humans and you can tell the fiscal status of a startup using financial ratios. You can also develop pro forma financial statement using financial ratios. Using pro forma financial statement, you can tell future financial status of a startup as well as cash flows. In addition, using information from pro forma statement and valuation methods, you can do the valuation of a startup.
Applying Investment Decision Rules for Startups
In the previous course, you learned financial statement analysis and how to make estimate of future financial status. In this course, you are going to learn capital budgeting. That is, how to make an investment decision. You would like to select the best project among various projects you can take. Then, you need to know the criteria. In this course, you are going to learn investment decision criteria such as NPV and IRR, which are most popular decision rules. Using financial analysis and discounted cash flow method, you can make pro forma financial statement and estimate project cash flows. Then, you apply investment criteria to determine whether to invest or not. After learning how to apply NPV and IRR method to investment decision, you are going to learn how to evaluate NPV estimate and scenario, what-if analyses and break-even analysis. In addition to NPV and IRR, you are going to learn Payback period method and Profitability method to determine whether to invest or not when there is a political risk or capital rationing.
Instructors
Hyun Han Shin
Professor
Saeyeul Park
Assistant ProfessorAbout Yonsei University
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the refund policy?
Can I just enroll in a single course?
Yes! To get started, click the course card that interests you and enroll. You can enroll and complete the course to earn a shareable certificate, or you can audit it to view the course materials for free. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. Visit your learner dashboard to track your progress.
Is financial aid available?
Can I take the course for free?
Is this course really 100% online? Do I need to attend any classes in person?
This course is completely online, so there’s no need to show up to a classroom in person. You can access your lectures, readings and assignments anytime and anywhere via the web or your mobile device.
How long does it take to complete the Specialization?
The four courses will take 14 weeks and the capstone project will take approximately 3~4 weeks. Therefore the Specialization can be competed in 17~18 weeks.
What background knowledge is necessary?
No prior knowledge of Accounting or Finance is required.
Do I need to take the courses in a specific order?
All courses can be taken in order of preference.
Will I earn university credit for completing the Specialization?
No.
What will I be able to do upon completing the Specialization?
You will close look at an environment the startup faced. Also, you will describe financial projections making the best use of the previous contents. Overall, this analysis encourages you to determine the value of your business.
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