Course

Startup Finance

THE BEST WAY TO LEARN ABOUT FINANCES FOR STARTUPS

Created by a team of professionals specialized in startup finances who have worked on +200 projects in +20 different countries

Next course: Thursday, September 26th

Duration

10 weekswith lifetime access to recorded content after completion

Dedication

3 hours/week (1h theory + 1h case + 1h live session)

Format

Online, with applicable content from day one

Language

English

Price

€1450 (payable in up to 3 payments)

Start date

Introductory session: Thursday, September 26th
First live session: 
Thursday, October 17th

Objectives

Master necessary tools needed to understand startup finance

Model and understand different business models

Understand the different financing alternatives for startups

Deep dive into funding rounds and their long-term impact

Design robust reporting models (internal and for investors)

Create a contact network to draw on and to take advantage of and opportunities

Study plan

LESSON 0 · INTRODUCTION TO MODELLING IN EXCEL

  • Key principles: Main pillars of a good Excel file
  • Visuals: The art of crafting easy to follow Excel sheets
  • Robustness: Learning how to build a bulletproof workbook
  • Tricks and tools: Small tips that will make your life easier
 

LESSON 1 · INTRODUCTION TO STARTUP FINANCE

 

  • What is a startup? Definition of the scope of this lesson and the entire course
  • The Lean Startup method: Most accepted method of how to run a startup
  • Unit economics: Startups’ most important quantitative concept
  • Financials: Brief definition and how they look like in a startup
  • Case study: Unit economics at Uber

LESSON 2 · SAAS

  • What is a SaaS? Definition of the scope of this lesson and trends
  • SaaS KPIs: All specific vocabulary, metrics and benchmarks
  • Cohort analysis: Deepdive in a crucial analysis for all startups and SaaS in particular
  • Case study: SaaS KPIs analysis and forecast at Graphext

 

LESSON 3 · PLATFORMS, MARKETPLACE, ECOMMERCE

  • Definitions: What we mean with each concept
  • Marketplace concepts and KPIs: All specific vocabulary, metrics and benchmarks in marketplaces and platforms
  • Ecommerce concepts and KPIs: All specific vocabulary, metrics and benchmarks
  • Case study: Marketplace analysis at Ontruck

 

LESSON 4 · OTHER BUSINESS MODELS

  • Fintech: Analysis on startups depending on financial assets
  • Data monetization: Models based on user databases
  • Other business models: The other of the other business models
  • Case study: Fintech and data sale models at Lenme

 

LESSON 5 · STARTUP REPORTING

  • Reporting process: From action to data to insights to value
  • Reporting structure: Essential information and its arrangement
  • Basics on forecasting: Few introductory best practices on forecast
  • Case study: Reporting at Brighter AI

LESSON 6 · FUNDING ALTERNATIVES

  • Traditional alternatives: Public, banks, venture debt
  • Revenue-based funding: New players with innovative and digital models
  • Basics on private funding: Private funding as a funding alternative
  • Case study: Financing decision at Geoblink

 

LESSON 7 · FUNDING ROUNDS I

  • Key concepts: Basics on how a capital increase works
  • Accounting and cap table: What matters; how much each shareholder has
  • Types and valuations: Different stages and valuation methods
  • Case study: Simplified cap table evolution of Colvin

 

LESSON 8 · FUNDING ROUNDS II

  • ESOP/Phantom shares: Keys on incentive plans for employees
  • SAFEs/Convertible notes: Reasoning and clauses of loans convertible to equity
  • More stuff: Secondaries, syndication, taxes, share classes, media for equity…
  • Case study: ACME’s almost real cap table evolution

 

LESSON 9 · STARTUP GOVERNANCE

  • Governance structure: Administration and players in decision making
  • Legal documents: From bylaws to SHA
  • Shareholders agreement clauses: Deep dive on investment, control, protection and exit clauses
  • Case study: Negotiating a term sheet at Build38

LESSON 10 · INTRODUCTION TO VENTURE CAPITAL

  • What is Venture Capital? Definition, history, evolution in different geographies, etc.
  • How does Venture Capital work? Structure, internal organization, returns, etc.
  • KPIs in Venture Capital: Key metrics to compare and use as benchmarks
  • Case study: VC fund modeling at eCapital

THEORY

  • Pre-read: Introductory materials (news, documents, book chapters…) related to each topic
  • Theory videos: Recorded sessions explaining all relevant concepts
  • Slides: Theory in “slides” format to follow recorded videos and complete the practical case

 

PRACTICE

  • Case statement: Practical cases based on real companies and situations. A statement and a supporting excel will be provided for case resolution
  • Case solution: A supporting data solution for students to use as reference
  • Live video class: After discussing the case in a live class, the video will be uploaded for students to watch as many times as they want

Enrollment process

Pre-registration and enrollment

The application period is open until September 25th. For pre-registered profiles, there is a period until September 26th to resolve any doubts about how the course works

PRE-REGISTER!

Course Presentation

On September 26th there will be a live briefing on how the course works and all course materials will be made available to students

First Live Session

After reviewing the course materials, you can mark your calendar for the first live session where you'll engage with our instructors and fellow students in real-time

Taught by a team of startup finance professionals

Luis Fernando Robledo 

  • Director of Strategic Finance at Gelato
  • Manager at McKinsey & Company
  • Venture Partner at Picus Capital
  • Investment Manager at Kibo Ventures

Jaime Medina 

  • CEO at The Startup CFO
  • Private Investor at BackFund
  • VP of Finance at Geoblink
  • Head of Finance at Ontruck
  • Consultant at McKinsey & Company

Juvenal Cubiles 

  • CFO Director at The Startup CFO
  • Investment Analyst at Copernicus
  • Valuation & Risk Control at BNP Paribas

Rafael Canales 

  • CFO Senior Manger at The Startup CFO
  • Senior at KPMG Spain
  • Private Banker at Banca March 

Places are now open for our next edition in 2024!

Leave us your details and we will send you more information about the course and the registration process

Our student’s feedback

“Great dedication of the team, detail and timeliness of all course content and colleagues with great professional profiles in the sector. The Startup Finance course at The Startup Academy will not only train future CFOs of startups, but future entrepreneurs!”

Denis Ciccale – CTO & Co-Founder – Zenfulfillment

“The Startup Finance course at The Startup Academy provides us with the real context of the ecosystem while at the same time we learn concrete and specific issues of startup finance. In addition, a great multidisciplinary community has been created in which we help each other in solving cases and share reflections and opportunities.”

Begoña Barnés – Senior Strategy Consultant – Bip Consulting

The Startup Finance course from The Startup Academy is the perfect course to refresh financial concepts applied to the latest market trends. For anyone who does not know how a startup finance department works, it is almost mandatory as it analyzes all the necessary aspects from a very practical point of view.”

Curro Moreno Vidal – Head of Product – Zinkee