This class provides a financial overview of the entrepreneurial journey from startup to operational decisions to exit planning. You’ll hear from a business banker guest speaker who explains what lenders look at when deciding whether to make a loan to a small business.

You’ll learn:

  • Why and how entrepreneurs start companies
  • Business structure selection
  • Sources of cash
  • Financial struggles of small businesses
  • Small business cash flow management
  • The financial components of a business plan
  • Strategic planning
  • Key small business financial metrics
  • Pricing and profitability analysis
  • Risk management
  • Exit planning

This course comes from recordings of an Entrepreneurial Finance class the author teaches to MBA students at a university. The author has been the CFO, SVP of Finance, or Director of Operations at multiple small and medium-sized companies.

Course Key Concepts: Business entities, Business structures, Business plans, Strategic planning, Financial metrics, Pricing, Cash flow management, Profitability, Risk management, Exit planning, Entrepreneur.

Learning Objectives
  • Identify the sources of cash for a small business.
  • Explore types of business structures.
  • Recognize key financial components of business plans and strategic planning.
  • Discover the lending criteria for business loans.
  • Explore how to assess the profitability of pricing changes.
Last updated/reviewed: March 18, 2024
35 Reviews (138 ratings)

Reviews

5
Member's Profile
The Q&A portion with the Business Banking Guest (Jose) was extremely helpful. The questions asked were real-life and applicable to my personal pursuit to run a business. Jose provided solid insights from a bank/loan officer's perspective. Mr. Stephens did a great job summarizing the different business structures for refresher. I also appreciated the various survey presented, particularly relating to cash sources. Only critique I have is that a few slides were unnecessary and redundant. But overall, a great lecture!

4
Member's Profile
This was a timely topic. I work with a lot of small businesses and they have many of these problems so this course was relevant. The instructor should have had more examples and more visuals.

5
Anonymous Author
I really like this instructor. There is a lot of content in the materials, even if all of it is not reviewed in the video. I know that I will refer back to this information in the future.

5
Anonymous Author
This course covered some great information, much of it relevant to my job since I consult with many owners of small franchise businesses. The course summarized some very important topics.

5
Member's Profile
Very good course. It kept my attention. I loved the practical aspects of the course. It was chock full of material and fast paced. It did not waste my time with repetitive information.

4
Anonymous Author
As a small business owner, this is a great course to cover a lot of ground regarding small business problems. I thought the sections about debt/financing and insurance were very helpful.

5
Anonymous Author
This walkthrough made me feel like I could start a business with just this powerpoint in my hands and I'd be good to go. Very informative, great information included on the PowerPoint.

5
Anonymous Author
This course is great for understanding the day to day inner workings of a small business. If being an entrepreneur is a goal of yours, this course will really help you achieve that.

5
Anonymous Author
Great overview of the benefits and challenges of starting a small business. Really enjoyed this course and have a lot of takeaways to apply to small businesses that I am a part of.

5
Anonymous Author
Excellent broad scope view. I find the slides to be very helpful with current analysis I am performing in my current role. Look forward to taking more courses by this instructor.

5
Member's Profile
Excellent content showing the prospective of the entrepreneur founded small businesses and the challenges of financial management of small to mid-sized companies.

5
Member's Profile
Outstanding course - I really enjoyed the general layout. Great mix of going in-depth on the more vital parts of financial management of a start-up

5
Member's Profile
Good overview of starting a small business. Presented in an interesting, engaging way. Materials and examples were very useful and relevant.

5
Anonymous Author
I enjoyed the course and thought it was a good overview of the financial challenges/factors to consider in starting a small business...

5
Anonymous Author
this was a really good course; believe it to be very useful for small business owners to think about a variety of topics.

5
Anonymous Author
This course has a great overview of the basics of small business/entrepreneurial finance. Rob is a great speaker too.

5
Member's Profile
Great course, very useful information for launching my business. I will definitely recommend this course to others.

5
Member's Profile
Class covered a wide range of topics and the instructor was an excellent speaker. good review of business basics.

5
Member's Profile
Interesting and thorough presentation of factors to be considered when evaluating whether to start a business.

5
Member's Profile
Super practical and informative. Appreciated good information presented in an order that made sense.

4
Anonymous Author
Good review course even if very long and great reference for many of the basic business concepts.

5
Anonymous Author
This course is set up in great details. It is useful to both entrepreneurs as well as accountants.

5
Member's Profile
Really good overview. Recommend this course for both beginners and seasoned professionals alike.

5
Anonymous Author
Lots of good information on a variety of topics. Instructor very knowledgeable and effective.

5
Anonymous Author
Great course. As a CFO in a start-up, these topics are highly relevant and useful to consider.

5
Anonymous Author
As others have stated, excellent presenter. Will look for more instruction by this individual.

4
Anonymous Author
this was a good overview of small business financial management issues facing entrepreneurs

5
Anonymous Author
Very useful, covered a wide variety of topics. Very easy to apply to my own small business.

4
Anonymous Author
This course provides some great information. The topics covered are very helpful as well.

5
Anonymous Author
I'm ready to start a business! This answers a lot of questions for small business owners!

5
Anonymous Author
Great overview course touching on a wide variety of important topics for entrepreneurs.

5
Anonymous Author
I thoroughly enjoyed this course and would recommend it to any business professional.

5
Anonymous Author
This course was engaging and informative. Great overview on entrepreneurial finance.

5
Member's Profile
Good refresher- for those newly working with small and entrepreneurial businesses.

4
Anonymous Author
Great course. Awesome slide deck. Learned a lot. Detailed material.

Prerequisites
Course Complexity: Foundational

The MBA students who take this course watch my Managing Cash Flow course before we meet as a class. This provides some background detail for some cash flow concepts covered in this course. You can watch that course for more background information for those lessons or just watch this course for a short overview I give for concepts from that course and the items I want to highlight from that course.

Education Provider Information
Company: Illumeo, Inc., 75 East Santa Clara St., Suite 1215, San Jose, CA 95113
Contact: For more information regarding this course, including complaint and cancellation policies, please contact our offices at (408) 400- 3993 or send an e-mail to .
Instructor for this course
Course Syllabus
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
  Introduction to Entrepreneurial Finance: Small Business Financial Management Basics2:02
  Purpose of Your Company11:17
  Startup Survey and Roles of an Entrepreneur10:18
  Business Banking Guest Speaker-Part 119:49
  Business Banking Guest Speaker-Part 222:23
  Sources of Cash14:55
  Buy or Franchise2:35
BUSINESS STUCTURE
  CPA - Types of Structures11:33
  Business Structures Financial Considerations5:10
  How Small Businesses Get Into Financial Trouble2:52
  Business Plan Example14:28
  Strategic Planning Part 15:50
  Strategic Planning Part 218:56
FINANCIAL ASPECTS
  Cash Flow Management12:24
  Financial Metrics3:37
  Business Growth10:32
  Marginal Profitability and Pricing Analysis12:47
  Pricing and Profitability Example4:02
  Risk Management6:47
  Exit Planning4:19
CONTINUOUS PLAY
  Entrepreneurial Finance: Small Business Financial Management Basics3:16:30
SUPPORTING MATERIAL
  Slides: Entrepreneurial Finance: Small Business Financial Management BasicsPDF
  Entrepreneurial Finance: Small Business Financial Management Basics Glossary/ IndexPDF
REVIEW AND TEST
  REVIEW QUESTIONSquiz
 FINAL EXAMexam