ENTREPRENEURIAL FINANCE

The course has the objective to lead students to build operative, excel-based models for capital budgeting decisions, calculation of the cost of capital, company valuation. The course takes the prospective of both entrepreneurs and investors in start-ups. To reach this objective, the course will strengthen the theoretical and methodological bases of the students and present data cases to apply theories and methods to real world problems.

Ability to analyze and manage financial decisions. Understanding of the tools to perform financial evaluations in entrepreneurial finance. In particular, the intended learning outcomes are reported below in greater detail. Knowledge and understanding. The course will strengthen the theoretical and methodological foundations of entrepreneurial finance. It will offer also practical tools to manage real financial problems. Applying knowledge and understanding. Students will be able to assess the role of the investor and the entrepreneur and the impact of their decisions on company’s value creation process, to apply Investment decision making techniques, within different scenarios and uncertainty; to apply the main analytical tools, functions and online resources for business and financial modeling. Making judgements. Students are expected to acquire the ability to collect and interpret real financial data in order to deal with investment decision analysis and to judge company’s value creation process. The Course will lead students to solve and manage real business cases both at Corporate and Business levels. Communications Skills. Students will develop the ability to communicate the problem solving and the financial analysis both in written form (texts and exercises) and in oral form by attending individual and group teaching activities. The enhancement of written and oral communication skills will be also encouraged by the optional participation in group work and business cases’ analysis during the Course. The communication skills will in particular be oriented to the critical analysis and solution of financial management problems within the company in different economic and business contexts, as well as to the development of active and critical comparisons with respect to the business issues addressed.

Financial Mathematics and quantitative methods Accounting and performance measurement Basics of capital budgeting Cost of capital Financial structure Excel function

ADVANCED VALUATION FOUNDAMENTALS 1) Free cash flow models 2) Sensitivity analysis 3) WACC 4) Adjusted Present Value 5) Flow to Equity 6) Business Valuation THE ENTREPRENEURS 1) Understand personal traits and characteristics of entrepreneurs 2) Description of the landscape of entrepreneurial finance and the courses of funding available to start-ups VENTURE CAPITAL 1) The structure of the VC investors 2) Understanding of the securities used in VC and their rational 3) Agency problems in Entrepreneurial Finance 4) Performance attribution in the investment class of Private Equity M&A and IPO 1) Understanding the mechanics of mergers and acquisitions 2) Applications of valuation techniques to the case of IPOs and their specificities

Berk, J., DeMarzo, P. (2023). Corporate Finance (Sixth, Global Ed.). Pearson link: https://luiss.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/openurl?institution=39LLUISSGC_INST&rfr_id=info:sid%2Fsummon&rft_dat=ie%3D5174578570004196,language%3DEN&svc_dat=CTO&u.ignore_date_coverage=true&vid=39LLUISSGC_INST:Services

- traditional lectures - individual exercices - cases studies - presentations and assignments - lab sessions The course focuses on campus and online sessions. Each lesson is structured on three learning levels: • Theory: the presentation of the main financial issues, rules and techniques. • Applied theory, that is a focus on practical application of the financial rules in real contexts. • Practice, that is, the ability to solve financial problems and to test the techniques presented. In addition to that, classroom exercises, data cases, assignments and external professional guests will complete the educational offer.

- written test (2/3) - assignments/project work executed during the course (1/3) The written exam is targeted at appraising the theoretical and practical comprehension of the topics covered. The evaluation will be based on the assessment of the knowledge of the theoretical contents and on the students capability to apply them for the solution of practical financial problems, multiple choice questions and open questions. Students’ participation during lectures is strongly encouraged also with the (optional) participation to assignments and project works. It will be considered in the final assessment.

Students have to prepare a research proposal based on a short presentation (maximum 3000 words in .doc) which must include: - Object (research question, business scope/market or industry/product or service) - Research objective - Literature review - Main contribution of the research - Research Method/Data Collection Only students who have passed the exam can apply for the "thesis assignment process" Proposals should be submitted no later than 2 weeks before the administrative deadline for thesis assignment set by the University.