Overview

Funding can be one of the most daunting parts of starting a business. This unit provides step-by-step guidance on how to work out the financial needs of a particular startup and how to meet them. Students will hear from successful entrepreneurs and present their ideas to real-world investors for feedback. They will gain insight into how angel investors, investment managers, and venture capitalists make investment decisions. In each micro unit, they will learn new tools and frameworks, and then apply them to industry-relevant case studies and problem sets.

Requisites

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Term 2
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
14-April-2025
01-June-2025
Last self-enrolment date
14-April-2025
Census date
02-May-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
09-May-2025
Results released date
08-July-2025

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Experiment and build financial models for start-ups (Micro 1)
  • Identify and evaluate different sources of funding to support start-ups (Micro 2)
  • Critically evaluate and determine the funding needs of start-ups (Micro 3)
  • Determine the value of a start-up and negotiate with potential investors (Micro 3)
  • Work individually or collaboratively to prepare a term sheet to raise equity (Micro 3)

Teaching methods

All applicable locations

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)

On Campus

 Class

 4.00 6 weeks 24

Online

(asynchronous lecture)

 2.00 6 weeks 12

Unspecified Activities 

(Independent Learning)

 19.00 6 weeks 114
Total     150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULOs
Case Study Individual Pass/Fail 2,3
Project Group Pass/Fail 1,3,4,5
Online Quizzes Individual Pass/Fail 1,3,4

Content

  • Financial statements
  • Financial performance analysis
  • Forecasting methods
  • Opportunity evaluation and financial consequences
  • Assessing funding needs
  • Early stage start-up valuation and valuation methods
  • International sources of funding
  • Harvesting
  • Pitching to investors

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.