Course Description
This course offers Georgia Kickstart Fund members experiential learning in early-stage startup investing, covering angel investment, and venture capital basics. Students gain skills in opportunity assessment, conduct due diligence, and present reports on startups seeking grants from the Georgia Kickstart Fund.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will complete a graduate case study project.
Athena Title
Startup Investing
Undergraduate Prerequisite
Permission of department
Graduate Prerequisite
Permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall and spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, you should be able to: - Understand entrepreneurial opportunity as a novel chance to create value for multiple stakeholders - Demonstrate an understanding of the mechanics of angel investing and venture capital investment - Appraise internal and external factors that influence a new venture’s chances of success - Describe instruments of investment for an early-stage deal, including (but not limited to) convertible notes, SAFE notes, and priced rounds - Discuss terms typically found in an early-stage term sheet and evaluate likely consequences of those terms - Prepare a rigorous diligence report on a startup being considered for an investment - Effectively compose and communicate an investment recommendation to a group of stakeholders
Topical Outline
Topics covered include: - Startup lifecycles from founding to exit - Types of startup investors, including angel investors, venture capitalists, and accelerators - Entrepreneurial opportunity assessment and due diligence, including understanding startup metrics and KPIs - Instruments of early-stage investment, including convertible notes, SAFE notes, and priced rounds - Anatomy of a term sheet - Valuation methods for startups - Portfolio management
Syllabus