Masterclass in Entrepreneurship & Strategic Management

In this first lecture, I will be explaining how the course is structured, which topics will be adressed and what the learning outcomes should be.

Lecture 2 looks at where entrepreneurship is coming from and introduces the main 6 obstacles that entrepreneurs will face. This lecture also introduces the important S-Curve of corporate growth and explains where the 6 entrepreneurial obstacles typically appear inside the S-Curve.

In this lecture, I will adress how industrial revolutions have been at the origin of innovation but also the academic world. We will be discussing the impacts of innovation and more specifically its speed of adoption on corporations. The lecture will end with a first perspective on the largest unicorns as a supplemental source of innovation.

Lecture 4 will introduce the 3 neuroscientific approaches of creativity. As a conclusion of Lecture 3 & 4 on ideation, I will adress a very important topic which is the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and share what differentiates a good from a bad MVP.

In this final lecture of chapter 1, I will be introducing the business model canvas & business plan with a specific conversation on the financial plan. The lecture will conclude with a summary of chapter 1

In this introductory lecture to chapter 2, you will be introduced to the major law systems and their main differences

In this longer lecture, I will explain the basics required to incorporate a company and also explaining corporate (formation) law including the main principles that apply to incorporated companies.

An entrepreneur will be confronted to some financial reporting obligations for his/her company. In this lecture I will introduce the entrepreneur to accounting standards ranging from IFRS, US GAAP to Local GAAP and how they apply to the company.

In this final lecture of chapter 2 we will be discussing 5 segments of commercial law being Intellectual property, Contract, Consumer, Competition & Tax law before concluding the chapter.

In this lecture, I will introduce Strategic Management and more specifically how it sits in the S-Curve of Corporate Growth introduced earlier in this masterclass

Before going into the strategic management of the company, I want you to understand external environments to the company that will very probably influence the corporate strategy. Those external factors include the macro & external environment for which we will introduce the PESTLE analysis model but also it is important for entrepreneurs to have a common sense of market structures.

In this lecture I will share the wheel of competitive strategy with you and also the Balanced Scorecard framework with its 4 domains on how to measure corporate strategy performance. In the last part of the lecture, I will reemphasize on the reason why delighting customers remains paramount to be a successful entrepreneur.

This lecture is splitted into 2 parts due to its substantial length. The 1st part will be focused on introducing generic strategic models, 5-forces model, VRIO & Blue ocean in the context of a mono-product/mono-services company. At the end of the lecture, I will be showcasing a strategic analysis on Starbucks (ticker NYSE:SBUX) using the major strategy formulation models. Finally students have the opportunity to exercice with a concrete assignment on a chosen company with Porter's 5-forces model and using the PESTLE model introduced in previous lectures.

In this 2nd part about strategy formulation & analysis models, I will share with you why companies diversify and how to strike & monitor the right balance of products or services in your portfolio using BCG Growth Share Matrix and/or the GE-McKinsey matrix.

The final lecture of chapter 3 will deal with the importance of culture and how culture superseeds strategy. We will be discussing a concrete misalignment example of a big American corporation.

The introductory lecture will explain why understand the fundamentals about corporate finance are important for an entrepreneur. We will enumerate the various topics as well that will be covered in the Section 4 lectures.

Entrepreneurs have to understand how value for them as owners of the company or in case of external investors/shareholders, how those external people that are betting their money on entrepreneurs look at value creation. This lecture will give this perspective and quantify depending on the maturity stage of the company the related cost of capital.

This lecture will introduce the 3 main financial statement reports (balance sheet, income statement & cash flow statement). I explain also explain the main differences between those financial statements but also how they are connected together.

Understanding the main accounting principles that entrepreneurs are ultimately responsible for is also something that entrepreneurs have to understand. In this lecture I will add for more mature companies explanations about the role of external statutory audit and share from my experience how the interaction works with the shareholders and managers of the company.

Entrepreneurs will face during the lifetime of the company situations where new investors want to buy a part of the company equity. It is of the utmost importance that entrepreneurs understand the main valuation methods but also how equity dilution works throughout the various investments rounds (from Seed to IPO).

The last stage for an entrepreneur in the growth trajectory of the company is to become listed on the public stock market. This lecture will share the fundamentals and explain the differences between initial public offerings and direct listings. I will be discussing also examples of performance of IPOed companies.

In this lecture will cover essential elements for entrepreneurs like cash burn rate, working capital, cash conversion cycle and also the major principles in relation with sales management. I will share the major principles on how to look at sales pipeline & sales hygiene.