About this Course

The course aims at providing knowledge and experience to entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs generally start with a mission, a new idea that they want to bring to the world. If the idea is original, it is probably not expected by the market, which has to be educated. This is a very costly experience. Entrepreneurs need to gather capital at the start of the journey. They need to articulate clear plans, define objectives and resources and raise money accordingly. They also need to manage cash for two reasons: i) because the better it is managed, the less you need to raise with outsiders; ii) because generation of cash flow is the pillar of the valuation of the company. And we should add that the practical reason why a company gets bankrupted is because it runs out of cash.. The course is based on this belief. We look at the myth of the balance sheet and explain the dynamics of cash flows and the way they should be managed. We also investigate the basics of venture capital and provide a practical roadmap to entrepreneurs. Many courses are dedicated to the same topic. Our originality is that we operate in the advisory board of the private equity firm, Xerys and are board members of their venture companies. In addition, Michel was the country head for Merrill Lynch in France while Philippe served in the same function at UBS. The former as head of investment banking, the latter as head of global markets.

Created by: École Polytechnique