If you ever thought that venture capital is essential to starting and expanding your business, London Business School and the University of London think you are wrong.
The two third-level institutes are jointly sponsoring a course hosted on the Coursera online platform, taught by Dr John Mullins, which has a simple message: ‘How to Finance and Grow Your Startup Without VC’.
Mullins is a three-time entrepreneur and associate professor of management practice at the London Business School. “More than two generations ago, the venture capital community convinced the entrepreneurial world that writing business plans and then raising venture capital constituted the twin centrepieces of entrepreneurial endeavour," he says. “Actually though, the vast majority of fast growing companies never take any venture capital. So where does their money come from? And for you, where might your money come from to start and grow your business?”
There are now over 5.2 million small businesses in the UK, compared with 700,000 just a few decades ago. Buoyed by stories of angel investors and unicorns in Silicon Valley, these aspiring entrepreneurs might feel that securing venture capital is the only way to get their startup going.
Mullins’ course challenges this approach by introducing learners to five models that entrepreneurial superstars like Michael Dell, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson have used to fund their businesses.
In Association with
Learners will find practical tools to help them find this funding, can hear stories from creative entrepreneurs about their successes and failures, through no holds-barred interviews with founders, investors and other experts.
Mullins explained: “We’ve broken down short lessons, interviews, thought-provoking questions, and optional things to read into bite-sized chunks, so you can log in and learn whenever and wherever you are.”
Whether you’re an ambitious entrepreneur lacking startup capital, an early-stage operation trying to get your cash-starved scheme off the ground, or a corporate leader seeking to grow an established business, a course offering a customer-funded approach or other solutions could be the most reliable way to start, finance or grow your business.
Since joining Coursera, the University of London has launched the following business-related courses, of between seven and five week duration:
+ Brand Management: Aligning Business, Brand and Behaviour
+ Enhance your Career and Employability Skills
+ Managing the Company of the Future
+ Creative Programming for Digital Media & Mobile Apps
+ Responsive Website Basics: Code with HTML, CSS and JavaScript
+ Web Application Development with JavaScript and MongoDB
+ Responsive Website Tutorial and Examples
+ Keeping up with change: Issues for the finance professional
