Learn Entrepreneurship at the Yale School of Management
MGT 618: Entrepreneurial Business Planning
Entrepreneurship is all about starting and running one's own business. In order to focus thinking and to help assemble the needed people and financial resources, many entrepreneurs write a business plan for their new venture. One of the best ways to learn how to write a business plan is to learn by doing -- a real plan for a real new venture. The work will be "hands-on," "learn by doing" in nature.
Entrepreneurs should be flexible thinkers and highly motivated, with a large capacity for work. They must be persistent and able to thrive in an unstructured environment. Entrepreneurs should be confident self-starters with the ability to take the initiative, overcome obstacles, make things happen and get things done.
This course is for three teams of five students each, who want to write a business plan for their own real new startup company. Students will enter their plans in the Y50K Business Plan Contest sponsored by the Yale Entrepreneurial Society. The scope of the work will include: doing in-depth market, product and competitor research; creating a strategy for a sustainable business; and writing and presenting a professional quality plan (including a financial model and deal structure).
Lecture Schedule
Location: Yale School of Management, 135 Prospect St
| Date | Topic |
| Monday, October 24th | Introduction and Entrepreneurship Basics |
| Monday, October 31st | Business Plans. Research. Teamwork. |
| Monday, November 7th | Death Traps and Secrets to Success |
| Monday, November 14th | Management and Financial Incentives |
| Monday, November 21st | Thanksgiving Break Period - No Class |
| Monday, November 28th | Forms of Ownership. Sources of Finance |
| Monday, December 5th | The Executive Summary. Writing Style. |
| Monday, January 23rd | Financial Projections. Spreadsheet Models. |
| Monday, January 30th | Custom Financial Models For Startups |
| Monday, February 6th | The Art of Equity Valuation |
| Monday, February 13th | Deal Structure. Investor Term Sheets. |
| Monday, February 20st | Negotiations. Legal Documentation. |
| Wednesday, February 22nd | Oral Presentations. Using PowerPoint. |
Course Notes
These documents are copies of presentations given during previous year's Y50K educational sessions. All documents are in the PDF format.
Lecture 1 - Jargon
Lecture 2 - Basics
Lecture 3 - Creating a Business Plan
Lecture 4 - Research
Lecture 4B - Research Guide for Business Plans
Lecture 5 - Teamwork
Lecture 6 - Death Traps
Lecture 7 - Success Secrets
Lecture 8 - Management
Lecture 9 - Ownership Forms
Lecture 10 - Finance Sources
Lecture 11 - Writing Style and Summary
Lecture 11A - Perfect Executive Summary Example
Lecture 11B - CyberLinks Executive Summary
Lecture 11C - CEU Executive Summary
This course is taught by David Cromwell
David Cromwell comes to the Yale School of Management with 30 years of work experience at JPMorgan & Co., Inc. on Wall Street as well as in London. His expertise includes international and domestic commercial banking, credit and financial analysis, international and U.S. securities research, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and private equity investing. For six years, Professor Cromwell served as President and CEO of JPMorgan Capital Corporation, the bank's private equity investment group. During his tenure, JPMorgan invested nearly $1 billion in the equity of over 80 private companies, with an annual realized internal rate of return of 32%. Professor Cromwell currently is advisor to the Yale SOM students who run Sachem Ventures, LLC, a $1.5 million venture capital fund that makes seed capital investments in startup companies located in greater New Haven.