The Venture Capital Associate

The Venture Capital Associate includes

The Venture Capital Associate

| Micro-Degree

The VC Fund

| Skills Certificate

2

Hours

4

Practical exercises

1

Exam

Gain a detailed understanding of how VC funds work, their life cycle, and the core activities that take place inside these firms.

 

What is Venture Capital Investing

23 video minutes

0 excel exercises

Video minutes 23

Excel Exercises 0

• What is Venture Capital 
• Venture Capital vs other PE types 
• The VC fund 

Life Cycle of a VC Fund

23 video minutes

0 excel exercises

Video minutes 23

Excel Exercises 0

• Understand the various stages of a VC fund’s life 
• Life Cycle of a VC Fund  
• How a VC Fund Makes Money 

Limited Partners and General Partners

75 video minutes

4 excel exercises

Video minutes 75

Excel Exercises 4

• Limited partnership agreements 
• Carried interest calculation, promoted interest, or “promotes”, for real estate transactions 
• Distribution waterfall 
• IRR, MoM, and splits 

The PE Accountant

| Skills Certificate

21

Hours

61

Topics

111

Practical exercises

1

Exam

The PE Accountant provides a comprehensive understanding of the techniques required to accurately present a company’s financial results. Participants will be able to quickly and confidently interpret financial data and statements, evaluate them and use the calculated information to build high quality reports. Real company data and the latest rules are covered to ensure the methods used and skills developed are immediately applicable in the workplace. You will also review how and why legal structures are set up in order for a private equity acquisition to take place in the most advantageous manner from a funding and tax perspective.

Accounting Foundations

72 video minutes

0 excel exercises

Video minutes 72

Excel Exercises 0

• The purpose and different types of accounting (financial versus management accounting)
• Users of financial statements
• Introduction to the three main financial statements and explanation of key elements
• Overview of the contents of financial reports
• Introduction to accounting standards
• The accounting equation
• Explanation of accrual accounting, the matching principle, and capitalization

Financial Accounting Review

34 video minutes

11 excel exercises

Video minutes 34

Excel Exercises 11

• Making entries and ensuring the balance sheet balances
• Preparing a balance sheet
• Preparing an income statement from the entries to retained earnings
• Preparing a cash flow statement from the entries to the cash account
• A review of the different categorizations on the income statement, balance sheet, and the cash flow statement

Income Statements

59 video minutes

15 excel exercises

Video minutes 59

Excel Exercises 15

• Revenue recognition issues
• Cost recognition issues
• Identifying non-recurring items from the income statement, the MD&A, the notes to the accounts and the financial statement press release
• Calculating EBIT and EBITDA for the historical year, and on an LTM basis
• Understand the difference between basic and diluted earnings per share and calculate recurring diluted earnings per share
• Review company profitability compared to its peer group

Working Capital

56 video minutes

12 excel exercises

Video minutes 56

Excel Exercises 12

• Inventory accounting including the impact on EBIT of LIFO and FIFO accounting choices (where relevant)
• Accounts receivable and bad debts (identifying when companies are manipulating sales)
• Accounts payable and accruals and the difference between them from a due diligence perspective
• Other items including taxes payable, deferred revenue, and pre-paid items
• Working capital and operating working capital and the cash impact of changes in operating working capital
• Credit implications of working capital movements
• Day ratios

Non-Current Assets

39 video minutes

11 excel exercises

Video minutes 39

Excel Exercises 11

• Gross PP&E, accumulated depreciation, depreciation expense and net PP&E
• Building a simple forecast of fixed assets
• Establishing the age of a company’s fixed asset base
• Finite, and infinite intangibles including goodwill
• A review of key methods of accounting for financial investments
• At fair value through the income statement
• Available for sale
• Associate (equity method) accounting

Capital Structure

50 video minutes

14 excel exercises

Video minutes 50

Excel Exercises 14

• Debt issues and repurchases
• Simple yield to maturity and all in cost calculations and understanding Original Issuer Discounts
• Calculating net debt
• Equity issuance and repurchases
• The difference between authorized, issued and outstanding shares and multiple share classes
• Other capital items: preference shares and convertible bonds
• Leverage ratios
• Debt liability maturity analysis

Accounting Ratios

41 video minutes

5 excel exercises

Video minutes 41

Excel Exercises 5

• Profitability ratios, including margins
• Liquidity ratios, including operating working capital
• EBIT and EBITDA for the historical year, and on an LTM basis
• Leverage ratios, including net debt and interest coverage
  Asset ratios

Cash Flow Statements

25 video minutes

3 excel exercises

Video minutes 25

Excel Exercises 3

• Understanding how to categorize cash flows between operating, investing, and financing
• Deriving a cash flow statement from two balance sheets and an income statement
• Deriving a balance sheet from a cash flow statement and an income statement
• Different cash flow statement presentations

Equity Method Investments

9 video minutes

5 excel exercises

Video minutes 9

Excel Exercises 5

• What are equity method investments?
  • Equity affiliates/associates
  • Joint ventures
• Equity method accounting
  • Income statement
  • Balance sheet
  • Cash flow statement
  • Financial statement integration

Intro to Full Consolidation

68 video minutes

21 excel exercises

Video minutes 68

Excel Exercises 21

• M&A accounting overview
• Balance sheet consolidation
• Sources and uses of funds
• Goodwill calculation
• Income statement consolidation
• Non controlling interests – NCI

Tax Losses

12 video minutes

1 excel exercises

Video minutes 12

Excel Exercises 1

• Losses offset against profits
• Loss utilization
• Carry back
• Carry forward
• Loss utilization restrictions

Deferred Taxes

33 video minutes

4 excel exercises

Video minutes 33

Excel Exercises 4

• Taxes in the financial statements
• Tax expense, ETR, and MTR
• Tax authority numbers vs accounting numbers
• Permanent differences
• Temporary differences
• Deferred tax assets and liabilities
• Deferred tax over time
• Deferred tax footnote

Valuing Deferred Tax And Losses

6 video minutes

1 excel exercises

Video minutes 6

Excel Exercises 1

• Issues in valuing losses
• Valuation impact

Tax In M&A

14 video minutes

0 excel exercises

Video minutes 14

Excel Exercises 0

• Inside and outside basis
• Sale of shareholding
• Sale of assets followed by corporate liquidation
• Double taxation – vendor
• Stock vs asset deals

Structuring an Acquisition

8 video minutes

0 excel exercises

Video minutes 8

Excel Exercises 0

• What is an acquisition structure in private equity
• How is a structure put together with SPVs and which parties are involved
• Diagram of a simple private equity structure with equity and debt
• The main reasons for structures in private equity deals

Completion Mechanisms

49 video minutes

8 excel exercises

Video minutes 49

Excel Exercises 8

• Completion accounts introduction
• Completion accounts calculations
• Issues with the completion accounts mechanism
• Locked box mechanism introduction
• Locked box mechanism calculations
• Comparing completion accounts and locked box mechanisms

The VC Deal

| Skills Certificate

4

Hours

21

Practical exercises

1

Exam

Master everything you need to complete a VC deal from start to finish including various stages of funding VC transactions, due diligence, exit strategies, and more.

Capitalization Tables

82 video minutes

11 excel exercises

Video minutes 82

Excel Exercises 11

• Various stages of funding VC transaction
• ESOP 
• Downrounds 
• Dividend & liquidity preference 
• Conversion & anti-dilution adjustments 

VC Forms of Consideration

37 video minutes

0 excel exercises

Video minutes 37

Excel Exercises 0

• SAFEs vs convertible notes 
• Priced vs non-priced rounds 
• Common stock vs preferred 
• Preferred equity 

Very Early Stage - Forms of Consideration

30 video minutes

0 excel exercises

Video minutes 30

Excel Exercises 0

• Pre-seed investments 
• Unpriced vs priced rounds 
• Convertible notes 
• SAFEs 
• Most favoured nation clauses 
• Pro rata rights 

SaaS Business Operating Model

49 video minutes

6 excel exercises

Video minutes 49

Excel Exercises 6

• Revenue models 
• Modeling cash burn 
• B2B operating model 

SaaS Business Key Industry Metrics

45 video minutes

4 excel exercises

Video minutes 45

Excel Exercises 4

• Analysis of Product-Market-Fit (PMF) 
• B2B / SaaS specific metrics  
• B2C / marketplace specific metric 

Internal Requirements

10 video minutes

0 excel exercises

Video minutes 10

Excel Exercises 0

Memos, meetings and internal steps during:

• An acquisition process 
• The monitoring period of a PE deal 
• The exit period for a private equity deal 
• Who are the key people involved in each step of internal PE process 
• The format and content of the various different internal meetings and documents 

Due Diligence

13 video minutes

0 excel exercises

Video minutes 13

Excel Exercises 0

• The reasons for due diligence in PE deals 
• The different types of due diligence and what they include 
• How due diligence is carried out included what needs to be prepared or looked for 
• Who is involved in due diligence and their respective roles 

VC Exit Strategies

14 video minutes

0 excel exercises

Video minutes 14

Excel Exercises 0

• IPO vs M&A 
• Company valuation methodologies  
• Calculating VC returns at exit 

The VC Modeler

| Skills Certificate

5

Hours

70

Practical exercises

1

Exam

The VC Modeler provides the perfect introduction to financial modeling. Discovering how to build models quickly and error-free is critical for the decisions and recommendations they underpin.

Introduction to Modeling

56 video minutes

13 excel exercises

Video minutes 56

Excel Exercises 13

• Key settings
• Formatting and layout standards
• Building a simple income statement and balance sheet model, on one sheet, then across sheets
• Balancing the balance sheet using the cash flow statement
• Preparing the model for handover
• Key formatting and putting the output into a pitch book

Three Statement Modeling with Iterations

77 video minutes

10 excel exercises

Video minutes 77

Excel Exercises 10

• Income statement construction and highlighting key numbers
• Calculation schedules (PP&E, retained earnings, operating working capital, and debt)
• Balancing the balance sheet with a cash sweep
• Calculating interest using average balances
• Circular references and iterations
• Working with a circular reference switch
• Preparing the model for handover
• Key formatting and putting the output into a pitch book

Three Statement Model Editing

45 video minutes

6 excel exercises

Video minutes 45

Excel Exercises 6

• Steps before editing 
• Inserting new items 
• Removing old items 
• Consolidating line items 
• Steps after editing 
• Relevant keyboard shortcut keys 

Building a Model with Cash Sweep

71 video minutes

19 excel exercises

Video minutes 71

Excel Exercises 19

• Why banks want to be repaid early
• Cash sweep mechanisms
• How to model cash sweeps
• Building a three statement model with a cash sweep

Checking a Model for Integrity and Errors

36 video minutes

11 excel exercises

Video minutes 36

Excel Exercises 11

• Top ten errors
• Auditing and error checking toolkit
• Checking your own model
• Checking someone else’s model

Financial Forecasting Research

86 video minutes

11 excel exercises

Video minutes 86

Excel Exercises 11

• Techniques for forecasting revenue growth
• Considerations for forecasts margins, working capital, PP&E and capital structure
• Incorporating scenario analysis into the model
• Benchmarking forecasts against consensus numbers
• Using check ratios to sense check the model outputs

The VC Valuer

| Skills Certificate

12

Hours

67

Practical exercises

1

Exam

Master the core VC valuation methodologies used by the top firms and learn their supporting calculations.

VC Valuation Methodologies

23 video minutes

2 excel exercises

Video minutes 23

Excel Exercises 2

• Pre-money, post-money and downroads 
• Time varying cost of capital 
• Bootstrapping of discount rate 
• Challenges in valuing high growth companies 
• Importance of period of competitive advantage 
• DCF preference over multiples 

Fundamental Drivers of Return

28 video minutes

0 excel exercises

Video minutes 28

Excel Exercises 0

• Private market equity returns   
• Drivers of return 
• Return premiums 
• Expected return outcomes 
• Sources of return

Trading Comparables

63 video minutes

17 excel exercises

Video minutes 63

Excel Exercises 17

• Review choosing a comparable set of companies 
• Calculating enterprise value 
• Calculating LTM EBITDA and EBIT 
• Forward multiples and issues with consensus data 
• Understanding which operational ratios are important for the analysis 

Transaction Comparables

30 video minutes

11 excel exercises

Video minutes 30

Excel Exercises 11

• Reviewing data sources  
• Understanding different deal contexts 
• Calculating enterprise value and LTM EBITDA 
• Calculating premiums paid based on offer prices where appropriate 
• Calculating the synergies from the transactions as a % of target sales 

WACC Analysis

30 video minutes

8 excel exercises

Video minutes 30

Excel Exercises 8

• Capital Asset Pricing Model 
• Calculating the WACC for the peer group 
• Interpreting the results 
• Establish a reasonable cost of capital for the target company 
• WACC approach 

Discounted Cash Flow Valuation

50 video minutes

14 excel exercises

Video minutes 50

Excel Exercises 14

• Calculating free cash flows 
• Understanding how the operational ratios should develop over the financial forecast 
• Calculating the steady state and making relevant adjustments to the steady state cash flows 
• Making reasonable assumptions for long-term growth rates 
• Discounting to a deal date 
• Converting the enterprise value into an implied share price, making relevant adjustments for share options and restricted stock units 

Pulling the Analysis Together

44 video minutes

13 excel exercises

Video minutes 44

Excel Exercises 13

• Calculating free cash flows 
• Understanding how the operational ratios should develop over the financial forecast 
• Calculating the steady state and making relevant adjustments to the steady state cash flows 
• Making reasonable assumptions for long-term growth rates 
• Discounting to a deal date 
• Converting the enterprise value into an implied share price, making relevant adjustments for share options and restricted stock units 

Earnouts

15 video minutes

1 excel exercises

Video minutes 15

Excel Exercises 1

• Contingent consideration – structures 

• Accounting for deferred consideration 
• Examples of earnouts 

Calculating VC Fund Returns

20 video minutes

1 excel exercises

Video minutes 20

Excel Exercises 1

• Multiple based return 
• IRR 
• VC Fund return 
• VC return metrics 

The VC Expert Interview

| Completion Certificate

0.5

Hours

Curious to know what it’s like to work in venture capital, the key skills required, and how to spot a good investment? Get the answers to this and more in this interview with a real Venture Capital Expert.

Venture Capital Expert Interview

25 video minutes

0 excel exercises

Video minutes 25

Excel Exercises 0

• Key skills for VC
• What is a good investment
• Typical day in VC
• Generalist vs Specialist
• Bio Tech in VC
• How to break into VC

Foundation Skills

| Completion Certificate

5

Hours

16

Practical exercises

Increase your Excel efficiency and master the mathematical fundamentals that future courses rely upon.

Foundation Skills

166 video minutes

16 excel exercises

Video minutes 166

Excel Exercises 16

• Excel Efficiency – Menu and shortcut basics
• Excel Efficiency – Basic formatting
• Excel Efficiency – Basic formulas and calculations
• Excel Efficiency – More formulas and calculations
• Excel Efficiency – Naming cells and references
• Basics of financial math – Present and future value
• Basics of financial math – Annuities and Perpetuities
• Basics of financial math – Yields and internal rate of return
• Statistics – Basic concepts
• Statistics – Portfolio concepts
• Statistics – Analytic methods