Applying Investment Decision Rules for Startups (Coursera)

Offered by Yonsei University,
Applying Investment Decision Rules for Startups (Coursera)

In the previous course, you learned financial statement analysis and how to make estimate of future financial status. In this course, you are going to learn capital budgeting. That is, how to make an investment decision. You would like to select the best project among various projects you can take. Then, you need to know the criteria. In this course, you are going to learn investment decision criteria such as NPV and IRR, which are most popular decision rules.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

Using financial analysis and discounted cash flow method, you can make pro forma financial statement and estimate project cash flows. Then, you apply investment criteria to determine whether to invest or not. After learning how to apply NPV and IRR method to investment decision, you are going to learn how to evaluate NPV estimate and scenario, what-if analyses and break-even analysis. In addition to NPV and IRR, you are going to learn Payback period method and Profitability method to determine whether to invest or not when there is a political risk or capital rationing.

Course 4 of 5 in the Valuation and Financial Analysis For Startups Specialization.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Capital Budgeting techniques
Capital budgeting is the process of deciding whether to undertake an investment project. In this module, you will study the three most popular capital budgeting techniques in practice: Net present value (NPV), Payback period, and Internal rate of return (IRR).

WEEK 2
Project Analysis
In this module, you will learn how to estimate project cash flows using Excel. Overall, project cash flow analysis is similar to firm-level cash flow analysis. However, there also exist some unique features of a project cash flow analysis, which requires us to study the project cash flow principles.

WEEK 3
Issues in Capital Budgeting
Sometimes you have to evaluate multiple projects at a time. In this module, you will learn how to choose the best project among multiple projects. We will also discuss various important issues in NPV and IRR techniques. Finally, we discuss the fundamental principle in choosing the discount rate.

WEEK 4
Real Options in Business Projects
We continue to study analyzing business projects, but the difference in this module is that now we consider the value of "real options" embedded in the project. You will learn how to estimate the project's value by using the decision tree approach or the Black-Scholes option pricing model.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Fundamentals of Investing (Coursera) Coursera
SoFi

Fundamentals of Investing (Coursera)

This is primarily aimed at novice investors who want to better understand the concept of investing and how it can fit into their overall financial plan. Taught by a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional, this course will cover different investment vehicles, risk tolerance, diversification, and the difference between active and passive investing, as well as investment fees and taxes.

Sep 21st 2026
4 Weeks
International Business II (Coursera) Coursera
University of New Mexico

International Business II (Coursera)

This course, Introduction to the Global Business Environment II, focuses on managing organizations in the international economy. Building on Introduction to the Global Business Environment I, this second course focuses on organizational level and management issues in international settings. The course prepares students with practical as well as research-based knowledge and skills necessary to successfully operating an organizational across borders.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Fundamentals of Finance (Coursera) Coursera
University of Pennsylvania

Fundamentals of Finance (Coursera)

In this course, you’ll learn the basic fundamentals of corporate finance. Based on the pre-term qualifying courses for Wharton MBA students, Professor Jessica Wachter has designed this course for learners who need a refresher in financial concepts, or for those who are learning about corporate finance for the first time. You’ll identify foundational concepts in corporate finance, such as NPV, Compound and Simple Interest, and Annuities versus Perpetuities.

Oct 5th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Planning: Principled, Proposing, Proofing, and Practicing to a Success Plan (Coursera) Coursera
Michigan State University

Planning: Principled, Proposing, Proofing, and Practicing to a Success Plan (Coursera)

According to Steven Blank a business startup, or any new venture startup is essentially a proto-type. Thus the startup process essentially becomes a learning process to refine that business proto-type into a scalable, replicable finished 'product'. At the end of this course learners will be able to: complete a business model summarizing assumptions about what value they will offer to whom, and how they will make money; systematically test and validate these assumptions within the constraints of their available resources, and; use these validated assumptions to generate financial projections that are based on actual resources and efforts expended.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Investment Banking: Financial Analysis and Valuation (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Investment Banking: Financial Analysis and Valuation (Coursera)

This course will provide students the key building blocks required for a career in investment banking, valuation, and other corporate-finance focused fields. It is designed to provide a practical application of financial statement analysis and valuation techniques commonly performed by industry professionals.

Oct 5th 2026
4 Weeks
Modelización Cuantitativa para Finanzas Corporativas (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad Austral

Modelización Cuantitativa para Finanzas Corporativas (Coursera)

Este es un curso de modelización cuantitativa pensado para su aplicación en el ámbito de finanzas corporativas. En este curso aprenderás cómo explotar de la mejor forma los datos que alimentan a los modelos financieros. En la "era de los datos", cada vez más las organizaciones cuentan con información que pueden ser explotada para enriquecer la modelización financiera. Apoyándonos en métodos estadísticos y de modelización, en este curso aprenderás a proyectar variables de interés, a realizar predicciones, a medir y a evaluar la implicancia de riesgos.

Sep 28th 2026
4 Weeks
Finance for Non-Financial Managers (Coursera) Coursera
Emory University

Finance for Non-Financial Managers (Coursera)

Finance is for “Non-financial Managers” who want to understand key financial principles and apply them in a real-world context. Over the course of the program window, you will work your way through a series of nine modules that move from understanding basic financial principles to applying financial analysis and ratios to drive decisions.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Financing for Startup Businesses (Coursera) Coursera
Duke University

Financing for Startup Businesses (Coursera)

This course will teach you how to manage a startup’s financing strategy, where you will learn how to build capitalization tables (or “cap tables”) in Excel. Cap tables will help you explore different financing strategies for your startup company and determine which financing decisions are best for your entrepreneurial venture. You will also learn about innovations in the digital space that allow new ways to finance entrepreneurial ventures. These include different forms of crowdfunding, and alternative credit scoring mechanisms based on web-based data.

Sep 21st 2026
4 Weeks
International Law in Action: the Arbitration of International Disputes (Coursera) Coursera
Leiden University

International Law in Action: the Arbitration of International Disputes (Coursera)

‘The Arbitration of International Disputes’ is the third course of Leiden University’s series on International Law in Action. The first course covered generalities on the international courts and tribunals in The Hague, while the second course provided an insider's perspective into the work of international criminal courts and tribunals. This third course explores the major aspects of international arbitration as one of the most common method of international dispute settlement .

Oct 5th 2026
4 Weeks
New Venture Finance: Startup Funding for Entrepreneurs (Coursera) Coursera
University of Maryland, College Park

New Venture Finance: Startup Funding for Entrepreneurs (Coursera)

This course is for aspiring or active entrepreneurs who wants to understand how to secure funding for their company. This course will demystify key financing concepts to give entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs a guide to secure funding. Examine the many financing options available to get your new venture funded. Learn the basics of finance, valuations, dilution and non-dilutive funding sources. Understand capital structure for new ventures, term sheets and how to negotiate them, and the differences between early-stage versus later-stage financing.

Oct 5th 2026
4 Weeks
Alternative Approaches to Valuation and Investment (Coursera) Coursera
University of Melbourne

Alternative Approaches to Valuation and Investment (Coursera)

In this course, participants will develop an understanding of the intuitive foundations of asset and investment valuation, and how alternative valuation techniques may be used in practice. This is part of a Specialization in corporate finance created in partnership between the University of Melbourne and Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon).

Sep 21st 2026
4 Weeks