Show me the money! This fall, UNM-LA offers Financing the Entrepreneurial Enterprise

Learn how to get money for your business at UNM-LA.

Learn how to get money for your business at UNM-LA.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, lack of capital and funding is one of the main reasons why the majority of small businesses fail. That means that businesses that secure funding right away have a greater chance for success.

This fall UNM-LA will offer a course taught by Nicholas Seet called Financing the Entrepreneurial Enterprise. The class will be a hybrid course which will be online and in person. The course runs from October 4, 2013 – December 6, 2013 and will be held on Fridays from 12-4 p.m.

Financing the Entrepreneurial Enterprise will be a natural extension from his other class, Intro to Entrepreneurship that is offered in the spring. But this class will focus on the critical money aspect of starting a business. The classes may be taken in either order.

According to Seet, it’s important for entrepreneurs to tackle the funding issue as soon as possible. The reason is simple: “The money people always demand that you defend and justify your business,” said Seet. “In order to get funding, new businesses need to demonstrate how they will make a profit. If you pass the money test you are more likely to make it in the market.”

Seet will give step-by-step guidance on how to secure funding

Students will use Kickstarter and IndieGoGo as a starting point, because crowdsourcing is the newest paradigm for business financing. His students will learn how to launch a successful crowd-funding campaign in support of projects of local businesses.

He will bring in guest speakers who are experts in bank financing, equity and debt financing, and bootstrapping. He will bring in professional venture capitalists, who will explain how to attract serious investors. He will also help students successfully assess public grants and navigate startup accelerators and incubators.

Seet is an expert at navigating the funding process

• When his first startup, Auditude, was funded for $1 million, he quickly left his job at Deloitte Consulting and dove into entrepreneurship.
• In 2005 he won the Rice University Business Plan Competition and received $1.1 million in cash and prizes, over 100 other competitors.
• In 2011 he sold Auditude, to Adobe for a low-9-figure number.
• Auditude grew from a humble MP3 identification company to become the fourth largest ad network in the world.

UNM-LA has an open admissions policy. Visit their website for more information.