While being a successful entrepreneur is highly rewarding, starting and running a business can also be overwhelming, emotionally draining and financially risky. The difference between success and failure often lies in the ability to create a logical plan, mitigate risk, minimize mistakes, and build a strong support system. The Rutgers Mini MBA™: Entrepreneurship focuses on these key elements of business success. Taught by both Rutgers faculty and seasoned entrepreneurs, the coursework combines the theory of traditional MBA programs with the real-world entrepreneurial training needed to lead a business venture to success. The goal is for participants to leave the class ready to take their business to the next level. Each participant is expected to create an actionable business plan or pitch deck as a final project. The program fee includes the new Apple® iPad™, containing the pre-loaded program materials, for each participant.
Our Virtual Mini-MBA Certification Programs are self-paced courses and 100% online. Each module of the course includes videos that can be viewed online when it's convenient for you, as well as exercises, quizzes, a final exam and project. During the weeks of the course, the respective faculty member for each module will be available to answer any questions you may have either through a discussion board or scheduled virtual office hour. The time commitment differs from person to person, but generally our online courses will take about 35-40 hours to complete. All of the course materials are available for a 12 week time frame. We do not require GRE or GMAT testing to register.
The Mini MBA™, Entrepreneurship is a certificate program designed for:
- Aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners, including graduate students, and professionals interested in a career change
- Entrepreneurs interested in taking their business to the next level
- Entrepreneurs who need to be better positioned to raise capital
- Entrepreneurs who want to learn best practices in management, finance, marketing, and strategic planning
- Non-profit leaders who want to learn how to use for-profit strategies to promote their cause
- Corporate employees with an entrepreneurial spirit who want to develop new corporate strategies and opportunities
This Mini MBA™: Entrepreneurship program will enable participants to:
- Understand the legal implications of business ownership and how to best mitigate risk
- Identify, quantify, and articulate the market opportunity
- Write a compelling and thorough business plan
- Communicate the value proposition to potential investors
- Use financial data to make better management decisions
- Develop a network of executive mentors
- Negotiate and sell effectively
Preparing and Pitching for Successful Business Ownership
This module develops a framework for understanding the entrepreneurial process. Here we explore the challenges, problems, and issues faced by entrepreneurs who start new businesses. During the course students will learn to identify and evaluate business opportunities, develop business concepts, assess and obtain the required resources, market themselves, negotiate, and write a business plan. Forms of business ownership (LLCs, Corporations, etc.), fundamental entrepreneurial questions, critical risks, as well as business plan best practices will be covered here.
Analyzing Market Opportunities
This module will include:
- Discussion of how to do an industry overview and Analysis
- Porter, and PEST analysis – links to cash flow and risk
- Examination of the industry supply-chain structure
- Google search for existing products in the product market space
- Advanced search techniques
- Understanding the key drivers of Gross Margin and Profitability
- Understanding the key industry success factors, and supply-chain bottle necks
- Industry trends and product market strategies
Valuing and Funding Your Enterprise
This module presents a framework for understanding how to raise capital for the new enterprise. Students will learn the basics of fundraising, skills to obtain funds and an overview of various fundraising process. We cover the emerging market of Crowdfunding, the various platforms and unique aspects of crowdfunding planning and pitching.
Students will learn:
- An Overview of Financing Options: Self funding, angel investors, venture capitalists
- Determining Company Value: Discounted cash flow, implied value, pre and post money determinations
- Crowdfunding: When to use Donation/Rewards and when to seek Equity; Crowdfunding appeals – beyond Return on Investment
- A New Phased Capital Raise Structure and the 5 Steps
- Pitching Investors and knowing what investors want to hear
Agile Marketing
Entrepreneurs typically hate planning, so why tediously plan your marketing when you don't even know what will work? You know that you need to pivot in your business to find success, so why not your marketing, too? Agile marketing gives you the path to success in digital marketing through experimentation and course correction, rather than boring strategizing leading up to a “big bang” launch of a very risky endeavor. One of my books, Do It Wrong Quickly, epitomizes this approach, because one of the difficulties of adopting agile marketing is the need to admit that most of what we do is actually wrong—it’s not the best, it’s not optimized, and sometimes it is not even good. But it is a start. And if you have a feedback loop that tells you how far off you are from success, you’ll eventually home in on an approach that is working. No entrepreneur can make any money without getting attention for their product or service. Learn how to be entrepreneurial as you do it.
In this module, you'll learn:
- Direct marketing and how it is applied to digital marketing
- The steps to purchase, online and offline
- Measuring the value of your marketing
- Testing your way to success
- Defining your action plan
Business Law, and Analyzing Financial Statements
This module will cover a variety of topics related to the mechanics and logistics of business ownership. Attendees will learn about the pros and cons of the various types of entity structures through which to operate a business; type of liabilities, and how to handle them; intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, and copyrights; contracts; employment laws, and bankruptcy. This module also covers understanding the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement and learning how these three statements are interconnected and the idiosyncrasies common to each. The concept of book value versus market value will also be introduced as it relates to the financial statement analysis.
Paths to Business Ownership
This module will discuss the ways in which you can establish a business, including franchising, buying a business, or starting a new business. It will also include discussion of potentially selling a business. Additional topics include considerations for business ownership in different industries, including tech/mobile, service, and goods and products.
Idea or Opportunity
There is a huge difference between an idea and an opportunity. What is the business model? Who is the customer? Is there a long run, sustainable comparative advantage? What drives EBITDA in an industry? Forecasting price. Many businesses fail because they are founded on ideas and not opportunities. How can you tell the difference? I’m going to put some structure on it for you.
Negotiation
This session will be a high-level session on negotiation strategy. It examines the importance of negotiating the relationship as well as terms, and allows the participants to link business strategy to negotiated outcomes.
Performance Selling
You are in the sales business. No matter what you do or what you think you do, you are in the business of marketing and selling. Without sales, no business can survive. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs don’t get this and do not fully understand how to effectively market and sell their products and services. This class covers the fundamentals of sales including effective strategies and tactics that work in any business to encourage buyers to take action