Thursday, January 30, 2020

Entrepreneurial Finance Course Essay Example for Free

Entrepreneurial Finance Course Essay ICampus: download case study + 6 questions (9am to 6pm end) Doyen A015 to A023 : we have the locals: tell him what we want (we have to book the locals) Entrepreneurial finance Different case studies cover the four parts (follow the IPO of Facebook) Project assessment: some toughts on business plan case studies: the knots and cachet tehnologies Introduction All these elements fits together. Business plan has to be written. Not a real predictor for success. People: ask you some questions Deal: as you do for edocs. Introduction Key elements that predict success. * Team : you need good managers Not only a good team but a team that fits with the project * Are you able to defend or create a competitive advantage? Is it special? Are people ready to pay for it? =gt; KEY * You have to know the different steps * How to extract value? You should make money! That’s key. For example: Facebook: out of the market in 5 year? Maybe. Not succeeding on smartphones! Are they ready to make money? Extract money from your customers? * Context * Deals should have the rights incentives. You have to find the right partner who ad value not only funding. * .. People To success you need the right person. For example: cachet technologies: lack of management. Opportunity Market: what is the size of the market? The growth rate? Attractiveness of industry: obvious Customers: Selling price is not a production cost + margin. It’s what your customer is ready to pay. When your able to produce this at a lower cost, you make a margin. What is the cost to acquire a new customer? Important. And how to retain a customer? Difficult or not? Competition: Very good market and customers BUT maybe the competition is very hard. Chance of success will be maybe very low. Pay attention. Graphical tools to understand a business model Sales forecast selling price cost =gt; makes you able to calculate the future cash flow. Usely it is like on the graph. Scenario 1 is what you expect but in real life it’s usely scenario two (more time to make money) or scenario three. When you negotiate you first funding, you know you will need a second round (scenario 2). (Give not to much right in the first round to the funding persons) What’s acceptable? Context * Legality? * Today is not the best market to raise money or to go to an IPO * Today? I believe smartphones is an opportunity. Deals Find the right partner! He may understand what you are doing. Everyone has to understand the terms. * Because you need the right incentives. The two parties have to be comfortable. * .. * .. * The right incentive: the profit of the entrepreneur is in line with the success of the company. He has to share the success of the company. Or to lose all his money in case of not success. * .. Case studies The Knot * We asked us these questions. No one had experience in retail services * Barriers for entry were very low so they need to create a brand. * .. * Internet was a very fast growing market. * 1997: a lot of venture capitalist were very active to spend their money on internet. Today? Two sectors. Biotechnology (here in LLN! ) amp; Green energy? (funding comes more from state etc. ) amp; applications on smart phones. * Basic principle: the source of value is cash flow! What is the capacity of this company to generate cash flow! You cannot value a company when you say we will have 1 million customers. Like Facebook 100 billion Where comes the value from? Not from the cash flow they are making today. They make 1 billion cash flow today You want to pay 100 times this They want to raise 10 billion in their IPO (22-28 â‚ ¬ per share) It could make sense if they will made a cash flow of 15 billion/year. Is Facebook capable? If you want to speculate, cash flow does not matter. But if you want to invest, look at the cash flows. (here, in the course, we think investors) Types of securities: the entrepreneur needs to share to company success. It’s like an option. Preferred convertible. Founder: 100 VC: 100 If lt;100 all the money goes to the VC (they protect themselves) * Or you failed: the VC takes all te money and sell your company Or you succeed and the VC helps you with your IPO. There is not really a situation between the two. Cachet Technologies Main question: do we continue the project? Dilemma: Two options:

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Courtly Love Essay -- History, Middle Ages

During the Middle Ages, Courtly love was a code which prescribed the conduct between a lady and her lover (Britannica). The relationship of courtly love was very much like the feudal relationship between a knight and his liege. The lover serves his beloved, in the manner a servant would. He owes his devotion and allegiance to her, and she inspires him to perform noble acts of valor (Schwartz). Capellanus writes, in The Art of Courtly Love, â€Å"A true lover considers nothing good except what he thinks will please his beloved†. The stories of Marie de France and Chrà ©tien de Troyes illustrate the conventions of courtly love. According to Capellanus, â€Å"Good character alone makes any man worthy of love†. In Lanval, the fairy lover chooses Lanval because he is â€Å"worthy and courtly† (Lawall 1319). Lanval gladly accepts the fairy’s love. He promises to â€Å"abandon all others for [her]† (Lawall 1319). Capellanus also says that â€Å"a true lover does not desire to embrace in love anyone except his beloved†. Therefore, Lanval loves his fairy lover solely. When the Queen offers her love to Lanval, he rejects her because his heart is devoted to his fairy lover. His beloved is one whom he â€Å"prized above all others† (Lawall 1320). Lanval desires no one more than his fairy lover. She provides him with â€Å"great joy and pleasure† that he can forego the other pleasures of the world (Lawall 1320). The claim she has on him is like that of a king’s. A good, chivalric knight should hold ladies in esteem. He should do all in his power to serve and protect ladies. Perceval’s mother instructs him to never â€Å"withhold [his] aid† from a lady or a â€Å"maiden in distress† (Lawall 1333). She says that â€Å"he who does not yield honor to ladies, loses his honor† (Lawall 1333).... ...hat is secret. Lanval, likewise, enjoys a secret love. In fact, if he ever reveals his love, he would â€Å"lose [her] forever† (Lawall 1319). Indeed, when Lanval tells the Queen that he is loved by a lady more worthy than the Queen, Lanval loses his beloved. He calls â€Å"his beloved repeatedly, but to no avail† (Lawall 1321). She leaves him once their love is made public. Courtly love defined the romance between a knight and his lady love. A knight must be worthy of love. A knight must be sworn to complete devotion to his beloved. He must hold her in high esteem and do all he can to protect her. A knight must desire no one above his beloved and the thought of her must continually be in his mind. Furthermore, courtly love must be a secret love; it does not exist within marriage. The conventions of medieval courtly love directed a knight towards servitude to his beloved.

Monday, January 13, 2020

Diet and Nutrition

Overweight and obesity are among the most topical health related problems of our modern society. They are primarily associated with high risk for many terrible diseases, including heart attack, diabetes, etc. Recently, overwhelming majority of women and increasing amount of men are forced to pay serious attention on the meals they eat, to count the calories or to keep to some diet. There is a great deal of information about dieting and following healthy nutrition-style available in contemporary mass media.There are special TV and radio programs, in which medical doctors or other specialists speculate about different diets and give valuable pieces of advice. It is possible to find special magazines and other editions, presenting one or another type of diets or weigh-loss programs for the general audience. Finally, there is abundance of Internet sites, dedicated to the problems of obesity and overweight.As a rule, the most of the recommendations, connected with dieting and putting off weight, are quite individual and must be specifically given for any particular person, taking into consideration his/her health and psychological conditions, present life-style, marital status and so on. But there are some common points and tips, which can be suggested to anyone, who is thinking about starting a new healthy nutrition and life-style. Speaking about diet, first of all, it is necessary to reduce the amount of highly caloric meals in daily ration. Primarily, those are baked and fried foods.Many diet specialists suggest total refusal of eating all sorts of bread and bakery, made from white refined wheat powder. At the same time, it is necessary to include some small amounts of household bread or graham crackers, because bread has some important rare nutrients, essential for human organism. Also, any type of fried food is considered to be dangerous and caloric. Fried and fatty meals are direct contribution into fat deposits, which are drastically increasing weigh of the b ody. The same can be said about sweet foods, especially sugar and its products.These foodstuffs are rich with glucose, which is a perfect source of energy, but, at the same time, can be easily conversed to fat. That is why one of the easiest and most common recommendations for fatty people is to lover the consumption of sugar, sweets and chocolate. Second important suggestion is decreasing the amount of junk food. Contemporary life is making us very busy and tired of our problems, children, offices, schools and all the things. That is why it is a good solution in many situations to use ready meals in fast food restaurants, or to prepare ready-to-cook products.At the same time, our favorite pizza, Big Mac or Whopper are simply caloric bombs. They are usually prepared on extremely dangerous fats or oils and have a lot of fat-containing ingredients, like cheese, sausages, etc. The third tip on improving nutritional habits is to avoid overeating and eating late at night. Dietologists su ggest eating three-four times a day, serving a number of different meals in small portions. If hunger appears before the scheduled meal-time, some light yogurt, piece of fruit or tomato juice can be the best solution for handling it.Also, it is better to have dinner at least in two-three hours before going to bed. Certainly, not everything is based on correct nutrition and healthy food consumption in the program on putting off weight. Such activities like doing REGULAR physical exercises, being always moving and dynamic during the day, spending a lot of time outdoors and preferring active rest, are milestone points for people with extra weight. Besides, such spiritual practices, like yoga, proved to be very effective and supportive for those, who are trying to decrease own weight.If a woman is 5'4†³ tall and has 158 pounds of weight, she can find out (using some Internet resources or special comparative tables) that she is quite overweight, but, fortunately, not obese. That is why she does not need to keep to a strict exhausting diet, but some urgent steps must be done in order to put off her extra pounds. To do so, she needs to make some changes in her nutritional habits and establish some new rules of maintaining healthy life-style. To start with, she can adopt above mentioned recommendations, trying to lower the amount of fat and sugar in her daily meals and avoiding eating late at night.It would be necessary to learn cooking healthy meals, using as much as possible vegetables, cereals, fruit, meat, fish and other natural products. It would be healthy for all the family to give up eating macaroni or fried potatoes and enjoy delicious boiled or stewed foods, which are much more healthy and useful. Besides, she needs to re-schedule her daily routine and find more time for additional physical activity. For example, dieting can be perfectly supported by regular strolls or jogging.At the workplace it is better not to sit for long, or (if the work is connect ed with sitting) to do some frequent refreshing physical exercises. On the way home it is better to walk as much as possible, at least from the further parking place. Of course, it is good to use the opportunity of having active rest on weekends, like going out of the city, hiking, swimming, etc. The most important moment is: healthy nutrition and physical activity have to be regular. This will never work for people, who always put the things off until tomorrow and look for reasons to give up.Only doing regular exercises and always keeping away from unhealthy meals will work for good. This way, maintaining healthy life-style has to grow into a habit and work for keeping the body in normal weight for long time. That is why, in addition to everything above mentioned, it is also extremely important to get psychologically ready for the hard work on weight-loss plan. It will take enormous efforts to refuse some favorite meals, like cakes, hamburgers or fries; to follow the schedule of ha ving meals; to learn how to cook new dishes; to find some time to do physical exercises or jogging, etc.It is necessary to remain focused on the goal and be ready to do everything possible to achieve it. Undoubtedly, dieting and following healthy life-style will bring some certain changes into daily activity of the woman. For instance, it may take some more time to cook more healthy meals, or some extra time will be required for doing exercises and outdoors activity. That’s why in the beginning her husband and children may feel lack of her attention; she may have no time for doing something she used to do; she can feel more tired and have lack of rest, etc.Nevertheless, in three or four months the first results will take place and the first pounds will disappear. By that time, the woman will definitely get into the swing of her new life-style and feel less pressure from the things to be done. Therefore, the first outcomes of her efforts will become clear. She’ll feel l ighter and healthier, her self-esteem will rise and her capabilities will increase. This everything will immediately reflect on her family and bring to numerous positive reactions.

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Welfare Of The United States Essay - 869 Words

Welfare in the United States began in the 1800’s when the colonies imported British Poor Laws. Before the Great Depression began in America, the government was already supporting certain programs such as the Civil War Pension Program was that passed in 1862 that gave aid to Civil War Veterans and their families. Once the Great Depression hit, unemployment rose and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, enacted the Social Security Act in 1935. The act formed a number of programs that provided aid to a wider population. Due to the demand of welfare needs, Roosevelt created agencies to help accommodate individuals. He created the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Labor, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Education to name a few. When Bill Clinton came into office, he created the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. Under this act, each state was provided with lump sums of money annually. However, this act also pushed for people to get off of welfare and into the workforce (history). According to US Government Spending, when the United States was heading into the 20th century, welfare spending on programs for relief such as unemployment compensation, and income support, was at 0.1 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It was not until the crisis of the Great Depression that welfare spending was on the secular rise, reaching 2.1 percentShow MoreRelatedWelfare Of The United States998 Words   |  4 PagesWelfare is a subject of debate in the United States because everyone has a different point of view when it comes to the Social Security Act. On one side the rich may feel that the government takes from the rich, and gives to the poor. The poor on the other hand may believe that they are being forgotten and not helped enough by the government. 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There is usually a very bad stigma behind the name welfare system but during the 1930 s The Great Depression affected roughly sixty percent of families who were barely living and it was not because of bad choices. (Jensen, C., 2014). During The Great Depression the welfare system was a useful tool the many modifications to the structure over the years has not changed the focus of the systems main focal points. The WelfareRead MoreHealth And Welfare Of The United States Essay1855 Words   |  8 PagesOverview The burden of diabetes in the United States has become a persistent threat to the health and welfare of the people and the nation. Diabetes is ranked the seventh cause of death. Diabetes is a disease characterized by high levels of blood glucose caused by problems in insulin production, working of the produced insulin, or even both, which results in serious complications and ultimately death (National Diabetes Education Program, 2007). 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