Entrepreneurship – (Prof. Patrick Gaughan)
This interdisciplinary course offered with the College of Business Administration is an exceptional opportunity for ALL law students to acquire the skills that will improve both your employment prospects after graduation and your abilities to serve entrepreneurial clients and venture capital supported firms. The course will be taught by Patrick H. Gaughan, JD, MBA, abd DBA. Mr. Gaughan has spent the last ten years working out of the Youngstown Business Incubator and has successfully obtained private equity investment in both high-tech and traditional investments. Beginning this fall, Mr. Gaughan will also be the Executive Director of the Innovation Practice Center at the University of Akron.
As part of this course, you will learn the fundamentals of entrepreneurship – including many of the skills recently identified in a Harvard Law Survey of the skills most in demand by law firms representing businesses, entrepreneurs and private equity investors. For instance, 83% of survey respondents indicated that law students should take courses on Accounting and Financial Reporting. Likewise, 68% of survey respondents indicated that law students should take courses on Corporate Finance. Both of these topics will be covered as part of the Entrepreneurship Course.
The course will cover what lawyers need to know about the following:
• Business Plan Basics
o Identifying opportunities
o Understanding external market structures
o Understanding internal Resources
• The “Top-Down” approach to Pro Forma Accounting
o Understanding balance sheets
o Understanding income statements
o Understanding cash flow statements
• Fundamentals of Valuing a Venture
o Discounted Cash Flow
o Strategic Purchasers
• Plan Presentation Basics
• Due Diligence Fundamentals
• Venture and Deal Structures
This is the sort of training that one needs to represent both small businesses and start-ups that become multimillion dollar companies.
This course will include at least two case studies, a presentation and business plan. The course may include group work depending upon course enrollment.