Entrepreneurship: focusing on valuation of companies and intangible assets

Aims

This course aims to:

• introduce you to the key principles of entrepreneurship and value creation
• provide you with a structured framework to analyse companies and their key value drivers
• develop your ability to apply valuation methods to real-world business situations
• enable you to critically assess investment opportunities and business strategies
• build your confidence in forming and communicating a defensible opinion of value

Course content

This course brings together entrepreneurship and valuation in a highly practical and applied way.

You will begin by exploring the foundations of entrepreneurship, understanding how successful ventures are built, how markets are analysed, and how teams and strategy influence outcomes. From there, we will move into the core question that underpins all entrepreneurial and investment decisions: what is this business actually worth?

You will learn how value is created and measured, with particular attention to intangible assets such as intellectual property, including, for example, patents, proprietary technology and know-how, software, data, and brand. These elements are often the most important, and usually the most difficult, to evaluate.

We will then develop a deep understanding of the three main valuation approaches used globally: the cost approach, the market approach, and the future income approach. You will learn not only how these methods work, but when and why they are used, and their limitations.

Throughout the course, we will connect these concepts to real-world practice, including investment decision-making, funding rounds, and strategic business planning. We will also refer to key professional frameworks such as the International Valuation Standards (IVS) and the IPEV Guidelines.

By the end of the programme, you will be able to approach valuation problems with both technical rigour and practical judgement, a combination that is essential in entrepreneurship and finance.

My aim is to help you think like an investor when assessing value and making decisions under uncertainty.

What to expect on this course

This is an immersive, in-person Cambridge learning experience designed to be both intellectually rigorous and highly practical.

Teaching will combine:

• interactive lectures
• real-world case discussions
• group exercises and problem-solving
• applied valuation modelling
• open discussions drawing on your own ideas and experiences

You will be actively engaging, questioning, and applying concepts throughout.

One of the key features of this course is that you will be able to apply what you learn to:

• your own business idea, or
• a hypothetical venture developed during the course

This makes the learning highly relevant and immediately applicable.

The diversity of participants in the International Summer Programme is also a major strength. You will learn not only from the course content, but from discussions with peers from different countries, disciplines, and perspectives.

Course sessions

The course is structured as a progressive learning journey, where each day builds towards a final investment decision. 

Beginning with understanding a business and its value drivers, you will gradually develop the tools and frameworks required to assess value from different perspectives, culminating in a practical investment recommendation.
 

1.Introduction to Entrepreneurship

In this session, you will explore the foundations of entrepreneurship and how successful ventures are built in practice. You will begin by analysing a business from an investor’s perspective, focusing on how teams, products, and markets shape outcomes.

We will examine key aspects such as:

(i) how teams and leadership influence execution,

(ii) how to understand customers and define compelling value propositions,

(iii) how to analyse market conditions and assess the total addressable market,

(iv) how to develop early-stage financial thinking and models, and

(v) the role of intangible assets and intellectual property in creating competitive advantage.

This session establishes the foundation for the course by helping you understand what makes a business valuable before attempting to quantify that value.

2. Introduction to Assets, IP & Valuation

In this session, you will develop a structured understanding of how value is defined and assessed in practice, building on your initial analysis of a business.

We will explore:

(i) how to define and identify different types of assets,

(ii) how financial markets help establish value,

(iii) how enterprise value is composed of tangible and intangible assets,

(iv) the nature and importance of intangible assets and intellectual property (IP),

(v) how valuation is used as a tool to inform business and investment decisions, and

(vi) the different purposes and contexts in which valuations are performed.

This session will help you move from understanding a business qualitatively to identifying its key drivers of value.

3.Valuation - Cost and Market Approaches

In this session, you will begin to assess value from an external and market-based perspective, introducing two fundamental valuation approaches used in practice.

We will cover:

(i) the Cost Approach to valuing companies and intangible assets,

(ii) when and why the cost approach is appropriate,

(iii) the distinction between reproduction cost new and replacement cost new,

(iv) the impact of depreciation and obsolescence on value, and

(v) the Market Approach, including the Guideline Public Company Method, the M&A Method, and valuation based on recent transactions and investment rounds.

This session will allow you to develop an initial view of value by comparing your business to market evidence and observed transactions.

4. Valuation - Future Income Approach, Net Present Value, Relief from Royalties

In this session, you will move from market-based perspectives to forward-looking valuation, focusing on how future performance drives value.

You will explore:

(i) the definition of an asset from an economic perspective,

(ii) the time value of money,

(iii) the Future Income Approach through Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) models,

(iv) perpetuities and long-term cash flow modelling,

(v) capitalised economic income and terminal value methods,

(vi) risk, discount rates, and the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM),

(vii) the distinction between valuing companies and valuing intangible assets, and

(viii) key considerations when performing valuations for investment purposes.

This session provides the core framework used by investors to estimate intrinsic value based on expectations of future performance.

5. Entrepreneurship & Valuation - Practical Case Study

In this final session, you will bring together the concepts developed throughout the course and apply them in a practical case study.

You will analyse an entrepreneurial venture, assess its key value drivers, and evaluate how its intangible assets and intellectual property contribute to overall value. You will then develop and present a structured view of value, supported by your assumptions and analysis.

This session culminates in a practical investment decision, where you will be required to justify your valuation and defend your reasoning.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• critically evaluate an entrepreneurial business opportunity, identifying its key drivers of value, including team, market, and competitive positioning.
• communicate clearly and confidently, both verbally and in writing, the factors that influence the success and value of a business, particularly the role of intangible assets and intellectual property.
• apply core valuation approaches, including the cost, market, and future income methods, to form and justify a structured view of value in support of business and investment decisions.

Required reading

These readings are essential and provide the foundation for the course:

• Aulet, Bill and Murray, Fiona, A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs (2013)
  A clear and accessible introduction to different types of entrepreneurship and value creation

Available at: A_Tale_of_Two_Entrepreneurs_Report.pdf (kauffman.org)

• Da Cruz Vasconcellos, F, How can firms continue to generate excess returns?
  A practical perspective on how companies create and sustain value, with a focus on key assets
  Internal publication (2020) (Available on the VLE)