Venture Capital II: Starting and Running a Venture-Backed Company

(Formerly Law 401) This class will focus on the legal and non-legal tactical details of entrepreneurial endeavors. The legal specifics of corporate formation, tax, and contracts are well covered by a variety of other courses at the Law School and will only be reviewed briefly in this course. Instead, the course will examine the life stages (formation, financing, execution, and exit) of a venture-backed company from the entrepreneur's perspective. Students who are interested in either starting companies or working with startup founders as their legal counsel will solidify their foundations in this course. There will be no textbook -- course materials will include PowerPoint slides, readings from various entrepreneur and venture capital blogs, sample business plans, and other sources. This course is limited to 14 students. Those students who have taken VC I receive priority in enrollment. Prerequisites: A modest background in financial analysis or the use of Excel, such as might be obtained from any of the introductory finance courses in most undergraduate curriculums or the handful of similar graduate classes at Stanford (such as QM Finance) is strongly recommended for this course. Venture Capital I will also be helpful but is not a prerequisite. Elements used in grading: Class participation (20%), and a 60 minute oral business plan presentation with accompanying slide deck and written materials (80%). CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete and submit a Consent Application Form available on the SLS website (Click Courses at the bottom of the homepage and then click Consent of Instructor Forms). See Consent Application Form for instructions and submission deadline.