Learning Path 22
Founding a Company
From opportunity to default-alive: testing an idea, landing the first ten customers, the economics of one sale, splitting equity, and choosing whether to raise at all.
- Intermediate
- ~16h estimated
- 26 modules
- 153 topics
Suggested before this path:
Why this path matters
Starting something is a discipline with a sequence — validation, first customers, pricing, equity, runway — and most of the expensive mistakes happen in the first three steps.
What you will understand
- How a single sale actually makes — or loses — money.
- The difference between earning income and owning value.
- Every source of money — and what each one costs you.
- Starting something real, with your eyes open.
Modules in this path
Core Margin Math · Unit Economics
- Unit Economics Basics
- Contribution Margin
- Gross Margin versus Real Profit
- Break-even CAC
- Break-even ROAS
- Ad Cost per Order (Cost per Click → Cost per Order)
Acquisition Economics · Unit Economics
- Blended CAC versus Channel CAC
- Customer Lifetime Value
- Payback Period
- Revenue Quality versus Revenue Volume
- Fixed Costs versus Variable Costs
- Operating Leverage
Costs, Leverage, and Safety · Unit Economics
- Margin of Safety in Pricing
- Hidden Costs per Transaction
- Refund-adjusted Profitability
- Chargeback Risk
- Cash Conversion Cycle
- Inventory Turnover
Cash Flow Realities · Unit Economics
- Dead-stock Risk
- Working-capital Traps
- Profit versus Cash
- Why Fast-growing Businesses Can Still Go Broke
- Revenue Concentration Risk
- Customer Concentration Risk
Concentration and Stress Tests · Unit Economics
- Supplier Concentration Risk
- The One Bad Month Stress Test
- Price Elasticity
- Demand Destruction
- Price Anchoring
- Decoy Pricing
Pricing Power and Fees · Unit Economics
- Bundle Economics
- Subscription Economics
- Buy-now-pay-later Fees
- Marketplace Fees versus Direct-to-customer Margins
- Reading Financial Statements
Ownership Fundamentals · Equity & Ownership
- Salary versus Ownership
- Equity versus Revenue
- Equity versus Profit Share
- Common Stock
- Preferred Stock
- Voting Rights
- Non-voting Shares
Shares, Vesting, and Dilution · Equity & Ownership
Equity Beyond Stock · Equity & Ownership
- Phantom Equity
- Profit Interests
- Sweat Equity
- Advisory Shares
- Employee Ownership
- Partnership Equity Splits
- Equal Split Problems
Agreements and Protections · Equity & Ownership
- Buy-sell Agreements
- Drag-along Rights
- Tag-along Rights
- Liquidation Preferences
- SAFE Notes
- Convertible Notes
- Valuation Caps
Valuation and Value · Equity & Ownership
- Pre-money versus Post-money
- Enterprise Value versus Equity Value
- EBITDA Multiples
- Revenue Multiples
- Owner Earnings
- Seller Discretionary Earnings
- Private Business Valuation
Buying Equity vs Building It · Equity & Ownership
- High Valuation Risk
- Buying versus Building Equity
- Buying Cash Flow
- 409A Valuations
- 83(b) Elections
- Qualified Small Business Stock
- Profits Interests in Practice
Equity Paperwork That Decides Taxes · Equity & Ownership
Self-Funding and Debt · Capital & Financing
- Bootstrapping
- Debt Financing
- Equity Financing
- Revenue-based Financing
- Asset-backed Lending
- Purchase-order Financing
- Invoice Factoring
Financing Against Assets · Capital & Financing
- Inventory Financing
- Equipment Financing
- Merchant Cash Advances
- Lines of Credit
- SBA Loans
- Seller Financing
- Earnouts
Loans, Credit, and Guarantees · Capital & Financing
- Business Credit
- Personal Guarantees
- Collateral
- Debt Service Coverage
- Interest-rate Risk
- Refinancing Risk
- Capital Stacking
Investors and Outside Money · Capital & Financing
- Friends and Family Capital
- Angel Investors
- Venture Capital
- Family Offices
- Strategic Investors
- Corporate Partnerships
- Grants
Capital Strategy · Capital & Financing
- Non-dilutive Capital
- Capital That Does not Trap You
- When not to Raise
- Fundable versus Profitable
- How the Stock Market Works
- Public versus Private Markets
- Going Public
Instruments the Pros Use · Capital & Financing
- Venture Debt
- Mezzanine Financing
- Securitization
- Letters of Credit
- Treasury and Cash Management
- Intercreditor Agreements and Subordination
- First-lien and Second-lien Structures
Credit Documents and Covenants · Capital & Financing
- Unitranche Facilities
- Payment-in-kind and Toggle Notes
- Incurrence versus Maintenance Covenants
- Baskets, Carve-outs, and Restricted Payments
- Springing Covenants and the Leverage Grid
- Make-whole Provisions and Call Protection
- The Credit Agreement Clause by Clause
When the Documents Get Tested · Capital & Financing
The Founder Decision · Entrepreneurship
- What Entrepreneurs Actually Do
- Opportunity Recognition
- Founder-market Fit
- Timing and the Why-now Question
- Idea Validation Before Building
From Idea to First Dollar · Entrepreneurship
- Minimum Viable Products
- Talking to Customers
- Your First Ten Customers
- Pricing Your First Offer
- Startup Unit Economics
The Early Machine · Entrepreneurship
- The First Hire Decision
- Founder Salaries and Burn
- Bootstrapping Economics
- When to Raise Outside Money
- Equity Splits Between Cofounders
Fuel and Ownership · Entrepreneurship
- Dilution and the Cap Table
- Term Sheets Explained
- Runway and Default Alive
- Product-market Fit Signals
- Pivots That Actually Worked