MGT 896, Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship. 2 units: This course will examine the legal issues likely to arise in the course of forming a start-up and managing a growing firm. Students will learn how to spot legal issues before they become legal problems and how to use the law and legal tools to create value, marshal resources (human and financial), and manage risk. Issues addressed include arrangements among the founders, intellectual property protection, venture capital financing, executive compensation (including tax considerations), and securities regulation. LAE will be of particular interest to students planning to become entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, or chief financial officers. There will one take-home final exam. The final grade will be based on class participation (40%) and performance on the final exam (60%). This course involves an above-average amount of reading and case preparation, and every student is expected to come to class prepared to discuss the assigned materials.

MGT 635, Venture Capital & Private Equity Investment. 4 units: Investing in venture capital and in the equity of private companies is an apprenticeship business. Venture investors need analytic and quantitative skills, as well as broad knowledge of a range of business and financial disciplines. Successful investors need practice and a variety of experience, as well as good judgment and people skills. Course topics include start-ups and expansion stage venture capital, leveraged buyouts, and turnaround situations. Disciplines include business research (library skills), business and financial analysis, financial projections and equity valuation, verbal and written presentations, teamwork, and negotiating techniques. The course includes both lectures and in-depth case studies, with a strong emphasis on "learning by doing." Teamwork is actively encouraged to frame and solve problems, and to handle heavy workloads. Execution of case studies requires teams of students to do research on industries, segments and niches, to evaluate business plans, and to make financial projections and value equity instruments. Teams will make written and verbal presentations. Entrepreneur and investor teams negotiate and structure "deals" in a role-playing mode. Enrollment limited to 36 second-year SOM students. Heavy workload.

MGT 949, Private Equity Investing. 4 units: This case-driven course focuses on principal issues and types of investments typically found in substantial private equity portfolios: cash flow analysis, sources of private equity capital, private equity analytical framework, borrowing and bankruptcy, employee incentives, ownership issues, leveraged buyouts, build-ups, growth capital, venture capital financing, and investing in new categories. Classes will be based largely on primary source materials and active student participation. Past students have found the class to be demanding and unusually practical. Students will benefit from strong foundations in corporate finance, accounting, and strategic business analysis.

MGT 828, Creativity and Innovation. 2 units: Creativity and innovation generate novel ideas, products, applications, strategies and solutions. In this course we explore the many different aspects of creativity and innovation that are important in business and in life, including being creative oneself, nurturing creativity in others, managing activities of innovation in organizations, recognizing valuable creative ideas and innovations when one comes across them, and appreciating the competitive dynamics associated with innovations. You will learn about creativity and innovation through a mixture of readings, lectures, small group and class discussions, cases, and independent projects. Enrollment limit: 35.

MGT 897, Real Property. 2 units: This course is for any student serious about a career in managing, developing, or investing in real estate. Educational objectives: How to analyze a real estate project; How to assess the risks; How to be a better deal maker; How to manage a project; How to be a leader in the industry; How to think about financial innovation.

MGT 898, Principles of Commercial Real Estate. 2 units: This course is a micro-view, bottom-up class on the basic principles of real estate development and investment for the five commercial property types (Office, Industrial, Retail, Multifamily, and Hotel) throughout the US but with utilization of New Haven for case studies of actual projects. The focus of the course will be primary research on essential real estate documents: assessments, deeds, leases, mortgage liens, and partnership agreements. Mathematics will be required but limited to the methods for calculating property valuation with and without debt, partnership interests and capital accounts, debt interests and the tax benefits of depreciation and leverage. We will examine the factors influencing value for major commercial real estate property (location, financing, timing, ownership structure, environmental issues, etc.) in the context of the space market and the capital markets. In addition to weekly assignments, there will be a final presentation, by team or individually, analyzing a real property in or near New Haven. The course will require the use of a handheld HP or similar financial calculator capable of IRR and loan amortization calculations. Each class will including an in-class mathematical exercise. Enrollment limited to 30.

MGT 894, Media Economics & Financing Journalism. 2 units: While the first purveyors of journalism in the U.S. were many and their audiences small, the second half of the 20th century saw the consolidation of news businesses into a finite number of media companies enjoying substantial profits. Print and broadcast companies devoted substantial resources to the pursuit of quality journalism, hiring graduate school-educated men and women as reporters and supporting them with fact-checking, editing, peer review and production expertise. Early in the 21st century, it is already apparent that the most successful media companies of the last 100 years face serious financial troubles. Audiences have become fragmented and much less captive, driving down the value of traditional media to advertisers. Vast revenue streams that once paid the bills for quality journalism (such as classified advertising in newspapers & advertising on network television) have been substantially reduced or diverted to companies not pursuing journalism at all. The course will explore how future journalists, editors, and producers (in new or traditional media) will find meaningful economic backing to do their jobs well. Is true editorial independence and review, which inevitably are labor intensive, essential to the health of the “Fourth Estate” and its role in a democracy? If so, how will media companies afford the cost of quality assurance, however “quality” is defined? Can journalism and the dissemination of news be supported primarily by advertising, subscription revenue, or in some other way? Project groups within the class will research and present existing business models in media, both in readings and by interaction with executives currently active in media and journalism. Class groups will then do brainstorming and early stage thinking that will lead to the creation of pro-forma business plans or models for the final project(s). No examination. Enrollment limit: 20.