More info and RSVP at: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3081128739

Do you REALLY Understand Big Companies?

I have spent the last 47 years studying and researching the economy, industries, and individual companies.  I find that very few business people really understand how this all works.   And even fewer are good, efficient researchers.  Those are the reasons I founded the business information company that became Hoovers.com in 1990.

If you sell to companies, work for companies, invest in companies, buy from companies, compete with companies, consult for companies, or partner with companies, my new course “Understanding Companies” is for you.  See the summary video here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS2CKVcRrBI.  After completing the course, you should be able to talk to people at a company and know as much or more about their company and industry than they do.

Why am I qualified to teach this course?  I started subscribing to Fortune Magazine at the age of 12, studied economics under three future Nobel Prize winners, and picked stocks on Wall Street.  Then I looked at 400 acquisition candidates for a multibillion dollar company and have plenty of boardroom and corporate experience, including 5 years on the Whole Foods Market Board of Directors.  Lastly, I founded and raised the money for four startups. Two years ago I was the first Entrepreneur-in-Residence at UT’s McCombs Business School, and I now teach business and entrepreneurship on my own and speak on these subjects to entrepreneurs and executives worldwide.  Testimonials about my teaching are at the bottom of this note.

This new three-part course, which you can take all together or just one or two of the three parts, is meant to help you understand how the world of corporations (big and small) works.  Those who take the full three parts will be way ahead of the game – and their competition – because they will really understand companies from the top down, and the bottom up.  Each class builds on the prior one, although they also stand alone as individual classes.

The course will take place on three successive Sunday afternoons, April 1, 8, and 15, from 1:30 to 4:30 PM at the Cospace coworking and incubator facility, 911 West Anderson Lane, Austin, TX 78757, just southwest of the intersection of Lamar and 183.

Each class is $99, or sign up for all three for $199.  Tickets are available at Event Brite.  If buy the $199 ticket but cannot make all three classes this time, you can buy tickets now and take the classes when I offer the course again, most likely in another 2-3 months.

Here are the components of the course and the key ideas we will cover:

Sunday, April 8, 1:30 to 4:30 PM at Cospace.  The Numbers Made Simple.  $99 or all 3 for $199.

You cannot understand a company unless you can read its annual report and its financial statements, the ultimate report card on how a company has done in the past.  People spend years and lots of money learning finance and accounting, but the basic concepts are pretty straight forward, they are not rocket science.  In this session we will look at real annual reports, and learn the secrets of the pros – what is in the footnotes, what is in the proxy statement, the importance of the S-1, which numbers matter and which numbers do not. The key role of debt vs. equity.  How the balance sheet and profit and loss statement affect each other.  How to think about expense structure.  This class is created so that any eager learner, of any age and background, can learn the important concepts.  I have had MBA graduates tell me, “No one ever made it this clear for me.”