Three months after launch, the Learning Finance project has started getting serious attention and traffic. Today it became the top traffic blog within my portfolio of blogs (Oil Insights, Desi Back to Desh, Learning Finance and Startup Insights)
Ten years ago, I wrote the following lines as part of my project submission across multiple courses that helped build the foundation for the online education business we launched at Columbia Business School.
Concepts.com is primarily an education startup that plans to use the Internet for the delivery of courses on financial subjects. The firm was founded in Feb 1999 and in the last 10 months has developed a prototype online finance course, conducted one focus group discussion and finalized design of key systems. The next step in the firm’s timeline is a market test in November 1999 and a soft launch of an initial inventory of online financial courses in January. Depending on the results of these two events the firm would take a decision to either do a full launch of financial courses in March 2000 or abandon the project.
More than a decade later a test project run part time during late nights and by hi-jacking resources at work when no-one is looking has already crossed the threshold of online financial courses we wrote for Concepts.com. And when I finally posted the short online course on range accrual and commodity linked note written by Agnes earlier tonight, the original vision of widely sharing the wealth of knowledge picked up as part of an Ivy League MBA Finance program is finally complete.
The finance course threads on the Learning Finance portal now include
Introductory Corporate Finance courses
Credit process and credit analysis courses
Basic Risk Management courses
Introduction to derivative instrument courses
Treasury management courses
Introductory Corporate Finance courses
- Corporate Finance: First Course
- Master Case: Electronic Arts: Corporate Finance
- Master Case: Office Depot: Ratio Analysis
- Master Case: Ratio Analysis: ODP and Staples
- Master Case: AMD: Valuation and Projections: Case Guide
- Master Case: Corporate Finance: LLC or C-Corp
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Credit process and Credit Analysis Courses
- Master Case: Credit Process: Baldwin Piano
- Master Class: Credit Analysis
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Basic Risk Management courses
- Master Class: Risk for the Oil and Petrochemical Industry
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The Introduction to Derivatives Courses
- Master Class: Derivative products
- The Derivatives Crash Course for Dummies
- Pricing Interest Rate Swaps – The valuation and MTM course
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The Treasury Management series
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As I wrote on a late night on campus at Columbia University, the finance course material was originally aimed at the following audiences
We believe that primary interest in this product would come from the following sources
- MBA students in search for a source (of online courses) for additional preparation for courses graded on the curve
- MBA alumni and professional managers who wish to understand a concept of a finance topic in greater depth or in a rush
- Investors and fund managers who need a semi formal introduction or refresher to advance pricing and valuation topics
- Small business owners who need quick answers for financial issues they face including creation of bankable documents for credit and loan applications
- Pre MBA students who wish to start their MBA’s well prepared
- First year MBA interns who wish to hit the ground running and make solid first impressions during their summer and fall internships
Hidden away on the same page in a corner was an original vision statement
We believe that a strong demand exists for some of our products in emerging markets. At the same time we also believe that a majority of our users within emerging markets will not have the ability to pay for our courses. Although no revenue projections have made for business from this segment, developing emerging market customers is a key element of our business plan.
It took twelve years, one book, multiple relationships, two missteps and three continents to realize a dream dreamt in Don Sexton’s class on a cold February evening at Columbia Business School. But it is finally here. And it wouldn’t be possible without all of you and your contributions. You know who you are. Thank you.