If you’re an entrepreneur looking to raise capital – understanding the terms in venture deals is critical.  Having legal counsel is important, however it’s your startup, so you’re ultimately responsible for the outcome of any deal.  Given VCs and investors have a lot of practice because they do many deals a year, you generally will be outgunned because you just don’t have the same level of experience.

Brad Feld & Jason Mendelson helped level the playing field when they published the book Venture Deals.  But if you want to practice – if you want to really turn information into knowledge, then take the Venture Deals course (it’s free!).  You’ll build a team and work on elements of a venture deal with your teammates.  The course runs about 6 weeks long and starts on May 14th.  It’s great for both the novice and experienced entrepreneur (and investor) – I took the class last time and will be auditing it again just as a refresher!

Thanks to Brad & Jason for creating the content, and thanks to Techstars, Kauffman Fellows, & NovoEd for providing the resources necessary to make this course free and available to the general public.