Today innovation is everyone's business. Whether you are a manager in a global corporation, an entrepreneur starting up, in a government role, or a teacher in an elementary school, everyone is expected to get lean – to do better with less. And that is why we all need design thinking. At every level in every kind of organization, design thinking provides the tools you need to become an innovative thinker and uncover creative opportunities that are there – you're just not seeing them yet. In this course, developed at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia and taught by top-ranked faculty, we provide an overview of design thinking and work with a model containing four key questions and several tools to help you understand design thinking as a problem solving approach. We also look at several stories from different organizations that used design thinking to uncover compelling solutions.

How do different types of investors think about an investment opportunity? What kind of securities and contracts do they offer? How should a company decide what is a "good deal"? This course is designed to introduce you to the challenges and pitfalls of financing new enterprises. You will learn the basic tools for valuating companies, including using discounted cashflow analysis in Excel and understanding how to apply this model to your entrepreneurial venture. You will then learn how valuation works with different types of securities that investors use to finance startups, from bank loans to venture capital to angel investing.

Integrate the tools and concepts from the specialization courses to develop a comprehensive business plan. Choose to enhance new venture concepts previously explored in specialization courses, or develop a new concept for this capstone project. Develop a comprehensive, customer-validated business model and create an investor pitch for the concept. With this course, students experience a sampling of the ideas and techniques explored in the University of Maryland's master's degree in technology entrepreneurship, an innovative 100% online program. Learn more at http://mte.umd.edu.

In this guided project the learner will have the opportunity to learn how to create and sell templates created on Canva. Canva is an online graphic design program that allows you to create and design all types of documents, graphic design compositions and more. Canva is a great option for those looking for a user-friendly and easy-to-use platform to create attractive designs. Canva has many elements that are free and it gives you a lot of freedom when designing. In addition to this, Canva has paid content that offers another endless number of elements and possibilities for the design but they are not mandatory or totally necessary, so the user has the freedom to choose how much content or elements they want to have at their disposal. Canva is an extremely useful tool for those who are just starting out and even becomes a very good tool for those who have spent years designing in more advanced programs. It is a fast option that does not need to be installed on your computer and as long as you have an Internet connection, it will be an accessible tool.

This Capstone course is aimed at learners who have experience of working in a startup and want to scale up their business and want to bring together what they have learned in the three previous courses on scaling up a startup (Scale Up Your Startup, Scaling Product and Processes, and Building Culture in a Scaleup). Through the Capstone Project, you´ll showcase your understanding of the key issues a scaleup faces and how to overcome these issues and challenges - from the initial moment when scaling up becomes a possibility, through transitions in product and processes, to the creation of a strong, effective, and resilient company culture that will last. For the project, you´ll profile a company and go in depth to find out how that company scaled, producing a polished and comprehensive piece of writing that demonstrates your understanding of the scaleup journey. After completing this Capstone project, you will have developed insights into why companies scale up, how they plan for the scaleup phase, how they scale up product and processes, how they adapt their sales and marketing strategies, how operations are affected, and how they build and maintain a productive, effective and diverse company culture through the scaleup phase.

In this 1-hour long project-based course, you will how to create an outline for a Start-up pitch deck. Afterwrds, you will learn how to use Canva as a graphic design program and the created outline to create a start-up pitch deck Note: This course works best for learners who are based in anywhere in the world.

Successful innovation starts with understanding customer needs and ends with a delighted customer. This course is created to develop a holistic understanding of customers’ role in developing successful innovations and how to capture and utilize customer information to create successful innovations.

In this course, you’ll learn the foundational economic theories behind health care innovation and how to optimize your own health care practice or organization. Designed to help you gain a practical understanding of the theoretical frameworks of behavioral economics and operations management in the health care setting, this course will help you apply these frameworks to assess health care practices and apply innovation while managing risk. You’ll also explore the best practices for evaluating one’s innovative practices, using real-life examples of success to see the concepts in action. By the end of this course, you’ll have honed your skills in optimizing health care operations, and be able to develop the right set of evaluations and questions to achieve best innovative practices within your organization.

This course builds on previous concepts and outlines strategies and tactics for forming, financing, and launching a new venture. Topics to be addressed will include building the new venture’s initial management team, identifying and reaching out to early customers, developing financial plans, raising startup and initial growth financing, and preparing for and managing rapid growth. You will be able to: - Develop an understanding of what is required in a new venture - Create a plan to identify and approach your first customers - Build financial projections for the new venture - Understand how to raise equity capital for the new venture - Monitor the health and scalability of a new venture This course is part of Gies College of Business’ suite of online programs, including the iMBA and iMSM. Learn more about admission into these programs and explore how your Coursera work can be leveraged if accepted into a degree program at https://degrees.giesbusiness.illinois.edu/idegrees/.

The metaverse isn’t just for gamers or developers, it will be for everyone. In this free course from the experts at Meta, you’ll learn what the metaverse is, what it means for our world today and into the future, and the opportunities it presents for both professionals and businesses. Understand the metaverse fundamentals Experts will guide you through a broad range of topics spanning the metaverse ecosystem, from communication and collaboration to NFTs and cryptocurrency, from avatars and devices to platforms and game engines. You’ll learn about augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), extended reality, NFTs, blockchain, web3, cryptocurrency, and more. Discover new ways to connect, learn, and work The metaverse provides new ways to connect people, websites, platforms and realities. You’ll explore how it will enhance online social experiences, the future of work and learning. Opportunities for professionals and businesses The metaverse will be built by everyone, with creative and practical applications being developed every day by imaginative people. Learn how the metaverse will be applied in areas like healthcare, education, city planning, art, and more—and how you can start creating these experiences today. You’ll also learn how the metaverse can make the world a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive place. By the end of the course, you’ll be equipped with the fundamental knowledge of the metaverse to determine future areas of interest, learning, or professional growth.