Welcome and congratulations on taking the time to educate yourself. This course is all about startups and the key decisions that shape their formation, growth, and sale. For anyone wanting to educate themselves on the key concepts they need to know when launching or operating a startup this course is for you. This course is geared towards first time entrepreneurs and founders learning how to make informed decisions about their startup. The course will cover all of the key concepts: choosing an entity (corporation, limited liability company, partnership or sole proprietorship), raising money (common and preferred, debt, convertible notes and SAFEs), dividing equity (how to allocate the split among the founder group), capitalization (what is it and how to keep a record of it), protecting your brand and secret sauce (trademarks, service marks, patents, confidentiality agreements and non-disclosure agreements), finding investors (where and how to look), and selling your startup (strategic buyers and financial buyers). The focus of this course is on educating you so that you have the information to make intelligent decisions quickly. While the course is not intended to replace a lawyer, it will make you better informed which will reduce the time and cost of using an attorney. This course will give you some answers to your questions and more importnatly it will also allow you ask the right questions to chart the course of your startup. You are now on the path to success.