Course Information
Course Overview
Transform Your Strategy into an Investor-Ready Business Plan | MBA-Level Training for Entrepreneurs
Business plans fail for one reason: strategy and execution are disconnected. Most entrepreneurs write a plan that looks good on paper but has no strategic foundation. This course solves that problem by teaching you MBA-level business strategy while simultaneously building your business plan—section by section.
In nearly 15 hours across 160+ video lectures, you won't just learn about strategy frameworks—you'll apply them directly to your business through 21 hands-on assignments that become sections of your completed business plan. By the end, you'll have both a deep understanding of strategic thinking and a comprehensive, investor-ready business plan. Taught by an award-winning MBA graduate (Distinction, Cass Business School) with 30+ years of investment banking experience and over $1 billion in completed transactions.
What Makes This Course Different:
This is the only course that teaches MBA-level business strategy AND shows you how to create your business plan at the same time. Every strategy concept you learn gets immediately applied to your own business through structured assignments.
What You'll Master:
Strategic Analysis Frameworks: SWOT analysis, competitive positioning, and the business models taught at top business schools
Market & Competitor Analysis: Industry-wide analysis techniques to understand your competitive landscape
Products & Services Strategy: How to create and sustain competitive advantage
Operations & Customer Management: Review and optimise your business operations
Financial Statement Analysis: Understand Income Statements, Balance Sheets, and Cash Flow—and the ratios that matter
Sales & Marketing Strategy: Frameworks to maximise return on your marketing investment
Digital Business Strategy: Transform your online presence into a strategic asset
Growth Strategy: Execution frameworks that connect strategy to results
Investor Requirements: What VCs and investors actually look for—valuation, funding, exits, and returns
Risk Assessment: How to identify and address risks before they derail your plans
This Course Includes:
160+ video lectures (nearly 15 hours of content)
21 practical assignments that build your actual business plan
180 downloadable materials including templates and scorecards
2 quizzes to test your understanding
Detailed course matrix to navigate the material
Real case study with financial ratio analysis
Complete business plan template you'll populate throughout the course
Your Instructor's Background:
Cambridge University (BA, MA) → British Army Officer (8 years) → Cass Business School MBA with Distinction (Tallow Chandler's Prize for Best Dissertation) → 30+ years as Managing Director-level Investment Banker at Westdeutschelandesbank, Société Générale, and Security Pacific Hoare Govett → Co-founded two London investment banking boutiques → Over $1 billion in completed transactions → Written hundreds of business plans for clients.
Who This Course Is For:
Entrepreneurs who need both strategic clarity and a business plan
Startup founders preparing for investor meetings
Business owners who want to think more strategically about growth
MBA students who want practical application of theory
Corporate managers developing new business units or strategic initiatives
Anyone who has tried to write a business plan but got stuck
Over 150,000 students have enrolled in my courses. If you're serious about building a business that succeeds—not just a plan that sits in a drawer—this is your complete roadmap from strategy to execution.
Course Content
- 23 section(s)
- 165 lecture(s)
- Section 1 WELCOME - HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THIS COURSE
- Section 2 BUSINESS FUNDAMENTALS: Connecting Business Strategy to the Business Plan
- Section 3 BUSINESS FUNDAMENTALS: The Value of Strategic Analysis
- Section 4 BUSINESS FUNDAMENTALS: Frameworks and Theories Business Strategists Must Know
- Section 5 CRITICAL EVALUATION OF LEADERSHIP
- Section 6 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
- Section 7 COMPETITION - KNOW YOUR ENEMY
- Section 8 EXTERNAL STRATEGIC ANALYSIS - Industry, Markets and Competition
- Section 9 INTERNAL STRATEGIC ANALYSIS - Operations and Customer Management
- Section 10 Six Minute Strategist SWOT Assignment
- Section 11 CUSTOMER VALUE PROPOSITION
- Section 12 SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY
- Section 13 DIGITAL BUSINESS STRATEGY TRANSFORMATION
- Section 14 FINANCE - Understanding Financial Statements
- Section 15 FINANCE: Strategic Financial Analysis
- Section 16 FINANCE: Financial Analysis - Case Study and Assignment
- Section 17 Future Business Strategy Analyser Assignment
- Section 18 GOAL SETTING AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
- Section 19 BUSINESS FUNDAMENTALS: GROWTH STRATEGIES
- Section 20 VALUATION FUNDING, EXITS AND RETURNS
- Section 21 RISK ASSESSMENT
- Section 22 BUSINESS PLAN SYNTHESIS
- Section 23 Summary and Wrap Up
What You’ll Learn
- Discover the Business Fundamentals of Business Strategy and the Business Plan and how the two inter-connect, Discover the main strategic analysis frameworks and discover how to complete a SWOT analysis, Be introduced to some of the key Business Models taught in Business School, providing a toolbox of frameworks to use when formulating Business Strategy, Understand how to critically appraise Management, Find out how to create a Competitive Advantage for your Products and Services, Understand your Competition and use some classic Business Models to appraise them, How to evaluate your External Markets and Industry Sector, Use the Business Model Canvas and other frameworks to assess your Business's operations, Use my Six Minute Strategist Templated Scorecards to SWOT analyse your Business, Understand the Customer Value Proposition and how to apply it to your Business, Apply some Business School frameworks to your Sales and Marketing, Discover my Six Minute Strategist Digital Business Transformation methodology, Understand the three main Financial Statements, Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow, Discover how Financial Ratio Analysis can improve your understanding of Financial Statements, Use my Case Study to analyse real financial information using Ratio Analysis, Complete my Six Minute Strategist Analyser Assignment to evaluate the achievability of your future strategy, Discover SMART goal setting and the OKR framework to understand Goal Setting and Performance Management, Review a wide selection of Growth Strategies to identify those most suitable for your Business, Understand the key Valuation, Funding, Exit and Returns factors most important to your potential investors, Discover how to carry out a Risk Assessment on your Business, By completing all the Assignments as you go through the course, you will draft your comprehensive Business Plan as you learn, Synthesise your Comprehensive and Complex Business Plan using the guidance in the final section
Reviews
-
YYenemanyan Yeo
Very interesting course
-
HHarshal Banker
Very Good 👍😊
-
RR S
i already know thar info from my university
-
SSridhar kamalakkannan
Excellent and comprehensive course, highly recommended for any tech professional like me without an MBA background. With rich information & topics are very well explained in an easy-to-understand way. Knowledge about business strategy, corporate strategy, business plan, and the context of your role in any business area will assist in your 360-degree thoughts towards leadership growth. It will be an excellent must-read information source for anyone working in a startup