Instructor: Mario Grech
COURSE DESCRIPTION & OBJECTIVES
This program introduces you to the nature, structure, and dynamics of the contemporary software industry. It focuses on the key factors involved in ideating, hypothesizing, validating, and executing a viable and investable/return-driven business model to launch a sustainable, scalable and profitable tech-based (software and/or hardware) business venture as a company founder or as an employee of an established company. The course will be a team effort of four students per team. The scope of the course does not include not-for-profit or charity business models.
Program objectives include a meaningful understanding of:
The high-technology business environment in general and the software industry in particular.
The business concepts and principles behind creating and launching a successful innovation-driven tech venture.
How to produce, present, and critique business proposals and plans for ventures, and how to develop business simulation and forecasting models in support of these plans.
How to converse with and present to investors, executives, judging panels, incubators and accelerators.
Upon successful completion of the course, you will have first-hand experience of the stages, processes, and challenges involved in transforming an idea into an investable and scalable business venture, and will be ideally positioned to begin launching your own tech venture.
In this program, you will learn techniques and methodologies that will give you a distinct career advantage after graduation, whether or not you intend to work in a tech field. It is designed to give you a true-to-life experience of the thought processes behind successful tech business ventures, which apply whether you are planning on creating your own startup or working for an established employer. You will devise an innovative solution to a significant market problem. This will involve researching your customer base, forming and testing hypotheses, and producing a value proposition that will form the basis for your business model. You will investigate your customer base and market by identifying the key activities, resources and partners needed for fulfillment. This process culminates in a business model that both makes sense in a financial context and resonates with a venture capital (VC) or funding audience. This program sets very high standards for you because the business world demands nothing less. We have an obligation to ensure that your entrepreneurial education is thorough and demanding, and only students who are exceptionally dedicated and committed to developing mastery over the techniques and methodologies in this course will excel.
Contact us for more information.
Established in 1998 MMF remains at the forefront of training in quantitative finance. MMF is a boutique Program admitting a select number of students each year who will move through the Program as one cohort. The boutique nature of our Program means that students will learn in smaller class sizes, have the opportunity to build lasting bonds with their classmates and work in industry-like teams to complete projects and presentations.
Financial Mathematics is one of the fastest growing areas of applied mathematics. Institutions that employ financial mathematicians are among the wealthiest and most sophisticated corporations in the world. A career in financial mathematics provides you with an invigorating combination of intellectual challenge and accelerated professional growth.
During your 12 months of training in MMF your superior quantitative skills are focused on the tools of financial mathematics for the initial 4 months of course work. You then move into a full-time 4 month internship with one of our industry partners. Finally, you will complete course work during the last 4 months of the Program.
You may join an institution (hedge fund, bank, government or pension plan) with multibillion-dollar investment portfolios. You may manage sophisticated hedge funds, complex derivatives, assess the risk in a bank’s commercial loans portfolio or develop original software applications for financial markets. There have been Nobel Prizes awarded for work in financial mathematics.
Students in this Program have strong backgrounds in mathematics, statistics and programming, and are drawn from disciplines such as engineering, physics, actuarial science, mathematics, and computer science. We typically admit 30 students each year from a pool of over 500 applicants.
Our students are able to assist you and your teams in tackling challenging problems and producing useful results for your organization. Our internship period takes place from January 4, 2021 to April 30, 2021 and students will work full-time during their internship placement. As the internship is a degree credit in MMF, students will be expected to write a paper and present their projects to the Director of the Program and their classmates after the internship period has been completed.
To hire an intern or to become one of MMF’s industry partners, please contact Tracy Barber at 416-946-8711 or tracy.barber@utoronto.ca