Executive Valuation: Free Course

About this course

A useful valuation must connect the story of a business with defensible financial assumptions. This free executive course with Aswath Damodaran offers a concentrated treatment of that task. The recordings move from the overall valuation framework to difficult inputs and business situations, making the course useful for experienced learners who want a structured review.

Course at a glance

What you’ll learn

• Organize the main inputs of an intrinsic valuation.
• Explain how discount rates, growth and terminal assumptions affect a model.
• Recognize complications involving intangible assets, control and young firms.
• Distinguish business valuation from market-based pricing comparisons.

Skills you’ll gain

• Intrinsic valuation
• Model review
• Valuation assumptions
• Business storytelling

Course Overview

The source is an executive classroom series divided into eight extended sessions. It covers intrinsic value, discount rates, risk premiums, growth and terminal value before moving to practical complications. Later discussions address intangible assets, control, young companies and other demanding valuation settings. Storytelling and pricing complete the sequence, helping learners distinguish an estimate of underlying value from a comparison with market prices.

How the course develops

• Building the framework: clarify what is being valued and how the business story connects to expected cash flows.
• Reviewing inputs: examine discount rates, risk premiums, growth assumptions and the terminal period.
• Handling difficult cases: consider intangible assets, control, young companies and the differences between value and price.

The classroom retains every entry from the selected source playlist, including introductory or review videos when present. Follow the lesson sequence, or use the lesson search to return to a specific explanation. The source lesson titles are preserved so that you can match your place with the instructor’s materials.

Who is this for?

Experienced finance professionals, business owners and analysts who already understand financial statements and want a concentrated executive-level valuation review.

Before you start

Prior knowledge of accounting, discounted cash flow concepts and basic corporate finance is recommended. This is not the most gradual introduction for a complete beginner.

Put the lessons into practice

Take an existing valuation spreadsheet and create an assumptions register. For each major input, record the business explanation, supporting evidence and plausible range. Identify the two assumptions that most deserve further investigation. Write a short explanation of how the valuation could change if those assumptions prove too optimistic.

This optional activity is provided by WikiFree for independent study. It is not a graded assignment from the instructor. Keep your working notes and separate evidence from assumptions so that you can review your reasoning as you progress.

Certificate / Assessment

The public YouTube videos are free to watch. Viewing them through WikiFree does not include a certificate, academic credit, an NYU degree, instructor feedback or admission to a university program. Separate enrolled or certificate programs can have different requirements and fees.

Mark complete records your study progress; it does not assess your work or award a qualification. Examples and figures belong to the source recordings. Use the lessons to learn the analytical methods and verify current inputs before applying them to a real decision.

Frequently asked questions

Provider: Aswath Damodaran. Videos play from the Aswath Damodaran channel on YouTube.