I think the course is based on an interesting premise of incorporating real growth options and game theory in the valuation, but I have been slightly disappointed as I consider the applicability limited. As acknowledged in the final note the key to utilizing this sort of analysis is obtaining the highly uncertain values under different scenarios for different players. In an Advanced course like this I was hoping to get at least some guidance on how to estimate these payoffs for different players under different scenarios while only having limited information, so I could take it out of the theoretical context and apply it in practice.

the professor does not explain nothing but the course is interesting we would like more detailled explanations not only watching him read the slides

I think the course is extremely general. I am not sure, how many usefull things I have learned. I am happy I passed. Also course setting, that test can be done 3 times in 28 days is crazy.... I really didn´t like the course much. Only usefull thing is DCF formula, maybe point of view on option strategy, but in real life, I am not sure if I will have enough informations for this....

examples are not enough. Questions were complex. Videos too short. Need more explanations on complex concepts. You should show more worked examples.

Really confusing explanations of the topics. Could have definitely used more video time to explain to explain the topics.

defenetely too technical and specific. This course is for numbers and formulas addicted

Very hard to solve tests. Because there are 80% questions that not tought in webcasts.

Terrible learning experience. So many items were tested yet they were never tought

not actualized for years, lack of response, difficult to get through tests.

Accent of the teacher is so bad, I'm not able to listen to the course

Vorlesungsunterlagen sind nicht hilfreich

Waste of time

I am quite impressed by this course. Lots of topics covered in a very simple and comprehensive manner. Challenging sometimes and going deeper in some evaluation methods.

Also, very interesting the way the evaluations are structured, providing good insights. The course also joints strategy and financial aspects, making a fantastic mix of contents and different valuation methods whilst providing some case studies.

The course is really demanding, we can expect more than the duration / dedication reported there.

Videos very didactic, examples practical and some hands-on exercises are really appreciated. Also, as it says, the examples and the knowledge acquired also can be applied in our personal lives and personal investments.

I do recommend this course.

Many thanks and congrats for the framing of this course.

I did not expect this course to be so complete, I am completely satisfied with both the lectures as well as the tests and exercises... I felt quite challenged a lot of times but I definitely learned a lot about strategy and strategic thinking not only in Financial decisions but in any corporate strategic decision, I applied some of this learning to product development and therefore an R&D project and It was very helpful. I highly recommend this course for someone that is hoping to consolidate their financial understanding with strategic applications.

Mind opening course that delves into quantitative aspects and teaches how to calculate value beyond standard DCF method. Equally important is a potential paradigm shift in the way we see and think about opportunities and choices we make.

Professor Han Smit is highly knowledgeable of the subject, and excellent professor who knows how to teach and transfer knowledge. The course is however advanced and requires some quantitative knowledge beforehand, and is difficult to complete in a shorter time frame than that indicated in the course description.

An excellent course for top-level finance professionals to hone their knowledge on Mergers and Acquisition. The only downside is that if you get down a graded quiz, you have to wait for 21 days to redo it. This is too much as time is precious for most of us working in the corporate sector. Further, if we can get answers for questions raised through discussion forum, that would be great. Thanks again for this wonderful course.

Dear Professor Smit and colleagues,

My name is Roy Hutchinson and I just finished taking the course “Advanced Valuation and Strategy - M&A, Private Equity, and Venture Capital”.

I truly enjoyed the course, and really have learned a lot. It is well structured, very comprehensive, very well explained and I did not find it easy to complete. If I find somewhere to give a rating I will give five stars. Thank you so much.

Warmest regards,

Roy Hutchinson

What a great learning experience!! This course opens up multiple vistas and alters your way of thinking pertaining to decisions in business and real life by giving you tools to quantify your decisions. Professor Han Smit does an excellent job explaining the concepts. The assignment and test questions are neatly thought out testing all aspects of the videos. This is not an easy course by any means but one that gives you a lot to think about.

This course is pretty interesting and helpful for me and the professor and tutors are very professional and kind. I really into this class, like the atmosphere in class, the interesting guest lectures. and I also think for international students, the Coursera is very helpful. For me, my English is not that good, I can not follow the class all the time, so I can review the contents here. Thanks!!! Hope I could pass the exam!!

Great course! I learned a lot and enjoyed the classes. The assignments for honor degree do take some time to do, but are totally worth it. I decided to complete the mandatory tests first and now I will finish the other part, this way I'm forced to review everything that I learned. You have to see which is the best strategy for you, but I encourage you to take the course and improve your financial valuation skills.

This was an amazing course. Learned a lot of new things when it comes to growth options valuation and other factors to be considered for company valuation. I feel more advanced topics and examples could have been covered or exercise problems for practice would be suggested, but I guess we can get those form textbooks. Also, I loved it when Professor Han jumped up from the bottom during the intro of some videos xd.

Amazing (and tough) course!!!! I can recommend it to anyone interested in the topic not only for the financial side of things but also due to how these metodologies can help you make decisions in your personal life. Prof. Smit explains topics very well. However, the course is certainly not simple and you will have to put in the effort but the reward is absolutely worth the while!

The course is an in depth look into strategy and it's underlying valuation of assets and projects. The course requires you to have some previous knowledge of PE and basic valuation but you can overcome this prerequisite with a bit of extra work. The scope of the course makes it very useful and practical. I would recommend it to those looking into M&A and venture capital.

This curse is well structured and has the perfect mixture of challange, theory and practrical cases. I would assume it would be too difficult for people withouth basic knowlege in investment decision making. The course material, videos and contents are very high-quality. The course itself requires concentration & was challenging enough for advanced learners. THANK YOU!

When I was following this course as a student I enjoyed the content a lot. While I was familiar with both real options and game theory, I had not seen the integration of the two, which seems natural. Finally, the quantification of strategies (combining strategy and valuation) forces me to think about it more and go beyond intuition alone.