Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Time for class!!

I am getting ready for the first day of my Fall 2010 Valuation class and am just as excited as I was the day that I taught my first class. I taught my first valuation class in 1986 and have taught it every year since (twice a year, in most years). I am often asked whether I get bored, teaching the same class over and over. Not for a second, and here is why:

1. The issues that we face in valuation change constantly. When I first started teaching the class, the big issue was recapitalization, as many large US companies were shifting to using more debt in their capital structure. In the 1990s, interest shifted to valuing technology companies, in general, and young technology companies, in particular. The last decade saw the rise of emerging market companies in the first part and the banking crisis, towards the end.  My lectures and notes reflect these shifts.

2. First principles endure: While the issues and challenges that we face in valuation change constantly, I have adhered to the same first principles over time. In fact, it is these first principles of valuation that I return to, at times of uncertainty and crisis, to look for answers. I truly believe that if you "get" these first principles, you are capable of answering any question in valuation, and I view that as one of the primary objectives for this class.

3. The audience changes: As any teacher knows, the material may stay the same but the experience of a class can change, depending on audience interaction and background.

4. It is theater: I love having an audience (even if it is a captive one), especially since I get to review their performance, rather than the other way around. What actor would not kill for this set up?

I invite you to join in and follow the class. The lectures will be webcast, though not in real time. You can download them and watch them on your computer or iPod, or watch it as a streaming video. You can get the lecture notes, follow my emails and even take the quizzes/exam (you have to grade them yourself, but I will put my grading template online). Everything you need should be at this link:
http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/equity.html
Just a note of caution. You will not get credit for the class but I hope that the material is worth the effort. Let me know if there is something I can add (at low cost in terms of time) to the website to make your experience better.

19 comments:

  1. Oh Wow!!! That's a fabulous offer. Thank you so much. I'll try to take all your classes and learn from it :)

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  2. really a good offer.. i can understand valuations better...

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  3. Sensational offer. But unfortunately password protected. Only students can download the webcast.

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  4. Please disregard my previous comment since the need for a password no longer exists (as of now). Thanks for this opportunity.

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  5. Thank you, Professor Damodaran! This is a wonderful gift and I look forward to learning from you.

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  6. Thx so much I have watched a few of your web casts over the years and learnt so much. V greatfull

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  7. Thanks Professor for the Webcast of your first session. It was really amazing. Eagerly waiting for other sessions.

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  8. Hello Professor,

    I tried downloading the video podcast for the first class, but it gives a mp3 file. Is there any mismatch in the files?
    Also, I tried downloading video podcasts for earlier year but again, it was not possible to do the same? Can you please help on this?

    -Mahesh

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  9. Thanks prof. On my computer, I have all your lectures since 2007 (thats when I became a business school student). And I must say, the reruns of the last 2 seasons have hardly been boring! :) Looking forward to season 3.

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  10. Hi Prof,

    I was wondering if you have any material on how to value start-up's for funding ( pre-money valuation).

    Thanks much!

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  11. I have a paper on valuing young and start up companies. You can get it off my website. It is under research/papers.

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  12. Dear Sir

    I want to give you full credit to you for the knowledge of Valuation I have though I still fill, I have to go miles. You are my Guru since I started reading about Valuation. Valuation is the word which excites me a lot.

    I always wanted to attend your calsses physically and regarded students LUCKY who could attend them personally. With this offer, I feeling myself LUCKY too. Its not physical but Virtually physical class. I am sure there are many more who have this feeling.

    THANK YOU for this favour.

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  13. prof. D, Thank you very much for this opportunity!! i listened to all 3 lessons on the web and enjoyed every minute !!

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  14. This is a really great offer, God bless you Professor.
    I will looking forward to attend all your classes, (online of course.

    If I had the money I would be sitting in your class.

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  16. The information provided in this blog is really very interesting and easy to understand. It is nice to see this blog and it's really informative for the readers.
    Thank you.

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Given the amount of spam that I seem to be attracting, I have turned on comment moderation. I have to okay your comment for it to appear. I apologize for this intermediate oversight, but the legitimate comments are being drowned out by the sales pitches and spam.