This book will serve as a practical guide for entrepreneurs and investors/advisors in constructing and understanding valuations of startups in rapidly shifting industries, including the areas of drug development, medical devices, cyber security, and renewable energy. For large companies, valuation is based on forecasts of free cash flow; in technologically-driven industries, product pipelines can represent a large part of market capitalization. The situation is even more critical for small companies committed to a single idea: all of their value is linked to a single project. Any business transaction or internal proposal to begin or terminate an R&D project in which innovative projects are being valued or exchanged requires a realistic valuation of those projects. Moreover, different projects have very different dynamics. Pharmaceuticals have very large lead times and are dependent on patents as well as out-licensing agreements. In contrast, software develops very quickly, and IP is hard to value. This book will be a guide to building appropriate valuations for companies competing in rapidly shifting industries and offering products under new business models where little precedent exists, taking both financial and behavioral issues into consideration.

Part I. A Short Overview of Valuations

Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Understanding Financial Valuations and Basic Traditional Techniques
Part II. Overcoming Valuation Hurdles: How to Conduct Valuations Under Unique Circumstances
Chapter 3. Understanding the Basic Elements of Stockholder Statements and their Use in Valuations
Chapter 4. Valuation Methods: The First Chicago Venture Method and the Use of Real Options
Part III. Behavioral Factors: How Psychology Affects Bias in Valuations
Chapter 5. Introduction to Behavioral Finance
Chapter 6. An Overview of Investor Behavior in Financial Markets and Psychological Influences on Valuations
Chapter 7. How to Overcome Investor Behavior and Psychological Influences in Valuations: How to Evaluate a Dream?
Part IV. An Introduction to Valuations in R&D-Intensive Industries
Chapter 8. The Pharmaceutical Sector
Chapter 9. Life Sciences: Disrupting Biologic Drugs Manufacturing
Chapter 10. An Overview of the Cybersecurity and the Renewable Energy Sectors
Part V. Actual Valuations
Chapter 11. Company A: Pharmaceutical / New Compounds
Chapter 12. Company B: Pharmaceutical / Biologies
Chapter 13. Company C: Cybersecurity
Chapter 14. Company D: Renewable Energy
Chapter 15. Conclusion.