June 2026

Think Like an Investor: A Free Online Course for Sardinian Entrepreneurs Worth Your Time

There's a question every founder eventually faces — not from a customer, not from a mentor, but from someone sitting across a table with capital to deploy: Why should I bet on you?

Knowing how to answer that question — clearly, credibly, and convincingly — is one of the most underrated skills in the entrepreneurial toolkit. And right now, a free online course is giving young entrepreneurs in Sardinia a rare chance to build exactly that skill, guided by someone who has sat on both sides of that table.

The Course: Venture Capital, Demystified

Hub Rete Nuoro and the START: Giovani & Impresa project are launching "The Startup Investor's Perspective — From Seed to Growth Stage", a 10-hour intensive program delivered across five focused modules. The instructor is Anindya Saha — entrepreneur, venture investor, and founding partner of NERO Ventures, with hands-on experience structuring financing operations across Europe and India.

This isn't a lecture series about theory. The course is designed as a working simulation of a venture capital firm. Participants move through the full investment decision cycle: identifying opportunities, conducting due diligence, structuring deals, assessing valuations, and ultimately presenting a recommendation to a mock Investment Committee.

Think of it less as a classroom and more as a rehearsal — one where the stakes are real enough to sharpen your thinking.

What You'll Actually Learn

The curriculum doesn't deal in vague inspiration. It addresses the specific, practical questions that separate fundable projects from good ideas that never get off the ground:

How investors actually identify which opportunities are worth pursuing — and which aren't
How team quality, market size, and product-market fit are evaluated with evidence, not enthusiasm
What terms like valuation, ownership, and dilution mean in practice — and why misunderstanding them can cost you dearly
How to structure a compelling, investor-ready pitch that addresses the hard questions before they're asked

All of this is grounded in real international case studies, which means you're learning from decisions that were actually made, not hypotheticals constructed for a classroom.

Why This Matters for Sardinian Entrepreneurs

Sardinia has genuine entrepreneurial energy. From Cagliari's growing tech and creative scene to the agricultural innovation happening across the island, ideas are not in short supply. What is sometimes harder to find is the infrastructure to take those ideas beyond their first stage — the funding, the networks, and the investor relationships that help a promising project scale.

Courses like this one help close that gap. Understanding how an investor reads your business plan doesn't just improve your fundraising odds — it makes you a sharper founder. You start building with more discipline: clearer metrics, more defensible assumptions, a more honest assessment of risk. In short, you build something more credible from the inside out.

For young entrepreneurs who have already launched and are looking to grow, this is a structured way to stress-test your project against the criteria that actually matter in capital markets. For aspiring founders still developing their ideas, it's a way to start building with investor logic baked in from day one.

The Details: Three Editions, One Registration

The course runs entirely in English and is delivered online via Microsoft Teams. Three separate editions are available — same content, different time slots — so you can choose the schedule that works best for you:

Edition 1 — June 9, 11, 16, 18, 23 | 17:30 – 19:30
Edition 2 — June 8, 10, 15, 17, 22 | 14:30 – 16:30
Edition 3 — June 8, 9, 15, 16, 22 | 09:30 – 11:30

Participation is completely free, but registration is required. You can sign up here: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/YpzT5V80qD

A Note on the Language

The course being delivered in English is deliberate and worth noting. Investor conversations — especially with international venture capital — happen in English. The frameworks, the terminology, the pitch decks: fluency in this language isn't just a nice-to-have, it's a practical requirement for anyone looking beyond the local market. This course gives you the vocabulary and the mindset at the same time.

The Bigger Picture

Hub Rete Nuoro and the START: Giovani & Impresa project have been consistent in their effort to bring quality entrepreneurial education to young Sardinians. This course continues that thread — connecting local ambition to global standards, and giving founders here the same tools that founders in Milan, London, or Berlin are working with.

If you've got an idea, a project, or an early-stage company, investing 10 hours to understand how investors think is one of the most efficient returns on your time available right now. The spots are limited. The course is free. The knowledge is genuinely valuable.

Sources: Hub Rete Nuoro: hubretenuoro.it, START Giovani & Impresa: sardegnaprogrammazione.it