This is the first lecture in the "Advanced Corporate Finance" series in which I both introduce myself as well as the "big picture" of the class. My teaching style in this series will be to maximize your understanding and not your ability to memorize. Hence I will often ask questions in these lectures and pause to give you a chance to think of a response. You may need to manually pause to give yourself more time. I think of "Advanced Corporate Finance" as a sequel or part 2 of "Corporate Finance". Whereas my "Corporate Finance" series was about the asset investment decision, (for example the decision that Apple made to get into the phone business), the "Advanced Corporate Finance" series focuses on the financing or capital structure decision. For example, why do some firms load up with debt while others avoid all debt? Why do some firms consistently pay dividends while others have never paid a dividend?