Blog 7: Week 3

 In addition to drafting research reports, I have also recently taken on more responsibility in data analytics and presentation constructing. 

First, I have been tasked with running the numbers on close to a dozen potential private equoty investments thus far. This entails analyzing a companies balance sheet, and conducting a discounted cash flow analysis, offering a clearer picture of the inner workings of the particular company, how they make their money, what they are good at, and where they struggle. This has required me to improve my skills in excel significantly, and I am proud to say that I have graduated from the mouse and am now able to navigate a spreadsheet using only keyboard shortcuts, knowledge that I feel will help me greatly in future jobs in the business world. These spreadsheets that I construct are then passed onto the alternative investments committee and referenced in meetings held to decide if to make a particular investment or not.

Secondly, MAI and their advisors are constantly giving presentations on a whole host of topics, whether it be pitching a flagship private equity fund to a client, showing quarterly reports, or trying to lock in new customers. All of these presentations are accompanied by PowerPoints, which can be tedious and a waste of advisor's time. That is where I come in, I will sit in on a meeting, take diligent notes, talk with the advisor about the angle they wish to take, consult my spreadsheets, and aggregate all the information into a sideshow, typically spanning around 75 slides each. This is a process which I feel has greatly enhanced my understanding of the topics discussed as I must know them inside and out to make an effective presentation for the advisors.

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