Banking Internship Weekly Review
Throughout my internship experience in the investment banking industry this week, I’ve learned a great deal about the importance of research and preparation. A large portion of my work dealt with assessing companies and attempting to grasp their business models and growth prospects, as well as the risks those companies face. I discovered that there is not only a numeric component to the investment banking business; there is also a narrative behind the company of interest.
One of my responsibilities was to organize notes on various companies and make those notes clearer. By completing this task, I was able to see how investment bankers take disorganized data and create meaningful analyses from it. I had to concentrate on key pieces of information, namely: the company’s revenue growth (if any), the company’s customer base, the company’s market opportunity, the company’s competition, and the company’s overall risk profile. I believe this exercise has helped me improve my ability to differentiate between essential data and additional background data.
Similarly, I gained further insight into how a banker evaluates a company. Rather than only looking at how a company operates today, I was challenged to consider the future of the company. One example of this would be assessing how a given company might be able to create new product lines, attract new customers, and improve profitability over time. This provided me with a greater sense of the types of considerations that investment bankers are making as they prepare for meetings or pitchbooks.
This week’s biggest challenge was how to tighten up my notes. Initially, I wrote down way too many words and unnecessary details. However, once I revised them, I discovered that effective business writing should have three characteristics: clarity; brevity; and usefulness; the objective is to improve your writing style, not just add quantity.
In summary, this week provided me with an insight into the responsibilities of an investment banking group member. I was able to develop my research and approach to taking notes, as well as my analytical capabilities. Additionally, I learned that creating an adequate amount of preparation for meetings or presentations should be paramount since a detail could assist you at any time.