Day Care/Schooling in NY

Being a parent in NY as an MBA is very different from Asia. No maids! As a start on where to look I recommend the Parent's League. They give very good information on schools and babysitting services.

Parents League: http://www.parentsleague.org/

Be warned schools in the US close a lot! They close for snow, they have holidays that people working or in university don't have. Besides a school you will need a babysitting resource and a backup babysitting service (which can be more expensive) for night dates and things like that. The second service can be one of the services that tourists use which background check the sitter for you. These don't always send the same person though.

Gocitykids on babysitting: http://gocitykids.parentsconnect.com/browse/subcat.jsp?area=197&category=840

Internship, marriage and what now?

Got the offer coming out of the internship. Yay! Loved the job(both rotations) and the people I worked with.

Have accepted and sent my paperwork in. Affected by the current H-1B visa mess (http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/jul2004/bs2004077_1019_bs001.htm) but Deutsche is a good shop in general and a global bank so I should be OK if my visa application fails.

So what now? A little more time this year on the wife and kid now that the wife is working is expected. The previous learning strategy still applies with a bit more of a soft-skills and selling skills emphasis than before when I wanted to pick up buy-side equity research knowledge and global markets-related skills.

The rest is still coming together.

I have been busy with the Better Halves club, welcoming the dependents of the married and committed b-school incoming class.

Had a great time seeing my old cluster again and other old friends. Its funny when you realize that these are people that I have met and known for only a year.

I was shocked to hear about a couple of divorces affecting b-school students. I guess its statistically to be expected but I did notice the ones I know about had a common factor. The student chose to stay in one city while the spouse stayed in another. Don't underestimate the strain of distance on a marriage in combination with b-school. I am so glad that I chose to move my family up here all this time. We did consider as international students to just be apart and have her stay in Asia until things got settled up here.

Summer Internship

Currently in the middle of my summer internship - a generalist program with two rotations. And feeling very tired! However, its a massive learning experience. Some of the technical skils (visual basic financial modeling, ratio analysis for stocks) are coming in useful but the social skills are of the greatest value. I wish I had done more Bloomberg,Factiva,Reuters - research though.

Martha's Vineyard

Used the pre-internship break to visit Martha's vinyard. Fun points include cycling with the kid,
the ferry ride over (with a car) and a farm visit.

Securities Analysis: Outcome

What do you know? A good call. I called a buy at $46 with a target of $52. And I picked the earnings call as a potential catalyst which is probably proof of a genuine learning experience.
Getting the direction right is no big deal. A stopped clock is always right twice a day....
Thanks to my cluster's Geezie Master of Financial Statements (cluster award!) for suggesting the name for further research way back when.

Securities Analysis

This is a stock pitch I did for an elective called securities analysis. I called a buy on a stock in the same industry as USG, a recent Bershire Hathaway investment. I gave this presentation and made a price target on April 17th. There's a 2nd May earnings call that I expect to be a potential catalyst so I am likely to be proven wrong or right shortly. I don't have page for my full valuation report but it was a 20 pager! As usual, the formatting is compromised by the technology used to publish it. It looks better on powerpoint.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df9wrf5s_40d77fkt

This was a great course and apparently a direct descendent of Securities Analysis as taught by Graham and Dodd. We hit Securities Analysis by Graham & Dodd quite a bit and also the idea of Expectations investing (reverse engineering what the market thinks on some assumptions with a DCF model). The course is though by adjunct professors who are real world stock-pickers. The best aspect is a stock pitch as a group and a second pitch as an individual in place of an exam.

The academic aspect doesn't give you a lot more than you could pick up yourself with access to the books cited in the course and some time on the job as a sell-side analyst during an internship . You can learn a lot from the harsh marking, from the rest of your group (especially if you make sure a guy with pre-MBA buy-side experience is in your team) and watching people's pitches. If you are willing to spend significant numbers of bid points you can take the course with Michael Maubossin at Legg Mason.

Business Plan/Stock Pitch/Case Competitions

One of the best things in a b-school is the access to competitions.
They range from Stock Pitching, Strategy, Marketing and Venture Capital (Businessweek story on Columbia's Outrageous Business Plan Competition). Go Dvork-meister!

They are a lot of work and some people think conventional recruiting and networking are a better use of time, especially in the first year. I recommend them because they force you to build on or acquire career-specific skills. They are a great opportunity to learn from your team mates ... and the people you meet in a good school have a lot to teach. In the case of business plan competitions it is a serious step to getting venture funding.

If you get dinged by a school, its a great source of pride to beat their team when you do these competitions. For the Cornell competition, we were happy to beat Chicago and Stern. That was sufficient for Columbia's honor. Strangely enough, Wharton and Harvard didn't send teams.

Self-assessment

I decided to put another assignment up on the web. Its my self-assessment for my leadership class and my action plan for working on my strengths and weaknesses. Part of leading is having a realistic sense of your own abilities and biases.

Just click the link:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df9wrf5s_183nj3b2

Regrets

Is their anything I regret though? Yes, biting off more than I can chew.
1. Not enough time for b-school socializing and family time.
2. Signing up for Mandarin first semester then dropping out due to time constraints.
3. I underestimated the recruiting process and the time it needs.
4. Signing up for CFA level I and not working on it (exam is 2 weeks after Columbia exams)

Subjects: What I Took, What I Want To Take

So what subjects would someone headed for Global Markets do at Columbia? I am putting my subjects done to date up on the web and listing what I intend to take. I was hoping to achieve some knowledge of Derivatives, Securitization and Fundamental Equity Analysis. Improve on my quantitative skills a little but have at least a few Strategy and Leadership courses.
The system is more flexible than you think and you can overload from the typical 15 credits a semester.

I like the exemption system, it gives you a way to demonstrate your knowledge if you want flexibility. Basically, a day of revision and passing an exam lets you avoid taking CORE subjects if you know 75% of the material before coming to b-school. In some cases I made sure I got copies of the lecture notes for courses I exempted as reference material (Decision models, Statistics, Capital Markets). A CFA in Columbia should take advantage of it.

It seems possible to be going into your internship with a lot done. While sticking with your cluster is great, some electives under your belt going into your internship seemed very valuable to me. Deferring some CORE to second year is also an option to get more electives in year 1.

By End Of Year 1:

CORE
Macroeconomics, Accounting, Corporate Finance (By the end of this course, you can do a Free Cash Flow based valuation of a company under exam conditions. Good course but I didn't get a 'H'. I got the mechanics right but missed the subtleties of the growth assumption under exam conditions). Marketing Strategy, Strategy, Marketing Techniques, Leadership (I'm in trouble for this half semester course. It just seems to be less the "command & control" leadership I am used to. Will learn but big chance of bombing my grade), Accounting II (Management Accounting), Creating Effective Organizations (The best CORE subject around).

EXEMPTED FROM CORE
Capital Markets (Passed exemption , although this course is good enough I got someone in it to send me the lecture ppt's and have read through them), Statistics (Passed exemption, did statistics in undergrad), Decision Models (Passed exemption, I'm a former actuary!), Operations (Passed exemption, I was also in consulting), Microeconomics (Passed exemption).

ELECTIVES
Education Leadership Consulting Lab (Very practical education project with lots of non-MBA students), Venture Seminar (Fun course, great guest speakers, taught by a pair of lawyers), Option Markets, Securities Analysis, Security Pricing (joint with Fin. Eng. people).

My second year plans (hoping I bid well):

ELECTIVES
Advanced Applications of Credit Derivatives, Fixed Income Derivatives, Advanced Derivatives, Financial Markets and the Economy, Seminar in Value Investing, Economics of Strategic Behaviour, High Performance Leadership, Applied Equities Analysis, Advanced Corporate Finance, Decision Models II, Entrepreneurial Selling.

POSSIBLES
Hoping to get permission to take Introduction to Econometrics. If I miss High Performance Leadership, I 'll be picking from Money Markets, Negotiations or Equity Derivatives. If I miss Applied Equities, I'll go for Valuation/Financial Statements.

Looking at my electives the mix, if all goes well is-
Stock picking - 3
Strategic economics - 1
Soft Skills- 2.5
Venture- 1
Derivatives and quant subjects- 6.5
Macro economics- 1
Corporate Finance- 1

Lighter on soft skills than planned but some variety. If I had ducked on the exemptions I would have only 10 electives in total...but had more time to enjoy the first year experience. In hindsight, not a bad call. I'll have to make it a point to attend leadership guest speakers a lot in second year. Possibly take mandarin as an extra-curricular..

So is b-school making a difference? Yes.

Is it worth two years out of the workforce and the loan? I'll know for sure in 5 years time from a financial viewpoint. From a personal achievement point, I was sure in the first 3 months.

For Applicants

This is a really good link for applicants on what Columbia is looking for. Average age 25!!! Glad I'm already in.

http://www.businessworld.in/content/view/40/80

I think its pretty accurate. We are a finance school but the Core is good General Management.

Our training seems to be listening, sensing, organizational analysis rather than top-down strategy. You learn a lot from the clubs, group projects, Silfen speakers and the extra-curricular.. often more than some of the formal courses on soft skills.
Even recruiting while based in New York is good networking training (something I used to be very bad at and am improving on). Strangely enough, the soft style is a leadership style I never mastered prior to b-school.

Definitely very global and entrepreneurial, although some schools could edge us a little bit on the pure entrepreneurial stuff. Those schools aren't in a position to do recruitng the way we do it though and don't have the support for Finance...only Stern has a location advantage in the same league.

Happier with my choice than ever. Just got to get that full time offer from the Summer.

Visit to Omaha

These are pictures of Warren Buffet giving a few CBS students a lift in Omaha. The pictures looks a bit like the scene from Reservoir Dogs. All we need is for some of the students to have
earplugs and they would look like security. One of the best things I have done since I got here. The man is genuinely what you read in the shareholder letters. Witty and down to earth with no airs.

So what do we do in school?

In an effort to make this blog look a little more like a serious Columbia blog, I am publishing a project my group did for Education Leadership Consulting. Really great class, lots of work and even though I have consulting experience pre-b school, I am happy with this one. Nice real world chance to help a New York school. Got to work with a post-graduate Columbia teacher & SIPA person. Discovered that I have plently to learn as a leader and as a listener.

Proposal (Made anonymous)

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df9wrf5s_3pfxmzh

Final result (Made anonymous, pictures replaced with text)

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df9wrf5s_5c5crh9

I am using google docs here which seems to garble my formatting and mess up some of the photos but its the best I can do with my out of date web-fu. When I first went on the web... it had a dial tone and we used Netscape. I learnt programming once by making turtles turn and draw pictures...

I think my Securities Analysis final deserves to go up someday as well but no way it would fit...

Another Christmas Disneyland video!

My little angel - Disneyland

Markets Poker: A New Poker Variant

Markets poker is a poker variant that tries to incorporate resource management into poker. It is set up to encourage two players to stay in each round, in the same way that there is always room for two competitors in a market. It is also similar to Low Chicago and High Chicago because the pot is potentially split each round. Betting caps are added to decrease the importance of bluffing. The opportunity to buy a card (a feature of the Wall Street poker variant) is also added.

How is it played?

1. You need 3-5 players.

2. The game ends if any player has less than 12 chips at the end of a hand (although players are encouraged to top-up to keep the game going, if money is involved).

Note: This rule prevents players being driven out of the game for not being able to bet (the "Chapter 11" rule)

3. Select a dealer. Use the chip or blind marker to mark a dealer. The role of moves one person to the left every hand.

4. Ante is one chip per player. Ante is two chips for the dealer and the person to his left.

5. If this is the first round. Deal every player one card. This card is called his "competitive advantage". In future hands, you will only have a "competitive advantage" if you have folded. It is kept face up.

6. You deal five cards to each player. The first card is face up. These cards are called the "product". The face up card is called "disclosure".

Note: The effect of the "disclosure" is to make the odds slightly different for each player. This make the poker hand a bit more like a real world competitive situation where economic entities have different strengths and weaknesses.

7. You then deal one card face up to the center and mark that card with a chip. This card is called the "supplier". At a later stage in the game this card is auctioned off.

8. You then deal one card face up to the center. This card is called an "externality".

9. We have a round of betting beginning with the player to the left of the dealer. This goes by normal poker rules except the total bet is capped at 5 chips. Each player may hold, raise or fold. If he holds he has to pay to the pool whatever is owed for raises made prior to his turn. Players may raise up to 5 chips but the total cost to play for each round cannot exceed 5 chips. A player who folds should keep his hand. It will be used to generate next round's "competitive advantage".

10. You then deal another card face up to the center. This card is placed next to and becomes part of the "externality".

11. You have another round of betting.

12. You then have an auction for the "supplier". All players still in the game (who have not folded) can bid. Bidding starts with the player to the left of the dealer. The minimum bid is 1 chip. Bidding moves to the right and players can either bid more or withdraw from the bidding (at which point they cannot re-enter). Highest bidder wins.

13. Chips used to purchase the auction card are divided up equally among the players (including folded players) with any excess added to the pot. For example, if there are 3 players and 4 chips is paid for the card: one goes to each player and 1 goes to the pot. There is no cap to this auction... although at some point it makes no sense to spend that much money to help your chances of winning the pot. Highest bidder pays the cost and gets to discard one card from his "product" (including the "disclosure") and replace it with the "outsourced card". If you replace the "disclosure", you must leave the card face up.

Note: Auctions can devastate all gains for players who haven't folded in a market, a bit like the airline industry or destructive competition in general. Smart players use the "supplier" but do no get themselves in a situation where they need the "supplier" to win the pot!

14. Players then reveal their hands. They must make a poker hand of 5 possible using their "product" (including "disclosure"). They may also use their "competitive advantage" card and the "externalities" in the center as a shared resource. The highest poker hand is termed the "market leader". Decide the highest poker hand using normal poker rules (and make sure eveyone uses the same normal poker rules for ties!). But if hands are tied - the "market leader" position is shared.

14. Players must then add up the total value of their "product" (including "disclosure"). They may substitute the "competitive advantage" card for one of their cards. 3 = 3 points, 4 = 4 points, etc. Picture cards are worth 10, the Ace is worth 1 and the 2 is worth 15! Highest total number of points wins. If not, the player with the highest "competitive advantage" card wins (compared using normal poker rules for suits, with aces high). If the other player has no "competitive advantage", the player with a "competitive advantage" wins. The winner is the "niche". If hands are tied the "niche" is shared.

Note: The fact that the Ace and 2 have funny point values means that your choice of "competitive advantage" card can be used to focus on a "niche" or "market leader" strategy.
The 2 is good for "niche", bad for "market leader" while the Ace is good for "market leader" and bad for "niche".

15. Divide up the pot between the "market leader" and the "niche". If the number of chips is odd, the "market leader" gets the extra chip. It is possible to get both the "market leader" and "niche" sections of the pot, especially if everyone folds.

16. If either of those positions are shared. Divide up the "market leader" section of the pot or the "niche" section of the pot equally. Players should flip a coin (or use someother random process) to see who gets any leftovers if the sections of the pot cannot be divided up equally between those who shared the "market leader" or the "niche" positions.

Note: There is more than one winner per hand! As in real life, you can make money as a niche player instead of the market leader. As in real life, sometimes you fail in both roles.

17. At the end of the round. Every player must discard their "competitive advantage". Players who folded, may select any card from their "product" (including the "disclosure"). This card become the "competitive advantage" for the next round.

Note: The effect of the "competitive advantage" is allow players to fold and improve their chances next hand. Rewarding someone for staying out of a hand and focusing on the next, just like businesses can exit a market and focus on another.

Etiquette: Because some players may fold to make sure they have a "competitive advantage" next round - players leaving or the game ending should be announced 1-2 rounds in advance

These rules need play testing (especially if money is involved). Please feel free to post feedback in the comments.

Embedding Video (Not Mine! From Motionbox): A Test

Other Ideas

I also have one other project idea... which is to a Settler's of Cataan type game or card game that captures some of the strategic concepts I am learning...

1. Strategy is a unique set of activities that pursue competitive advantage
2. Great profitability depends more on what your competitors will do than anything else.

The game should have the following features:
Entry cost, Markets, Competition Between Players In A Market

This will probably the better project to focus on ....

Posting photos

Testing the photo-posting capabilities of blogger - it works!

First Post

Hello everyone! Planning to use this blog to winge about life in b-school.

I also want to store my updated thoughts on miscellanous gaming projects and a project that dates back to my high-school days... a table-top wargame.

In light of acquiring some game theory and market knowledge I want to set up a game that uses a "wisdom of the crowds" mechanism to create a self-balancing mechanism of some kind. The "wisdom of the crowds" is something we see in financial markets where competitive bidding and selling results in a fair (no arbitrage) price for financial products. I figure a war-game with this kind of mechanism could avoid the balance issues that plague most commercial games. The wargame is to be played with old Mageknight v 1.0 or Games Workshop figures.

This is a test link to see if spreadsheets can be put up here (hosted on Google docs and spreadsheets)
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p7dVpuNuLtPdT2VVYMgy3LA