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