Hello Monkeys!
I recently was selected to compete on my college's team for the Cornell Real Estate Case Competition. I have worked on plenty of real estate case studies and I know how to create a relatively in depth analysis of a deal.
What I have not done is any case competitions. What is some general advice going into a competition. What are dos and do nots when presenting. What needs to be included (besides the obvious like IRR, NPV, recommendations, etc.) and what should be left out.
Thanks!
Georgetown's team won the MIT competition earlier this year (or late 2015--can't remember now) and nobody cared (personally, I was impressed, however). The freakin' media didn't even cover it when they were contacted and Gtown's administration hardly did anything to promote the victory. My advice is to not waste your time on these competitions.
In case you don't take my advice, the way to win is to have an expert in all potentially pertinent fields, including architecture, construction, and financial analysis. The Gtown team had an architect (who had all of the right design tools at her disposal); as a result, the Gtown team was able to blow the other presentations out of the water with its visuals, and it wasn't even close.
I actually completely disagree with @Virginia Tech 4ever. I competed in the Cornell Case Competition my senior year of UG, and it was an amazing experience. We did not win, but hands down would suggest it to anyone thinking of going into real estate finance (REPE, REIT, acquisitions, etc.). Looking back on everyone that competed and the friends I made at the competition, all of these guys are at respectful investment shops and have great career trajectories.
High level review:
Your team gets the presentation 2-3 days before you have to compete in NYC (at least when I did the competition). This doesn't leave much time as you have to pull together a compete recommendation / investment analysis within hours of receiving the actual deliverable. If you want to win, be ready to pull all nighters (and actually this is a good representation of work/life for REPE when working on a life deal).
Typically the case consists of a hold-sell analysis + a potential new acquisition. You have to present to a panel of judges (actual big swingin' di** MDs from firms like Blackstone, BlackRock, Brookfield, etc.) so KNOW YOUR SHIT like the back of your hand. Be confident! Normally you have a team of 4-5ish people, so divide and conquer each section. Hopefully you have someone on your team that has interned somewhere where they actually learned something, because it is challenging to come in just from an academia perspective.
Definitely need to have a great financial perspective on the investment (financial model, return metrics, etc) but also important is the presentation / formatting / flow of overall strategy. At the end of the day, have fun with the competition. Try making friends with the other students as these guys could be potential colleagues of yours.
This has nothing to do whatsoever with whether or not they participated in the case competition. The people who won the MIT competition from Georgetown were all seasoned industry pros, and I would bet dollars to donuts that they would agree that it was a good experience but in no way impacted their career prospects.
Are you suggesting that your peers have great careers and trajectories as a result of the case competition?
Thank you for the response! I am not only doing it because I think it will be a great experience, but also because I get course credit.
I know that there is 15 minute presentation we will have to perform then there are questions that can take up to 20 minutes. What were some of the questions you received?
What would you weigh more importance on when presenting and solving the case... The detail in the analysis or getting a final conclusion that makes sense and can be explained. I know we will have to know our stuff and I am prepared to make sure I do, but would the judges prefer us spitting out a bunch of numbers and sensitivities or a concise answer that is less detailed?
Thanks Again
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