How to prepare before starting?

Starting at a L/S equity fund in a bit and looking for advice on what I can do in the meantime to hit the ground running on day 1. 

Anything you would recommend I read (books, primers, earnings coverage) or do before starting?

8 Comments
 

To prepare for starting at a Long/Short (L/S) equity fund, here’s what you can do based on the most helpful WSO content:

1. Build a Strong Foundation in Investing

  • Books to Read:
    • Valuation by McKinsey
    • The Most Important Thing by Howard Marks
    • Margin of Safety by Seth Klarman (if you can find it)
    • Warren Buffett’s Letters to Shareholders
  • These books will help you think like an investor and understand valuation frameworks.

2. Follow Companies and Industries

  • Pick two or three companies you like and plan to follow long-term.
  • Track their:
    • Press releases
    • Investor days
    • Earnings releases
    • Conference calls
  • Observe how their stock prices react to macroeconomic news, company-specific developments, and industry trends.

3. Read Actively and Critically

  • Stay updated with daily reads like:
    • Wall Street Journal (WSJ)
    • Financial Times (FT)
    • Barron’s
  • Dive into sell-side research on companies and industries you’re interested in. Focus on understanding key performance indicators (KPIs) and how they compare to peers.

4. Develop a Research Process

  • Learn to analyze qualitative business fundamentals and build a quantitative valuation framework.
  • Practice identifying high-conviction investments with a margin of safety.

5. Practice Financial Modeling

  • If you lack modeling experience, consider building models from scratch using 10-Ks of companies in different industries. This will help you understand business models, cost structures, and funding sources.

6. Understand Investment Philosophies

  • Explore different investment strategies and philosophies. This will help you refine your own approach to deploying capital effectively.

By focusing on these areas, you’ll be well-prepared to hit the ground running on day one at your L/S equity fund.

Sources: How to Prep Before Starting PE Gig, On the Job With Simple As… My Research Process, A Guide on How to Navigate On-Cycle PE Recruiting, Helpful Resources For Breaking Into Equity Research, How to prepare for summer ASSOCIATE internship

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 

There’s already a substack that kind of explains everything this PM kindly shares…with exact walk through and processes of the top PMs we always hear about on here.


Not sure what else could be added 

 

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