how did you learn to model?

for those who got into an investment seat with minimal technical background (consulting, etc) - how did you learn how to model? was it trial by fire? what did you index your time on?

feeling like there are a lot of gaps in knowledge and not sure where to start

4 Comments
 

If you’re already in-seat and have time, find models that are already done and learn them inside out.

If you’re already on a live deal, good luck. Just kind of need to figure it out as you go by looking at previous models sporadically to see how they made one mechanic, use your own intuition, and ask Claude questions about how to do certain things if stuck. Would especially look at how other models centralize all their assumptions in one place.


It’s much easier when it’s your first time doing it out of college - folks are more lenient. People are less lenient when you have 2+ YOE

 
Most Helpful

Master the 1 tab lbo and know your excel shortcuts. Apart from that you’ll learn the rest on the job. A lot of the modeling in PE is revenue / cost builds that feed into a template LBO. Occasionally you do weird capital structure modeling. Generally the expectation is you know and understand the 1 tab LBO model completely, the rest can be learned on the job. 

 

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