Okay to share company model templates?
Hi guys,
I'm a new analyst at a small, private development firm for multi family and student housing. I met up for coffee with an older guy from a different firm and he asked whether I could send him one of our blank template models for a student housing development. I've known him for awhile and we have a good rapport. Is it appropriate or commonplace to send this to him? Should I ask my boss whether it is okay or just not even consider it?
Any advice is appreciated!
Absolutely ask your boss before sending out anything that is not public. Your models are company property and as such are proprietary. You could get sued at some companies for this type of stuff.
Hmmm, sounds like I'm just going to forget he ever asked
As an example and tangent. I had just finished moving companies and was still in the capital markets space. During my tenure I knew two people at both companies, whom I had both taken on assignments for a cross selling fee type thing. Cut to I had just gotten an assignment and needed leasing comps, I called my one closer ex-colleague and asked what comps they had, he absolutely swore they were proprietary said he felt bad, but I understood. He put up a whole dog and pony show because he really wanted to be at this company and probably didn't want to get fired. 2-days later I call up the other leasing guy(more established) at the same company, he sends all the comps right over.
I have no real basis for this, but I feel like model exchange/proprietary info should be with someone on the same level. If another young guy who I'm buddies with asks, I'm far more likely to oblige than an old head even at the same firm. Likewise, Count_Chocula has sent me fantastic info, but if my boss hits him up, I'm not sure it would be as free flowing.
Ultimately though, only you can know the right answer, perhaps through instinct alone.
I would absolutely assume that sharing models and internally developed templates is unacceptable. I'd hate to even ask about that.
On the one hand, this information is totally proprietary and confidential.
On the other hand, every company I have ever worked with uses models that were brought by employees from their previous jobs.
Just ask your boss if they care.
I wouldn't even ask your boss. What do you gain from giving this model to him? You're a nice guy and he likes you more? Fuck that. Don't let other people mooch off the hard work your office has put in developing those models. I'd never even consider sending them nor should you ask your boss about it.
It's a lot more common place than you'd expect. A lot of people have models from previous gigs, and I generally don't mind sharing them with people I have a personal relationship with. That said, as an employee you have to weigh how your boss feels about it. Would I share a model for a live deal? Hell no, but I'd consider sharing a blank shell. I need to know that person well enough to trust that they won't share it widely, that they'll strip out anything company specific (or that links it to me), and that they'll consider building their own while linking in elements of what I shared.
At the end of the day, your u/w and view on the deal will determine what the model spits out, but the internal workings are generally not crazy sophisticated and any sort of widget some analyst has built in is likely good for just a few bps on returns. My personal opinion is that the excel file itself, while important, is only a small piece of the puzzle; your assumptions and thesis have a much greater impact on what comes out of the model.
All of that aside, most brokers or mortgage bankers have an shit ton of models that they'll happily share with anyone they're relatively close to.
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