What I've Done in my PE Internship So Far

As a way to give back to the community I decided to give a quick rundown of what I have been doing in my PE internship this summer. Being an undergrad, and seeing PE from the inside is definitely insightful. Everyone's internship will vary, but this is how mine is structured:

Administrative work
Exactly what it sounds like. Whether it is updating contacts in your CRM platform or taking care of filing, as an undergrad this is going to be the biggest cut of your time. Despite being administrative work, you still learn a lot about the business. For example, I had to take an LP funds flow model and transfer it over to Excel. By doing this I was able to learn on my own, and then from the VP, on how cash moves from LPs to the funds and to the specific portfolio companies. Additionally, being a smaller office, I get to see my work come to life. My work was used for the LP quarterly meeting and it was awesome being included in that as well.

Deals
The second part of the internship is helping out with the deal search. Every Monday morning I'll Axial to see if there are any new deal opportunities. I will check if the deal fits our investment scope (certain revenue and EBITDA) and if so, sign NDAs. In exchange I'll receive the CIMs about the companies. After reading through and taking notes I will speak with someone and present whether or not I think this is a good deal or a bad deal. The partner/VP will then give me his take. This part is probably the most interesting since you get to learn about unique businesses and get feedback on your thought process.

Self-guided projects
The last part of the internship is the self guided projects. When I'm not working on something paramount or when I'm out of the office, I'll work on models. I'll be building a DCF, Comps Analysis, M&A, etc.

In addition to these three main parts of my internship, I have gotten to sit in on calls, board meetings, and meet plenty of people.

Some tips
If you get asked to go to lunch, say yes. You will be able to make stronger connections with those you work with and have the opportunity to ask more questions. Take advantage of the 10 weeks or so during the summer. Who knows, maybe you'll want to be in PE 10 years down the road and the shop you intern at now is looking for someone to take on board. They'll remember if you were a good worker or not. If you were, and you have the experience and knowledge to qualify for the job, you will be sitting pretty.

I just thought this would be helpful for any underclassmen. I'll try to post sometime soon with recommendations on how to get an internship after freshman or sophomore year.

Part 2: //www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/how-to-get-an-internship-after-freshman-…