Over the past few weeks at Ellery we have gotten real experience on the “buy side” of business. As brokers continue to send teasers, our active deal pipeline continues to build. Each week we go through the pipeline and present the deals we have analyzed. With the help of Orlando, we are guided on what the proper questions to ask are and what key financials we should be looking at. I can feel my personal growth in identifying what key metrics I should be analyzing and how the current deal fits within Ellery’s criteria. Any questions when reviewing teasers are encouraged and SHOULD be asked in order to determine the continuance of a deal. The responsibility level is high as us interns are making the leading decision on whether or not to kill a deal.

This past week has been particularly educational as it has been dedicated to modeling. We began the week with Beth, a former Goldman Sachs investment banking analyst, who ran us through the ins and outs of the DCF model. Beth was extremely helpful and generous with taking us through the mechanics of the model and constantly making sure everyone understood. She also provided great advice in the IB and consulting interview process as she has done both successfully. She encouraged us to ask questions and gave her perspective on how she prepared for interviews and specific questions she was asked. The hands on modeling is what I wanted most out of working for Ellery and its great to be able to develop these skills at a high level.

We spent the latter half of the week with Orlando going over the mechanics of the LBO model. Orlando produced his own model prior to our training session that was extremely detailed and had notes on almost every step of the LBO model. Any question that was asked was thoroughly explained until he felt you truly understood each step of the process.

Jalen continues to guide us each morning with our daily scrums and plans for the day. I’ve felt that I’ve gotten the opportunity to meet each intern and get to know them on a personal level. I’ve grown to like our ice breakers as its a good bit of comic relief before each work day. I’m excited to see things ramp us next week and build an LBO model on my own.