ChannelPulse
Finance
Banking, private equity and equity research ask questions that look like recall and are scored like reasoning. This track builds the three statements as one linked system, a DCF you can defend when the terminal value turns out to be three quarters of the answer, and a merger model that shows why "accretive" and "a good deal" are different claims.
Almost every technical question in this track has a memorised answer circulating online. The memorised answer is worth nothing the moment the interviewer changes one input.
The method — the desk, the system, and the two models
Which desk's questions you are about to be asked and how the round mix gives it away; the three statements built as one system so the classic linkage questions derive themselves; a DCF interrogated until it admits how much of the answer is the terminal value; and a merger model that locates the exact premium at which accretion runs out.
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1
Which desk are you interviewing for
Banking, private equity, equity research and corporate development ask overlapping questions and score them differently. This lesson maps the desks to the rounds, shows what the round mix tells you before the first question, and identifies the one document every technical question is ultimately drawn from. Free -
2
The three statements as one system
The linkage questions — "depreciation goes up $10, walk me through it" — all have circulating memorised answers, and the memorised answer breaks the moment the tax rate changes. This lesson builds the system that derives them, proves the classic answer is two expressions rather than three numbers, and shows the pair of scenarios candidates reliably swap. Free -
3
A DCF you can defend
Everyone can recite the five steps. This lesson builds the model and then interrogates it, which produces the three facts that make the recitation defensible — how much of the answer is one division, how wide the range gets when two inputs move by amounts nobody would argue with, and the cross-check that catches a growth rate implying an absurd exit multiple. Free -
4
Accretive is not the same as good
The P/E rule of thumb everyone quotes is a special case of a comparison between two yields, and it names the wrong price. This lesson builds the merger model, derives the general condition, finds the exact premium at which each funding source flips to dilutive, and shows why all-cash deals look best for a reason that has nothing to do with the deal. Free
Valuation — comps, an LBO, and where the returns came from
Three models that come up in every buy-side and banking process. Trading comps and precedent transactions, and why the honest output is a range with reasons; an LBO built from sources and uses through the debt schedule to an exit, including why leverage is the return driver and where it stops working; and a returns attribution that separates operational improvement from multiple expansion and debt paydown.
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1
Comps and precedents — a range, with reasons
Trading comps look like the easy valuation method and are the one most often done badly. This builds a comp set from six companies, finds a 9x-to-20x spread hiding behind a tidy 13x median, applies the range to a target, and works through the adjustments — calendarisation, non-recurring items, leases, control premia — that decide whether the multiple means anything. 24 min · app -
2
LBO mechanics — where the return actually comes from
An LBO is an arithmetic identity dressed as a strategy. This builds one from sources and uses through a five-year debt sweep to an exit, gets 2.28x and 17.9% with no multiple expansion at all, then runs the leverage-by-exit-multiple grid that shows what each turn is worth and why the deal that needs multiple expansion is the deal that fails. 26 min · app -
3
Returns attribution — which lever actually paid
A 2.86x return is a fact; where it came from is the interview. This decomposes the same deal into revenue growth, margin expansion, multiple expansion and debt paydown, shows that the bridge sums exactly to the equity gain, and works through why the split is the thing a sponsor is judged on — plus why a sequential bridge is order-dependent and how to say so. 25 min · app
The conversation — a view, a deal, and arithmetic in your head
The three rounds that are not model tests and are weighted as if they were. A stock pitch built as a probability-weighted claim with a variant perception rather than a target price; the deal walkthrough and the story questions rebuilt as arguments instead of chronologies; and the mental arithmetic that lets you check a number out loud — the rule of 72, MOIC-to-IRR, and a market size that is a chain of multiplications you can defend link by link.
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1
A stock pitch that survives questions
You bring the pitch, so a weak one is a choice. This builds a pitch as a probability-weighted claim rather than a target price — three scenarios, an expected return, an upside/downside ratio, and the bear-case probability at which the whole thing stops working — then works through the part candidates skip: the variant perception, and what would make you sell. 25 min · app -
2
The deal walkthrough, and the story questions around it
The highest-leverage question in a finance loop is "walk me through a deal" and the default answer is a chronology. This rebuilds it as an argument with a five-part structure, does the same for "tell me about yourself" and "why this firm", handles the case where you have no deal experience, and works through the follow-ups that check whether you understood the transaction or just staffed it. 24 min · app -
3
Mental arithmetic and market sizing
Paper LBOs, trading loops and modelling tests all reward the same skill — getting a defensible number without a calculator. This measures the error in the rule of 72, builds the MOIC-to-IRR table worth memorising, then sizes a market as a chain of multiplications and shows the uncomfortable arithmetic of compounding errors: three plausible 2x mistakes put you an order of magnitude out. 22 min · app
Work through it with feedback
Reading the pattern is step one. The app runs you through it — editable code cells, the question bank, and a mock loop that grades your answer.
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