Can someone predict where the bottom in this market is? Some doomsayers are predicting the Dow to sink to 6000-7000 by the end of this year. Not sure if that's going to happen. But then again, this has been a crazy-ass period kids! Anything is possible.
With that a few updates:
-We finished mid-term week this Thursday. Some of us celebrated by starting drinking at Noon on Thursday and going to a class drunk at 4pm. The drinking continued until 2 am. There was some dancing involved too. Good times! Good times!
-I also went to NYC this past Monday to visit a few Investment Banks (or whatever is remaining of the Ibanks). About 90 of my classmates were bussed to NYC and we spent all day on Monday being hosted by GS, UBS, Citi, MS, and DB. I found it very useful. Much to my surprise the banks that I visited had active Energy divisions in IBD.
Interestingly, the Dow had it's largest single day gain since 1933 on Monday when we were on Wall Street. Morgan Stanley was hosting a evening reception for us and we were not sure if they would even exist by Monday evening! Luckily for them, Mitsubishi UFJ's stake pumped their stock up by 90% on that day. We met a few anxious and partly relieved MS bankers that evening.
-Sloan hosts Venture Capital breakfast sessions with Boston area VC firms on Fridays. I got to attend one of them 2 weeks ago and it was worth getting up at 6AM for. The co-founder of this VC firm gave some pointed advice which I thought was highly valuable. According to him, whether you are starting something new or out looking for VC positions, dont worry about sector or geography etc. The single most important thing is what type of people you surround yourself with. Once you do that everything else will follow. Great advice IMHO.
-I was selected to be in the organization team for the 11th Annual MIT Venture Capital Conference. I am responsible (with another classmate) of picking a panel for the Clean Energy part of the conference. We've come up a list already and I've talked to a couple of high profile VCs in the area. Our aim is to get atleast superstar to be on the panel. Let's see how it goes.
-Today (in a couple of hours) is the Elevator Pitch Contest at MIT. The EPC is essentially a contest where you are given 60 seconds to pitch a new business idea. A classmate and I are pitching an idea in Renewable Energy. Should be exciting! If any of you want to watch it live here is the link: MIT Elevator Pitch Competition. Our pitch is the generation of bio-fuel at home using waste. Let's see how our idea is torn apart today!
-I've added traditional Investment Banking to my list of career options. This is the week I will be deciding which area I will focus on for recruiting. VC/IM/IBD.
-How about them RedSox huh? The game 5 win in Boston on Thu nite was a classic no? I will admit it, once they traded Manny away I could not bring myself to support the Sox in the same way. But Thu nite was exciting.
later
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Can I do this full-time?
-This past week has been the busiest so far at school. Apparently it is one of the roughest weeks in the first semester at Sloan and I am happy to note that I came away unscathed. I even managed to go out Wednesday nite (3 shots of Jaeger and 3 beers), Thu nite, and Friday nite until 2 am. Work hard, party hard people!
-It is a shame that my life has become so MIT Sloan centric. The Sloan building sits like 50 metres from the Charles River and I have NOT even gone once to sit on the banks and enjoy the weather and the water. I need to do more of that. The weather has been super great so far here in Boston/Cambridge.
-There was a nice article today on ESPN.com by the Sports Guy on Manny Ramirez. He captured how I felt as a Manny 'fan' very well. Do read it when you get a chance.
-So my team (of three) participated in the MIT Sloan "Stock Pitch" competition today. None of us has had any background in Asset Management prior to Sloan so it was a great experience preparing for it. I spent 4h on Friday, 12h on Saturday, and 4h on Sunday (today ..errr yesterday) preparing for it with my team. The best part: it did not feel like we 'worked'. I skipped two parties to keep prepping and really enjoyed it. Our pitch I thought was ok. We pitched Dick Sporting Goods (DKS) and went "short" on it. We did not win it (two first year teams were declared winners) but came away with a feeling of accomplishment. We learnt how retail firms work, how different macro-economic factors affect their revenue, and how other factors like Inventory per square foot affect growth. Good times, good times!
So the question is, if I choose a Investment Management career, can I do this full-time? Will I enjoy it? Let's see.
-This past week also had two Banks (names withheld) visit the Sloan campus. I had to dress up in a suit and go attend the presentations. It was an interesting experience. I specifically spoke to people in Investment Management at both Banks and avoided people in Trading and Banking. But of course, one of my classmates gets hold of me and takes me to listen to one of the banker guys. And it was great. This guy was in charge of Energy M&A for the US and Europe. I loved the job description and the exciting things he was doing in doing due dilligence for Renewable Energy firms. Only problem with Banking is the lifestyle and I am definitely not into 100 h work weeks. It's a pity.
-I also had the distinct pleasure of watching myself on tape while delivering a presentation. B school communication courses do that to improve your presentation skills. It was another interesting experience. I used "um" quite a bit and seemed to be smacking my lips a lot (had not had enough water I think). And there are other things to improve as well.
-This coming week we have two Investment Management firms visiting Sloan, then there are the VC talks midweek, energy related talks, and MIT Energy night.
later
-
-It is a shame that my life has become so MIT Sloan centric. The Sloan building sits like 50 metres from the Charles River and I have NOT even gone once to sit on the banks and enjoy the weather and the water. I need to do more of that. The weather has been super great so far here in Boston/Cambridge.
-There was a nice article today on ESPN.com by the Sports Guy on Manny Ramirez. He captured how I felt as a Manny 'fan' very well. Do read it when you get a chance.
-So my team (of three) participated in the MIT Sloan "Stock Pitch" competition today. None of us has had any background in Asset Management prior to Sloan so it was a great experience preparing for it. I spent 4h on Friday, 12h on Saturday, and 4h on Sunday (today ..errr yesterday) preparing for it with my team. The best part: it did not feel like we 'worked'. I skipped two parties to keep prepping and really enjoyed it. Our pitch I thought was ok. We pitched Dick Sporting Goods (DKS) and went "short" on it. We did not win it (two first year teams were declared winners) but came away with a feeling of accomplishment. We learnt how retail firms work, how different macro-economic factors affect their revenue, and how other factors like Inventory per square foot affect growth. Good times, good times!
So the question is, if I choose a Investment Management career, can I do this full-time? Will I enjoy it? Let's see.
-This past week also had two Banks (names withheld) visit the Sloan campus. I had to dress up in a suit and go attend the presentations. It was an interesting experience. I specifically spoke to people in Investment Management at both Banks and avoided people in Trading and Banking. But of course, one of my classmates gets hold of me and takes me to listen to one of the banker guys. And it was great. This guy was in charge of Energy M&A for the US and Europe. I loved the job description and the exciting things he was doing in doing due dilligence for Renewable Energy firms. Only problem with Banking is the lifestyle and I am definitely not into 100 h work weeks. It's a pity.
-I also had the distinct pleasure of watching myself on tape while delivering a presentation. B school communication courses do that to improve your presentation skills. It was another interesting experience. I used "um" quite a bit and seemed to be smacking my lips a lot (had not had enough water I think). And there are other things to improve as well.
-This coming week we have two Investment Management firms visiting Sloan, then there are the VC talks midweek, energy related talks, and MIT Energy night.
later
-
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