How to Get into Management Consulting | Career Guide & Roadmap

0:00 Can you guys hear me well? Right. Is my audio and video clear? If you can just confirm me out in the chat, people on the Zoom, if you can just let us know. Can you hear me well? Right. Uh, can you hear me well or not? People on the Zoom and people on the YouTube. All right. It's good to Yes, people on the YouTube. I'm just waiting for confirmation from people on YouTube which is there.

0:32 Yeah, bang on. I think we are also live on YouTube as well. People can hear us. So great guys, it's good to have on a very interesting session. Uh one of my very old student has joined in. His name is Somitra right uh his journey is very quite interesting and whenever I talk about uh the consulting and whenever I talk about Bane right one of the name which comes to mind his his name because he has really worked hard in his journey to pivot his journey out uh currently I if I'm not wrong he's connecting us from Mexico which is there uh and it's a dream to dream of a lot of people to go there right uh he's there with us to guide us to mentor us and tell about his journey, how he was able to get there, what you can do so that you can also pivot it out into the consulting roles even with rank without rank without having a spike what all things can be done and also at the end we'll also solve a case study so that you'll get a decent understanding for the same so without wasting much of a time let me invite him I would request everybody to please unmute yourself and welcome him with a round of applause s great I think good good to have Samitra brother with us here on this session and really thank you for joining in >> uh thanks Shivam for the introduction uh first of all right now I'm in India last week my India [laughter] >> right yeah Uh you're right. Yeah, right now I'm based out of Mexico mostly. So Mexico City I'm just helping Bane open its new office in Mexico City which will be working with America's region.

2:18 >> So yeah, great experience. Uh just for everyone's introduction. Hi, I'm Somit. Um I'm a non-ranker to be honest. I did not claim my CF final examination also did not in first attempt. So I just kind of wanted to give you guys an overview of how you can still crack consulting and how you can get into those roles. Of course the journey becomes a lot more tougher but just by way of introduction about my journey um I was born and brought up in the city of Lacno that is where I did my internship I mostly worked in auditing and taxation I remember then I kind of shifted to business advisory role in our firm wherein I did kind of valuations and things like that that's where I kind of got interested in finance from there I kind of moved into Bane I cracked Bane's interviews case studies and everything but uh and I have been working for like 4 and a half years now and 6 months back I shifted to Mexico City to help Bane open its new office uh over here. Uh so yeah that's just a summary of what I had done. So I think in case it works for everyone, let's just start this up. And of course, I would love it if we could keep it just more interactive. So in case you guys have any questions, feel free to ping me over chat or just unmute yourself and ask questions. Does that work?

3:44 >> Yeah, I think you're good to go, right? And I think uh we the chats are enabled, right? So guys, if you have anything you want to ask, I think you can ask your questions. whatever you have happy to help you out otherwise I think Somitra you can just have a brief on the same and al I also keep on troubling you in between >> yeah yeah yeah please I would love that >> so awesome so I think I think first of all before we go ahead I think uh just just defining that consulting as an industry is like very wide like you can be a tax consultant you can be IT consultant you can be a cyber security consultant however what I am restricting myself to today is basically management consulting And uh as the memes go in case you guys have seen it, but a management consultant cannot basically describe his job. And uh I am no different in some of those ways. But I'll try to keep it vague but still narrow it down uh around [clears throat] what a management consultant does.

4:42 Typically we just go in and solve whatever the business problem the board has. That is literally it. And now the thing is the question that comes into my mind is so why not a cyber security consultant why not an IT consultant these firms typically that I'm talking about are strategy consulting firms they have a breath of portfolio of offerings and they have industry experts within each of them all right and then they will try to solve that problem so they are mostly generalists that are coming in to solve your problem let's just say you want to build a software you might go ahead and hire a Infosys or a TCS specifically you want a cyber security audit you might hire a big four but if you have let's just say how do I integrate tech into my offering let's just say that's a question that a strategy consulting firm can come in and offer you help with and that is the sort of problem that management consultants would they are generalist with industry expertise that is existing but they have like a breath of offering over here. All right. But that problem can be any problem and they will solve it. All right.

5:57 Typically I think what a typical structure of a consulting firm is kind of into three parts if I have to be and these are kind of the three pathways where you can enter a consulting firm. Right? The first one where most of the charisma lies is the general consulting. Right? This is where you go and to the client. This is client facing work that exists basically. All right. This is go where you meet client. This is where you go solve those breath of issues and things like that. Expert consulting the basically which is the main office and this is the capability networks. Uh this is where I work. Uh so BCG has it, Mckenzie has it, Bane has it and this is where you have kind of deep functional expertise that is existing. So let's just say that you're working with Reliance and you kind of realize that the problem is actually like a marketing problem. So a generalist won't be able to solve it. They would typically seek help from an expert who is a marketing expert. Let's just say he or she will come in. They will help them out and solve that problem. For example, I work in corporate finance. Anything and everything related to capital markets flows through me. So I basically help on specifically capital markets problem. So my expertise remains a bit domain specific but I go deep into one specific type of problem over here. And then there is a third one which is like business services which is which are mostly like support functions. Again for all uh the firms this is the broad categorization that exists in a typical consulting firm.

7:42 Uh, is the bifocation clear? Any questions still here? >> You can put it in the chat guys if you have anything. >> No, I think so. >> Cool. Yeah, >> I think now I just wanted to before I jump and uh talk about like what's a case study and things like that, I just wanted to touch upon like how do you get hired in each and what's the typical pathway, right? So, um let's talk about basically the elephant in the room which is like your general consulting which is where most of the people want to go and I get it. uh this is where most of the learnings also happen and uh there for this route you usually have like a very high spike in your resume and for chartered accountants specifically that spike is usually a rank holder uh that usually gets you in this domain otherwise for most of the people out there whether you are CA or not um it's usually getting a MBA from IMA ABC L and that is how you get recruited into general consulting at least at associate consultant and consultant levels which are like the initial stages of you getting recruited later on when you you're basically recruitment for a partner level lateral hires do occur but in this stage lateral hires are very low even when back in 2022 which was like the peak of hiring lateral hires were like 5 6 5 10% of total hiring that occurred from what I gather this was like the best of the time. So getting laterally hired in this general consulting areas pretty tough and quite unheard of right so this is a typical path then comes your expert consulting over here lateral paths are much more open and over here ranks matter less. However, the competition is much more higher because you will be competing with every single one.

9:52 So basically toppers from SRCC, LSR and every other college will be applying it. Although they might be applying at analyst level, let's just say you will be applying at a higher level which is associate. Uh but still the competition is pretty wide. And over here lateral hires have a much better chance. But for a CA specifically, what I would say is that you need to curate your profile based on where you want to apply. Let's just say you want to apply in corporate finance. Make sure that you have like a capital market spike that is occurring in your resume.

10:28 If you can't prove your subject matter expertise, it is still a very tough job for you to basically get in expert consulting also. All right? And once you get into expert consulting, you can take a shift. There are some internal routes which are very tough but you can take a shift into general consulting once you enter expert consulting. There is a route that exists but it's very tough again uh all three. All right. So I think this is it. Uh just which skills from C article proof most valuable in consulting?

11:10 Um I I would say uh depending upon where you intern and how you intern what I can say in consulting it's just mostly about picking up ambiguous problem statements and putting up into a structured framework and then approaching that problem that is what is tested at initial levels right and that is what consultants are paid for to be honest uh it's not the most perfect solution that you deliver the CEO CFO will always have like this ambiguous problem that is occurring and then how you approach that problem how are you basically able to bring sense out of that madness that is what matters right I think that is what matters I don't know whether you have that kind of experience in article ship and but you can basically by practicing case studies which we will discuss upon later you can kind of showcase that when you discuss later uh Okay.

12:11 Uh, how were you able to crack Bane without doing MBA, without being a non-ranker? Uh, I think I just addressed that that expert consulting is kind of the area where you can apply. It's still tough. Uh, still rankers get preference over here. Uh, I think it totally depends upon your resume. I kind of cold made the director of Dane where I got a chance to interview but many people have just reached out to the HR and simply applied. Uh their resume got shortlisted, right? It was not like a super rocket science but your resume kind of needs to have a spike. Uh but yeah, expert consulting is where you can still land up a role without being a non-ranker. General consulting, I've still seen that 90% of the people are anchors.

12:57 uh how do we show spike in capital market in resume if we go for audit and tax and article ship I think uh that's a very legit question I think how I showed was basically my education so I did CFA first of all secondly I went ahead and showed how I did valuation and advisory work while doing my internship in the third year that's what I tried to focus on plus there were other things in terms of my projects Plus the third thing that I would highly recommend you guys also to do is even if you don't have like a CFA or anything whenever you send in your resume please send a proof of work.

13:34 So I remember I had run this analysis of a company uh which was basically Indian tobacco company and I had this very drastic opinion which was like I was like this company is super undervalued and one should buy it. So because ITC was a highly debated company at that point of time back in 2021 because it was basically stuck at 200 250 stock price. So they read my stock report let's just say and then then they started asking me a lot of questions.

14:02 That's where it kind of went ahead. But yeah I think I'll take a pause on the questions for now. I can address them later on. But let's jump to how the interview process kind of works and where most of the questions uh are going to come in over here. Right? So case interview which kind of what is going to be asked every single time in any consulting interview just FYI over here just coming back to this these two sections they are kind of the consulting roles I think over here case interviews happen uh the third business services section from what I gather it's mostly non-case uh interviews that occur because like via support functions for example finance roles for CAS and things like that, accounting, payroll and regulatory stuff. So over here uh it won't be like that right uh anyways. So for case interviews over here they basically test how you are going to perform your actual job and whether you can think on the feet or not. Secondly whether you are presentable in front of client they kind of sort of measure that also. All right.

15:20 And that is how you that's what the case interview is. Don't approach it in a way where you want to like get the right answer. Approach it in a way where you you give basically the right framework to your problem. Like I said, the thing that you want to showcase is that you can take a ambiguous problem and put structure to it. That's your aim over here and that's what you want to showcase in an interview.

15:46 And for that I just listed out few resources. Uh I think Victor Cheng is quite popular. Everyone goes through his videos. Uh the Rocket Box is kind of a new uh YouTube channel. I think they have a paid subscription services. I'm not sure. But I did look at their free tier. It's really awesome. They basically have a lot of case interviews that you can refer to on YouTube. Of course, case interview cracked is like an IITB uh seminars that they held. You can take a look at them. They will help you out and at the same point of time what I would say is just download IM Ahmedabad and Bangalore Kolkatas consulting case books and start practicing case books from there. But the most important thing is you practicing actually case studies. Uh how you do that it's totally depends on you. You can solve case studies with your friends or you can let's just say solve case studies using just pausing YouTube videos and just writing it around on a piece of paper and things like that. But yeah, focusing on your practice is kind of like the main thing that you have to do, right?

16:55 Uh I think after this I want to jump off to like a real case study wherein I would like you guys to sort of give me answers but before that if there's any question that you have now I can address all those questions. Uh I think one of you asked if we show IB concepts and financial modeling learned from CA modeling will it work? I mean like I said the interview process is pretty much restricted to case interviews and let's just say HR rounds if they are consultants don't actually do a lot of financial modeling. They do market modeling which is basically estimating the market size and maybe the revenue of the firm. So of course might work but depends on the case and circumstances and IB is very finance oriented while consulting is totally not financial oriented. So uh I'm not sure about that.

17:48 Uh having an article ship experience in IB would that be helpful in getting shortlisted for consulting? I think yeah of course like to be honest uh if it's a very good IB experience of course uh it can help out with IB you get to learn uh you have strainous working hours plus over there also I feel like you have a good uh t for kind of handling stressful situations you can of course get it's a good experience to have it's a spike definitely in your workx I feel if it's like a good IB experience what was a spike of your resume. I kind of told you guys do you have any reference on how a great resume look like? So when you are in hiring process, what do you look for as I think when you're drafting your resume I'm going to say bit of cliched stuff over here. It's focus on basically like showing the results over here.

18:45 Most of the time I remember when I was drafting my resumes four five years back the distinction that you want to kind of gather is is it a job description or is it basically telling me what results did you achieve? So yeah, but I think you need to keep that in mind. A lot of people when they send resumes it basically sounds like a job description to be honest just because you fill in like numbers like I audited a 100 cr revenue company or things like that it doesn't seem impactful enough make sure that you follow there's a corner line also RSC context which is result action context wherein you mention the result at the start of the sentence you kind of mention your action and then you give a context. So make sure most of your bullet lines are kind of in that order wherein you show what you have done.

19:50 Uh someone asks how do you create an edge over an MBA student? I mean [clears throat] uh like I said uh if you're applying for general consulting roles for MBA they usually go for campus hiring and for CAS also they go for campus hiring not campus hiring but I think they usually after is they release out of form I don't know if they are doing it now but they used to do it back in those days and so I am not sure if for general consulting you'll be actually competing with MBS because they have their own shortlisting criterias at the same point of time in expert consulting uh MBA students definitely going to be competing with what you can showcase is the fact that you have domain expertise that is where you like so like I said I it was with even when it was capital markets I could showcase easily that I can do capital markets I won't stress too much about the competition all you can do is just control whether you can work or not apart from case studies what should be practiced to apply in private equity domains I mean to be honest if it if you're talking about general consulting practice in private equity and nobody's like kind of hiring or like asking interview questions specific to private equity they at max going to be about mergers and acquisition. Nobody expects you to be like a finance private equity geek in consulting to be honest. And if you're applying to the expert consulting domain again it's not going to be like a private equity specific questionnaire that you're going to receive. It's going to be general consulting. They're going to train you specifically in private equity. At least that is very true for Bane and I'm pretty sure about Mackenzie Bane BCG also. They're not going to like go into a lot of private equity questions. If you want to even target private equity group some knowledge of course works and of course having just uh investment thesis of a company like I said when you send that that's a very big like telling them that you have a proof of work you can deliver something.

21:51 uh let's say I have 3 years of stat experience as a CA what courses certification can help me get into management consulting whe it is possible after 3 years and how to get shortlisted I think I kind of have touched upon it uh with GC it's mostly rankers in MBA route with uh expert cons with expert consulting kind of depends upon the domain that you're applying for example if for me it was capital markets I could showcase it using CFA my workx And like I said, I submitted an investment thesis.

22:24 Anyways, I think I'll jump up jump on a quick case study. Now, uh let's say in if you guys have like a pen and paper, just have that pen and paper ready. But let's just say that your client is basically uh [clears throat] Sorry.

23:03 Sorry. Yeah. As they say that your client is basically a consumer electronic giant and it's considering an acquisition in kind of an AI space. It's basically an AI enterprise that they want to acquire. Uh, and this AI enterprise has like a very good AI assistant that exists in them. What's the first step that you want to take when you're analyzing this case? This is basically a merger and acquisition case and very simple case that I'm going to deal with today just to give you guys kind of an idea. But what's the first step that you want to kind of take over here?

23:51 Do you want someone to unmute or put on a spotlight or? >> Yeah. Yeah, sure. If if someone could unmute that would be like great. >> Anyone interested, you can raise your hand. I'll put you. Ria, anyone? Great. >> Yeah, sure. Nand >> sir first sir first step I would take is like I'll check whether the AI can be integrated in their electronic goods to you know increase the sales and everything.

24:27 >> Okay. Okay. That can be one of the things that you check. Okay. Anything else? Anyone? >> Sure. Vinda, I think you want to go ahead. >> Vinda, you're on mute. Sir if they want to acquire the AI space. So we have to see the multiple segments. First of all that what is the feasibility whether their product can be where the product is in their product the AI can incorporate it. Then what is the target market? What is the target customers? What is the cost they would be bearing it if they put the AI into it and whether the with the cost the customers are willing to pay that amount or not.

25:15 And again the acquisition of an AI space then what is they have to also conduct the due diligence of the AI space network that whether it is better to acquire it or not like this. >> Okay. Okay. Thanks thanks for that answer. I think it makes sense. Uh anyone else I think Ria you have also raised your hand. >> Yeah. Um am I audible? >> Yeah I can hear you. >> Yeah. Uh first of all yeah I just had the point that due diligence for the client like whether to acquire that or not the background verification or whether we have we can have to go for synergy result whether we have whether the acquisition create synergies or not for us. So >> okay okay okay got it got it. I think I think pretty much what you guys told is something that of course you will do in the process and that is something that a consulting firm gets hired for. uh commercial due diligence a lot of you guys mentioned yes that's going to occur financial due diligence is usually by the way handled by big force commercial due diligence is handled by MBBS and of the world basically but nevertheless when you hear a case statement first of all your instinct should not be to solve it like I said the only parameter that you are judged upon is whether you can pick an ambiguous problem and put a framework and an approach to it all right this is what you get paid for and this is what you have to showcase in the interview also to be honest. All right. So before you go ahead first make sure that you understand the problem that is occurring. Right.

26:53 First step if you have to kind of list on should be to make sure that you understand the case problem. Right? Now when I gave you that we are going for this acquisition. First you need to make sure that you ask a lot of clarifying questions. That is what people t typically do when they hear a case statement. Now if I drop that hint instead of saying that hey let's go for a due diligence or let's do a market analysis or things like that.

27:22 What will help you out to understand what the problem is first and what do you think will help you understand basically the context first? Yeah, sure. that go >> uh you're on. >> So we can we can ask by we can ask why the client is acquired or why they are so interested in that particular space. Yeah, that that's a perfect question to start with.

27:53 uh any other question that you like that but yeah I I totally agree like that would have been my first instinct also >> which is like first ask why do you want to go ahead with this acquisition that's a basic understanding that I want to have right let's just say you had asked that right until you put up that question to me as an interviewer also I want you to ask a lot of clarifying questions so that you kind of extract few data points from me you interviewer at the start does does not usually give out all the data points that he or she has. He kind of waits for you to kind of put a structure to this ambiguous problem and then extract data from it. So let's just say Nandil had asked me as an interviewee that hey what's the clearly objective over here?

28:39 So if I have to put it now I'll give the context which is like look our firm had kind of built in this internal AI tool. We basically were pretty bad at it. We kind of spent a lot of money and we realized that look we are not good at this AI stuff. So we want to go ahead and do this acquisition for $500 million which will kind of help us in basically making sure that our electronic devices which is basically laptops, mobiles and everything has this AI assistant in this and this will ultimately create in a lockin environment for our customers let's just say so that they kind of remain stuck. It's like Siri on Apple basically. They're trying you to force you to kind of fit in this environment and that is what our pitch is. Secondly, the reason why we're doing this acquisition is because our customers are kind of due to this GNI wave expect us to do a AI kind of uplift and we are not there. So this acquisition will speed up things and secondly we will be able to kind of lock in our customers. Those are the two kind of aims that are over here.

29:51 All right. Now once you listen to this information I would still say that okay now you understand the problem what's occurring over here why the acquisition is occurring. Now if I have to go here you guys had touched upon like what's the market analysis someone has said what kind of synergies are we expecting. Now instead of asking those sorts of questions let's just try to build like a MEI structure over here.

30:21 MEI is mutually exclusive completely exhaustive. I think if you guys uh know about this which is like in a framework in a tree basically which you have all the options should be exclusive in themselves. All right. But at the same point of time they should be completely exhaustive. Basically those two options let's just say kind of represent 100% of the environment that is existing. All right. Does it does it make sense? Does it uh do you guys have any questions over here?

30:52 I'm happy [clears throat] to pause and answer your questions there. No, I think >> okay. So yeah anyways so continuing upon that if you guys had to take let's just take a stab on building a structure to this problem around how you would approach it uh how would you approach this framework now like if you have to form like let's just say yeah I think kushu yeah you can you can use the zoom hand also but yeah sure go ahead >> uh So basically we can uh develop the alternate course of actions uh along with acquisition. We can check if we can outsource the work or if we can hire a better team for the same and then compare the options on uh different parameters.

31:55 >> Okay. Okay. Again I think I think I think what you said totally makes sense. First of all I think there's nothing wrong with what you suggest. But what a interview typically looks for this is for everyone not only for push which is like can you put a framework to it and by framework let's just say and I'll just give you an answer over here if this merger and acquisition problem usually comes up I usually divide my analysis into two parts let's just say one is like the financial aspects of an acquisition and the non-financial aspects of an acquisition right these are two mutually exclusive options and that both of them are completely exhaustable at the same point of time. Now there are few financial considerations that I will make there are few non-financial considerations that I make. Once I kind of tell my interviewer that hey look this is how I want to approach this problem then I'll start asking questions which is like let's just say on financial aspect what questions can I ask like let's just say you are going ahead for an acquisition and this is nobody expects you to ask rocket science question this is all CA intermediate math nothing else these are very basic basic concepts that will be tested first of all so don't shy way like all answers are welcome like even if they are wrong but I would like you guys to kind of take a stab at what would you ask basic questions like yeah Isan >> am I audible >> yeah yeah I can hear you >> uh what is the current profit of the company what are the current finances >> are there any loans >> current finances >> I I could not hear clearly can you please should be >> finances, loans.

33:48 >> Okay. >> What is the revenue of the company? What are the strategy the company's following right now? >> Okay. Okay. Makes sense. >> Uh for the financial aspect I'm talking about. >> Okay. Okay. I think yeah makes sense a lot of what you said. Pushbu you want to go next? >> Yes. uh what would be the synergy benefit in terms of uh I mean in financial terms like uh the how will the market value increase if we do this acquisition or u what will be the cost of acquisition >> I think these should be some of the financial how will our ratios increase >> okay okay th those are all all legit questions I think that those kind of questions work uh mu I do you you have also raised your hand. Uh am I saying your name correctly?

34:42 >> Sorry sir. >> Yeah sir. Uh I cannot switch on the camera the same problem. >> No worries. >> Hello. So sir I just joined uh 10 minutes back. So just about the integration of two companies where AI tools are managing well. >> Yeah I mean I'm I'm asking about what questions can you ask in when you're considering financial aspects of an acquisition. In terms of financials, we can uh see the forecast cash forecast for the next five years, revenue forecast and uh can also see the types of valuation they're making like which validation they're pitching on like uh different validation rules will be demonstrated. So we'll see which validation can better fit.

35:28 >> Okay. Uh just just just a quick feedback over here. You're a consulting firm. So you don't ask usually for valuation. Let's just say you our aim is to kind of ask clarifying questions to the interviewer, right? So while I agree that yeah, you can ask for still like are there any revenue projections kind of available, I would shy away from asking for like state evaluation stuff, right? But yeah, you're on the right track. Uh yeah, Shibish, go.

35:57 Uh sir I would go for I would go with what would be the impact on the P ratio and the market price of the share and how would it impact the earnings like apart from the synergy benefits which were already spoken about earlier. >> These would be my questions. >> I think I think those questions would make sense first of all but those questions would make sense under certain set of circumstances which is like first I would say ask a clarifying question over here like is the company listed?

36:26 Secondly, what are the criterias that you're considering for M and then I would go ahead and ask that hey look is P ratio is kind of like an important because P ratio is just one of the angles of a lot of metrics that are available out there. So just going super super focused on one specific metric uh while it may be the right answer under certain certain certain set of circumstances first you would like to clarify whether those certain set of circumstances exist or not right but yeah you're on the right track I feel uh makes sense uh yeah uh go ahead >> I think first of all we'll ask that it's a huge deal $500 million so whether to acquire that company is it worthwhile or there are any alternate companies which are AI which are AI use which do AI assistants we can acquire them or not or whether they have their competitors or something.

37:22 >> Yeah, I think while this may be a very uh feasible question that you would uh deploy on a let's just say consulting engagement well in interviews usually they won't expect you to kind of come up with different options for acquisitions. uh so you can still ask that hey and say that look I'm assuming over here that this is the best acquisition that you can go for and that that's why I'm kind of going ahead with this analysis uh so I get your point uh in a real case uh you would actually do that you would consider alternatives and things like that but over here the context is like they have kind of decided whether they need to go ahead with this acquisition or not it's kind of like a yes or no so I get your point totally agreed but yeah it's is the context that is there.

38:09 >> Okay. >> Good. Thank you. Thank you. Uh Nandal. Uh >> uh yes, I would ask how are we going to find this? Are the owner ready to dilute their equity or are we going to >> Sorry, can you please repeat what you said? Yeah, you actually quite a bit broken. Uh sir, I would ask how are we going to finance this deal and whether the owners are ready to dilute their equity or are we going for >> okay why why financing decisions are kind of important over here and can actually play a very good role very important role in kind of deciding whether you need to go ahead for an acquisition u I want you to kind of think about second order effect of asking asking this question which is like let's just say that you ask this question I tell you that hey look imagine that this is going to be an all all cash deal or let's just say this is going to be all cash deal all debtf funed deal whatever financing that you want to do how will it change your answer like that's my question to you like how would you respond to that and I mean all all I want you to think is the second order effect of your questions uh while again debtf funded acquisitions can impact if it's going to be equity still it's going to impact but over here I would say don't ask that question but still if you want to ask that question you can ask that question by asking first setting up the content which is like hey are you currently over do you want to understand the mode of financing for this acquisition or not or do you want to just understand whether you should go ahead this acquis acquisition or not something like that.

40:02 All right. So set the context before answering these kinds of uh questions but you're on the right track in the real case I would have definitely asked and considered this aspect. So totally makes sense. Uh K you also have something to say. >> Yes. So uh like I would like to ask uh what is our target uh customer base uh like uh do we want to uh offer uh this AI uh utility to uh all set of in all set of products or is specific to uh like uh smartphones or the uh laptops or and if it is uh let's say if it is specific to laptop or uh notepads or computers then uh like what level of integration we are seeking for let's say for the smartphone are we going to integrate uh to the very core level like in every aspect or to a very specific set like uh using just as a AI assistant. So okay uh while while I think that the question is great can you tell me why are you asking this question and over here like how will it impact my acquisition let's just say I like I said I want to basically uh have an integration across my laptops mobile phones computers that I offer as electronic devices basically how how does that impact my acquisition decision over here >> understand from you >> yeah So uh I mean it's not like we have selected uh that particular company only. So uh we can still uh look for other uh competitors of that uh AI assistant company uh whether uh who is providing better uh you know better utility to for our customers uh based on the level of integration we are seeking.

42:06 Okay. Okay. First of all, in this case, we have kind of decided whether it's a very simple yes or no, whether we should go ahead with this acquisition or not. So, if you're telling me that we need to go ahead for a competitor, then that basically means that no, don't go ahead for this. Right. So, I think we want to kind of keep ourselves restricted to this particular company, but I kind of get a sense from where you're coming from. Uh, but yeah, got it. Uh, yeah, go ahead, Vindra.

42:32 uh if we are going doing going doing going the acquisitions we have to see that we are acquiring an AI space company where the engineers or the employees are something which which uh creates an impact. So we have to say that whether the employees of that company are willing to continue with us or not. I mean uh sometimes there is thing that the employees tend to leave or they they do not want to continue with the company. So if the employees are not going to continue with us then again we have to incur more acquisition costs for the employees as well and we will not get the trained employees which that company already [clears throat] had.

43:17 >> Okay. Okay. That's a very good consideration that you can have. Right now I'm talking about financial considerations although this can be argued as a financial consideration over here but yeah this is more of a post merger integration of work that can occur whether there will be a problem in those regards or not uh that would come under the non-financial bucket for me but yeah makes sense I would definitely ask like what are the most merger considerations that you have uh I would ask the interviewer that then in case the interviewer gives me these sorts of problems then I would try to put a financial number to it if he or she does not then I would try to list down all the qualitative factors that I would consider as kind of the problem. All right. So I think I have lot of feedback from you guys. So I know a lot of you have kind of raised hands. Let me just jump onto the next part of the case interview and we can try to answer that.

44:07 But uh so when you're just dealing with like a consulting case interview first of all they don't usually ask you like a lot of details basic stuff which is over here. For example, let's just say it can be revenue. It can be EBIT, it can be profit margins, it can be let's just say what kind of cash flows do you expect or let's just say synergies. Synergies they usually expect you to compute or sometimes they tell you also straight up you can ask.

44:36 But yeah, those are the kind of three four areas that I would like to touch upon in my financial ask which would be revenue, profit and let's just say I would basically say that is there any other number that is available at your end that you would like to tell me. All right. Now let's go over the non-financial aspect over here. All right. What clarifying questions will I ask in this leg to kind of get to the solution area you kind of raise your hand?

45:10 >> Uh I think uh as we said that we lack there on our this first of all we try to build our AI space but we got lack and we can't attract customers. So as we are acquiring this company after acquiring or incorporating this into our system whether this will g this will give us customer attraction or an edge over our competitors or not. >> Okay. So while while the question is very necessary but just think about the question that you're asking your interview is kind of the client and the client basically hired you to kind of >> answer this particular >> answer this particular question. So that so I would say that while the I get the logic of the question this is the question actually very question that we're trying to kind of answer in a real case environment right >> uh so yeah I what I would say you guys to focus on is you want to tell the client or maybe ask the client first of all like hey I think that this is going to occur and these are the sort of non-financial considerations conditions that you might encounter or that you should consider.

46:25 Does it ring bell? Does it make sense? That is how you would like to approach in like a typical client conversation also in a case interview also. Right? So if you had to think from that POV, what non-financial considerations will you have over here? I think Sakiran, you have also kind of raised your hand. Would you like to give a short? >> I'd like to go for something very a few aspects of a non-financial let's say uh whether I'm going to synergize with the compan which is in my home country or I'm targeting for a country which has my target customers.

47:05 So where is the base of the cup? So which customers I'm targeting and what I'm going to solve with that company. So first of all to this and the second thing that I might ask is is there whether the other company has already uh been in a uh has been acquired by another company or there has been a negotiation that's been before these kind of whether is there any red flags to identify before we go on through those kind of issues and >> okay okay I get your point again just make sure before you ask these sorts of questions. There are certain set of assumptions that are going in over here.

47:48 Uh you want to lay down the context for the interview before you ask these questions. But I get the logic that uh that you have. Uh but yeah, Adit, you also have a viewpoint. >> Yes sir. So maybe I would take a rating from the customer on a 1 to 10. How likely is the customer happy with us as of today? And after this AI integration maybe how satisfied is the customer and then I would also try say if this is an electronic good and this is a smartphone and say the usage per per day from a customer say he was using it 1 hour prior to this and what would be the uh daily usage maybe after this integration if it is helping the customer use the use my device more that is obviously more helpful because I have have mooked on the is I can generate revenue in that case and also the kind of data I get from this AI tool. So when there's interaction there is two way interaction I get to know about the customer a lot more than not having an AI tool with it.

48:54 >> Uh okay I think you can consider those aspects some of them are I think financial but I think yeah still still makes sense you're on the right track. uh Shivish uh would you like to take a shot? >> Yes sir. In in case of the non-financial impacts I would like to ask them about uh whether the company we are going for the acquiring uh does they have the same ethics or the goals the reputation the brand name and uh considering the acquisition amount I am getting of a view that uh the company has to comply with the ESG or the BRSR. So in that case we have to check that the ethics and the goals are in line or not.

49:38 >> H I think I think you can do that. In fact you mentioned like a good point over here. Uh with regulatory aspect I would say that GDPR which are EU rules and CCP which are California data rules. Those are some things that I would definitely consider. Um also I would say that since you're integrating another company privacy issues might be popping up. Let's just say uh those might be a bit of a concern over here and those these kinds of things might be having a uh kind of ultimate cost for you. Uh before I finally go ahead Kushbu also I think you have raised your hand. Would you like to kind of uh Kushbu you're on mute?

50:19 >> Okay. Am I audible? >> Yeah I can hear you now. >> Okay. So the company that we are going to acquire I think that would have some brand value. So the customers will also come because of the brand value. So I think this is a non-financial aspect that we would consider. >> Okay. Okay. >> Brand value and goodwill that the company brings. >> Okay. You you you can consider of course uh but I think you would have to put like a number to it at the end of the day and [clears throat] what kind of brand value.

50:52 Uh I can see still a role for brand value. I would shy away with from goodwill stating goodwill over here because goodwill is just a plat figure at the end of the day but still I get your point but yeah I mean I mean now if I have to take a step back for what we have done is like first we kind of started with this case interview and I know that we have 5 minutes left so I'll just run over this meeting by 5 minutes but what I'm trying to say is that first of all kind of you kind of want to make sure that you have like understanding of the problem statement that you have Right. And the second step that we actually took was just to divide this section into like a MEC framework which is kind of you structuring the problem.

51:34 All right. And then the third one which is going to come is let's just say I gave you few financials for this company which is like let's just say this company is going to add 1 billion of revenue for next 5 years. It has like a net cash outflow net cash inflow of 200 million for net uh next five years. I compute that then I can just basically compute a NPV by taking like 500 million as the current cash outflow and take a financial decision.

52:04 All right, that would be the third step for me which is typically the analyzing the case which is like you basically getting your hands dirty and basically giving a financial backing to what you should do and then in this I would also consider non-financial things that you just guys just said and try to g from the interviewer whether they want to pit on put a number to it. So over here in this case problem for example let's just say GDPR compliances would have taken uh lot of cost and other stuff like privacy issues and things like that might have taken a lot of cost I would have put a number to it and then we would have considered that number in our NPV calculations let's just say but this would have been like a simple very basic maths that would have occurred like you estimating cash flows considering point of at point of departure the cap ICS and then getting to a let's just say roundabout NPV. Nobody wants you to kind of give like a decimal place answer.

53:05 Everybody wants to kind of get like a 300 million or 200 million NPV kind of answer over here and then at the end of the case typically you kind of give a recommendation and synthesize what happened in the case. All right, which is the last step. usually like last two questions revolve around it wherein you kind of tell that hey look this was the problem statement this is how we considered it this is how we solved it and this is my final recommendation by the way this recommendation might have these [clears throat] many caveats this is how you typically approach a case interview first under understand the problem then you structure it then you analyze the problem and then you finally arrive at the conclusion These are the kind of four typical steps that you take. I feel like most of the time the second step and the third step is where people usually mess up wherein they usually are not able to structure the problem into a framework or they are not able to analyze it. Don't overthink about analyzing is what I would say.

54:12 Sometimes even if you have given incorrect calculations a lot many times in fact they work if the structure of your problem is right because a lot many time the interviewer also kind of wants you to get the right answer so they will nudge you in the right direction. So don't get scared because of that but I think that is pretty much the gist of how you approach a case interview. Uh any questions over here before we kind of end this session?

54:46 >> I think Kushbu has one. >> Yeah. >> Um so uh as you said breaking into um management consultancy at CA fresher level is difficult. Can you guide us on some of the roles that we can uh opt at the entry level so that and later and pivot to uh management consultancy that will help us kind of an exit option into management consultant? >> Yeah, I think I think that's a very good question and to be very honest uh management consulting actually takes people from very diverse backgrounds.

55:21 there is no very single uh like domy where I would say that if you go enter this so for example due diligence is very good financial due diligence usually works people usually enter private equity after that you can become a very good candidate for that I feel uh so I would put that but even if you become like an auditor or even a FPNA person into a cider cooperate I think the key is not particularly targeting like a let's just say very high exit in terms of like a job the main problem that occurs after that is usually like whether you can get a good MBA college or not. I would honestly put that as the biggest problem with your prembba experience also kind of playing a role not denying that but in India it kind of matters a bit less than you would want to. If you let's just say are able to crack IMA ABC and are able to get a good score over there you will pretty much get a short list from MBBS over there.

56:16 Uh I would not stress too much upon my prembba experience. I would stress much more on CAT and let's just say GMAT and prepping for ISB things like that. Uh but yeah, due diligence would be my take. Uh that's just my opinion that due diligence is like a very good field for overall like it just gives you very good exit options even if you're not able to get into MBA. It's just still you get very good exit options I feel.

56:43 Yes, you wish. Uh you're on mute. Yeah. >> Yes, I think you can unmute. >> Yes sir. Uh sorry I was not able to unmute earlier. Uh so yes uh uh following up with what was discussed earlier. So as a fresher we cannot just uh think about uh cracking into management consultancy. So would you prefer CFA or MBA? Like would it be all right to think that if I pursue CFA side by side along with whatever job I go into, I can go I can dive into management consultancy or would MBA be the only one?

57:31 >> I mean for management consulting CFA pretty much does not play a role almost in my case it did because I was targeting capital markets with an expert consulting. It was a very specific role that I was targeting that's why it worked. So unless you're that specific about the subject matter that you want to approach, I would not recommend set a blank as bank statement that go for CFA. I would say much more aim for like a very good uh tier one MBA college that is where you start off kind of get exits or I would also say that there are boutique management consulting firms also out there. So MBBS are not everything. There are other firms tier 2, tier three that are there and to be very honest the boutique consulting firms are something that are really scaring these big giants like Bane, BCG, Mckenzie. Uh I mean we know that because we kind of have these conversations because these boutique consulting firms will come in they will charge literally half the money and then they would deliver exceptional results. So if you want to get the taste of the industry it is not like only these firms exist. What suggestion that I gave for MBA was typically for these firms but you can of course try approaching these boutique consulting firms also they might be able to take a bit if you're able to showcase that hey I'm this intelligent person who is a very good problem solver through his or her experience then they might be able to hire you without an MBA also I think that also works.

58:57 Yeah. Hi sir. So again uh I've done my article ship and due diligence valuation and internal audit. So should I again if I want to get into management consulting should I get an additional degree from a foreign country or would you prefer workx over that? >> Um I mean I I depends on totally where you want to do management consulting. So if you want to go let's just say whichever geography you want to target.

59:29 So let's just say you want to target Middle East then European business schools are where you typically go for for getting into management consulting. If you want to target US or America's region basically USB schools are basically the option for getting into management consulting into America's region with US schools having this advantage that if you go over there pretty much anywhere in the world you can get pretty much I I mean like there's a very high chance because they are very well recognized but if you go to European B schools you are not able to target like USB B schools that much unless you're like a US resident that being said you said that whether you should go for workx or you should go for like a B school. Uh that was your question. So I I would still say that like I mentioned like getting a very big spike for general consulting experience is very important and usually at the initial stages academics matter a lot.

60:23 That's why I'm just saying that IM ABC tag is very important or a C anchor become tag where it becomes very important otherwise target expert consulting areas and try to take a shift to general consulting otherwise MBA is like your best bet uh to get into uh consulting. >> Okay. >> And the third option being like I said to uh the previous guy I'm sorry I'm forgetting his name which is like getting into a boutique consulting firm that might be another option.

60:51 >> Okay. What if boutique consulting does not work? Like if I want to get get a work experience in either FDD or valuation, that works. >> Sorry, I did not get your question. What do you [clears throat] mean by that? >> Work in either FDD or valuation. What would you prefer? Is it valuation or FDD? >> I would prefer FDD, but to be honest, both of them are very finance oriented. Uh it's just that FDD that I mentioned is going to be a lot more related to private equity experience for due diligences that occurs. It's mostly CDD although both of them are quite unrelated but they are still kind of like in my personal preference FDD is uh a good experience. It's very versatile because you can basically shift away from management consulting also later on.

61:35 >> Got it sir. Thank you so much. >> Yeah Vinda go ahead Vinda I think. Yeah. Uh sir from uh past 2 days I have been seeing the videos of IM consulting clubs on the YouTube there initially I started with uh solving the case studies but the mind did not work in that manner but the way they ask the questions like profitability guest estimates so how do we say that they keep on asking the questions so is it good in the interview just to keep on asking the questions that arrive at a a problem.

62:18 >> Yeah. So in like case interviews 50% of the case interview or more than that is you just asking questions. So usually what happens is that you just give a bit of a context to your question. So let's just say this was this was like a merger and acquisition like I said. So first you give them a framework which is like hey look I'm approaching this in a way which I'm considering few financial considerations like revenue profitability cash flows and non-financial considerations like privacy risk and things like that does that work one and also do you have any financial metrics that are available so that help [clears throat] that can help me solve it that's how you approach it you first give your context then you ask a question end with a question then they kind of give you few information then you again give your opinion on it then you ask a That's how you typically approach it.

63:06 >> So can in my resume I can mention that I have been solving the case studies of IM consulting clubs in the YouTube. >> I I I would shy away from doing that because like basically anyone can write that. Secondly it's that's why the case interview is there. So if you write whether you've been practicing it for 2 years or 5 years it does not matter. All matters is that whether you can actually like first of all getting the short list is the toughest thing and if you get a short list you just being able to solve case studies is the thing that they are looking for. Uh I'm not sure if that would be helping or not >> and one thing was there as you said that in expert consultant you focused on one of the domain like uh capital markets if you want to explore more of the domains which these companies have been offering the expert consultant roles. So from where we could do that?

63:53 >> Just go to their job portal. You will see a lot of options over there. You can uh every consulting firm has their offices in India for expert consulting. You can just go to the job portal. They have links for it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Welcome. Uh yeah. Uh I think Somitra we can just close it out because I have one more session after this. But uh yeah what we can do is you can put your doubts in the chat on the YouTube after this I think and I will try my best to solve it out which is there you know I think Sakshi and Po just two doubts if you're left with so after this you can just put it on the comment section right I'll we personally try to ensure that the doubts are solved but I think great I think Swamitra really happy that uh you spend a lot of time for us and in fact it was a great learning for all of us those who are sitting here and in In fact, this is going to be helpful further also for the people who will be watching us out on YouTube uh which is there. So really really thank you for coming in and uh it's always great to meet our old alumni and see you growing see and you're doing a great things and always ready to help the juniors out those are there right I'll be really happy if you guys can drop a short thank you message in the chat right and I'm hoping that all of you have a great learning uh in this session and really really happy and wish you all the best for your career ahead somitra happy to happy to meet you in someday soon.

65:21 >> Yeah, definitely. >> Really, thank you once again and we'll be happy to trouble you more in upcoming days for some more sessions. >> Yeah, sure. >> Thank you so much, guys. Thank you so much, Sh. And see you guys later. Bye. >> Bye-bye. Yeah. All the best. Thanks everyone for joining in. If anyone has a doubts later, you can put it in the comment section on the