1) “Walk me through your résumé.” / “Tell me about yourself.”
What they’re testing: Clarity, relevance to investing, and maturity of career story.
Structure (60–90 sec):
1. Anchor: Who you are now (role, focus).
2. Arc: 2–3 pivotal experiences (deal/team/analytic examples).
3. Angle: Skills you built (valuation, diligence, ownership mindset).
4. Aim: Why PE is the logical next step at their firm.
Pitfalls: Rambling chronology, no investing angle, generic closing.
2) “Why investment banking? Why our firm?”
What they’re testing: Motivation, fit with strategy (buyout vs. growth), and firm-specific prep.
Structure:
• Why PE: Ownership, value-creation levers, long-term accountability, team-based investing.
• Why this firm: Two specifics (e.g., sector focus, portfolio case study, fund size/style, culture), then how you add value.
Pitfalls: Vague clichés (“learn a lot”), confusing PE with public markets, not knowing their strategy.
3) “Tell me about a deal you worked on.” (or a transaction you followed)
What they’re testing: Depth of understanding and your contribution.
Structure (3–4 min):
1. Context: Company, industry, size, role.
2. Thesis: What made it compelling? (growth, margin, moats).
3. Key diligence: Demand, unit economics, customer concentration, churn/retention, pricing power, capex, working capital, legal/reg.
4. Valuation & structure: Multiples, comps, precedent, LBO sanity checks, key terms.
5. Outcome & lessons: What happened / what you learned.
6. Your impact: Specific analyses or insights you owned.
Pitfalls: Laundry list of tasks, weak command of industry drivers, no numbers or insights.