William Blair case competition gives FSB students valuable experience
18 years on, the William Blair Investment Banking Case Competition continues to test FSB students' skills
William Blair case competition gives FSB students valuable experience
For students, taking part in the William Blair Investment Banking Case Competition was an opportunity to gain valuable experience, network with executives, and get a feel for investment banking.
For Britt Trukenbrod, managing partner at William Blair and Company and a 1990 Finance alum, it continues to be a chance to give back.
“We all went to Miami. We all wanted to be successful. We'd like to hire as many of you as we can, but obviously you can't hire everybody. So, this is really about giving back,” he told the students who made the finals. “And as you go on to wherever you end up, I would encourage you to think about giving back. You can make your time and your energy have a huge impact.”
Held annually for the last 18 years, the competition involves evaluating a past real-life William Blair client with its name changed for the sake of the case. Students have three weeks to evaluate strategic alternatives for the company, evaluate a potential sale or potential acquisitions by the firm, and recommend a strategy to the management team – comprised of several William Blair associates.
Teams submitted written proposals, and four of those proposals were selected to be presented in the finals. This year, more than 30 teams submitted proposals.
The final four teams presented to Trukenbrod and other William Blair associates at the Farmer School of Business. The winning team this year was comprised of Dylan Beranek, Daniel Job, Conner Kulka, and Luke DuCharme.
“This competition was a great real-world case that provided a ton of learning opportunities. It was hard but rewarding work and I had a great team to do it with. There were a lot of other teams that did excellent jobs as well and made it competitive, so it was really fun to be a part of it,” DuCharme said.
“It was a great introduction to the world of investment banking. After putting countless hours toward one goal, it was rewarding to apply real valuation work and strategic thinking in a competitive setting,” Job said. “Winning made all the effort worth it and was an incredible feeling, knowing our hard work, preparation, and attention to detail paid off.”
“I think we're looking for the quality of the presentation, their ability to kind of synthesize all the complexity down to the points that make the most sense. And I think we put a lot of emphasis on the Q&A, how well they answer questions,” Trukenbrod said. “All these students are really strong presenters. So, when you ask them a question and they can answer it, that's probably the highest-weighted thing we think about.”
Trukenbrod said that regardless of who wins, the goal is to give all the participants a leg up on the competition for that first job.
“This is a real-world experience that they can put on their resume, talk about in interviews, hopefully help differentiate themselves from other candidates,” he said. “And that’s why we do it.”
