Course Detail (Course Description By Faculty)

In the Spring quarter, the full-time section 01 (Harper) and weekend-MBA section 85 (Gleacher) will meet in class.

The course is unique in its coverage of the entire spectrum of private market asset classes, including venture capital, buyouts, private debt, private real estate, and natural resources.

You will learn about the evolution of private markets, its players, and the characteristics of various sub-asset classes. Our course teaches managerial and analytical skills that are in demand by GPs and LPs and uses real-world data and cutting-edge research to highlight lessons learned over the industry's more than 40-year history. In dissecting the motivations and actions of the key actors in the world of long-term investing, students will also appreciate the competitive pressures of VCs and GPs and how different organizations respond. Participants will gain the knowledge and perspective necessary to succeed in this thriving field. Whether your interest is in working for GPs, in investment banking, finance, asset management, consulting, or you plan to raise your own funds, this course is for you.

The course curriculum is designed with three objectives in mind:

• Domain Knowledge: Gain a deep understanding of the evolution of the private markets industry, its players, intermediary types, and various sub-asset classes. You will gain differentiating insights and real-life examples to set you apart in interviews. In addition, we will look at fundraising pitches and points to consider when raising your own fund.
• Managerial and Investment Skills: Learn the skills in high demand by GPs and LPs in managing private market investment programs. Our course will analyze different playbooks for value creation in different sub-asset classes and examine crucial factors that drive successful outcomes.
• Analytical Perspective: Explore cutting-edge academic research and industry analysis to gain lessons from large samples of data across the industry spectrum.

The course will use lectures and real-world examples to study private market investment topics and includes a toolkit of due diligence reports and other templates used by experienced investors. It will not include guest speakers or longer case studies and thus provides less opportunity for class engagement and interaction compared to other courses. If you are looking for a course that is geared towards discussions, group work, and case studies, do not take this course—my focus is on content and information that is mainly delivered through lectures and Q&A. You should expect 5-6 hours of preparation time per week in addition to the lectures. Some of the homework assignments will involve doing calculations on Excel spreadsheets, and familiarity with the use of Excel formulas is expected.

Who can attend? Apart from Booth graduate students, this class is open to college students (2nd year or later), Harris School students, and Master's students from other programs. Auditors are not permitted, and if you register for the class, you cannot convert your registration to an audit. The course cannot be taken as a pass/fail. Students in the evening or weekend MBA program may register for the weekend (Saturday) class.

While the course covers a broad range of topics, it is taught at a professional level, reflecting the competitive nature of landing jobs in the private markets industry. This class is demanding and requires a high level of commitment and proficiency. Students who have previously worked in the financial industry or have taken courses related to private equity or investment have found the most benefit from this class. If you are looking for an easy-going high-level overview, you will find the detailed content of this course to be extremely challenging.

This course is designed to be complementary to Entrepreneurial Finance classes such as Steven Kaplan's Entrepreneurial Finance and Private Equity (34101) Autumn course. But there is no prerequisite for attending my course.  Cannot take BUSN 34219 if BUSN 34209 taken previously:  strict.

This course cannot be taken as a pass/fail.

EARLY FINAL GRADES for joint-degree/non-booth graduating students

Students who require Early Final Grades can enroll, but if you do, you need to be aware that you have to take the final (online quiz) exam early during week 10, with Final Exams due on Thursday, May 29, 2025, at 11:59 pm. This means that you have less time to prepare for the final exam.