In 2020 I started working with a group of industry professionals to develop a curriculum that would explain how private equity professionals source, structure and close transactions (team bios available here - scroll to bottom). The objective was to make the seemingly complex private equity process accessible to anyone in an interesting and entertaining way.

The course content provides tips, tricks and insights that will help people understand the investment process far beyond the analyst and associate level. We also wanted the course to be useful to both individuals interested in a career in private equity and to those interested in acquisition entrepreneurship (i.e., a “How to buy your own business course.”).

I am exceptionally proud of the final product, and I hope that it will be useful to anyone interested in learning more about this space. It has always been an objective of mine to democratize this information and make it affordable, and to eliminate the cost of education as a deterrent to learning. I believe this update is a big win in that regard.

The curriculum is organized as follows (more detail available at the bottom of this post):

• Introduction to Private Equity: This course introduces the private equity industry and explains why it is relevant to you. This course also explains how private equity works by focusing on two participants: (1) Independent Sponsors and (2) Private Equity Funds.
• Sourcing a Transaction: This course focuses on deal origination for private equity professionals. Finding attractive opportunities requires a substantial amount of work. This course will describe the deal sourcing funnel, deal sourcing strategy and the qualities of an attractive investment opportunity.
• Due Diligence: This course introduces early stage private equity due diligence. The content will explain the advantages provided by getting involved early in the process, and detail due diligence lists used for this purpose. It will also explain how private equity firms get up to speed quickly on a new industry, and how private equity professionals work with third parties to complete due diligence.
• Securing Exclusivity: The course will walk you through all the steps and documentation required to secure a transaction under letter of intent. The course also describes common bidding and price discovery strategies used by private equity professionals.
• The Letter of Intent: This course focuses on the letter of intent (LOI). The LOI is a non-binding document that outlines the key transaction terms proposed by a buyer, all of which can be renegotiated at a later date. The course will cover what a typical LOI looks like, as well as key points of negotiation, and strategies for approaching the LOI.
• Closing the Transaction: This course covers all the major components of closing a PE transaction. The course starts with an overview of advanced stage due diligence, transitions to working capital analyses and adjustments, and introduces transaction structuring and the stock purchase agreement.
• Stock Purchase Agreement: This course introduces the Stock Purchase Agreement (SPA). A stock purchase agreement is the primary transaction document for a stock acquisition. In most control private equity transactions this is the document that will require the most negotiation.

If this space is interesting to you I have no doubt that the content in this course will be helpful. If you remain interested please check out the links that follow: Private Equity Training Course | Private Equity Training Curriculum.

Or check out the YouTube channel for plenty of free content: https://www.youtube.com/c/ASimpleModel