Wizenius Investment Banking Live Course

Private Equity Interview Cheat sheet - SAVE I SHARE REPOST IPRINTIPIN
Private Equity interviews are not only about knowing what IRR or MOIC means. The real test is whether vou can think like an investor.
Can this business support debt?
Where will EBITDA growth come from? What are the diligence risks? How does the sponsor create value? What is the exit route?
That is exactly why we created this Private Equity Interview Cheat Sheet for finance students and young professionals preparing for analyst and associate roles.
Sorry, there is a lot of useful information packed into this infographic.
You will need to zoom to readl
It covers LBO basics, sources & uses, debt capacity value creation, commercial diligence, exit routes, recent PE deals and rapid-fire interview questions.
New batch starts 28 June

Revenue Drivers By Sectors - Ready Reckoner - Part 4
By now you have seen the same pattern fifteen times. Here are the last three
, E-commerce: GMV x take rate. A platform can grow GMV fast while revenue stays tiny if the take rate is low
L Life Insurance: new business tracked on APE, not just premium. Persistency, whether customers keep paying protects the book.
‣ Capital Goods / EPC: revenue comes from the order book executed. A large backlog with slow ex*****on still means slow revenue.
The one habit to carry into every model:
Before you forecast revenue for any company, ask twd things. What is the volume, and what is the price. Then name them in that sector's language.
Once you can say units x ASP, or AUM x spread, or GMV x take rate, you are not guessing a growth rate anymore. You are forecasting the business
Parts 1 to 3 are linked in the comments, covering the other twelve sectors
Our next live batch starts 28 June.

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💰 Bonuses in Investment Banking Salaries — Mystery Decoded

The number that can completely change your year is the one almost nobody explains properly: the bonus.

Your base salary is the stable part that pays the bills. Your bonus reflects:
• Firm performance
• Team revenue generation
• Live deals closed
• Senior feedback and performance ratings
• Strength of the bonus pool
• Your level, role, and joining date

This is why two bankers with similar base salaries can end up with very different total compensation.

📌 Base Salary
The fixed component. Easy to compare, but only one part of the story. The real movement in compensation comes from variable pay.

📌 Stub Bonus
Join midway through the bonus cycle and you may receive a prorated (stub) bonus based on the months worked, rather than a full-year payout.

📌 Full-Year Bonus
Rarely a fixed percentage. It depends on:
• Firm performance
• Deal activity
• Team results
• Individual performance

You can work extremely hard and still be affected by factors outside your control.

📌 Deferred Compensation
At some firms and senior levels, part of the bonus may be deferred:
• Cash paid later
• Stock or firm-linked instruments

When evaluating "total compensation," always ask:
✔ How much is cash?
✔ How much is deferred?
✔ When does it vest?
✔ What happens if you leave?

📌 How Bonuses Are Decided
Firm Performance → Division Performance → Team Performance → Individual Rating → Seniority & Role → Final Bonus Decision

Understanding bonuses is essential because compensation in IB is much more than just base salary.

🚀 Next Live Investment Banking Batch starts 28th June 2026.

🚀 Investment Banking Cohort | June 28, 2026

Want to break into Investment Banking, Valuations, Private Equity, Venture Capital, or Corporate Finance?

Our next live cohort starts on 28th June 2026.

📅 Weekend Classes (11:00 AM – 1:30 PM IST)
💻 Fully Live & Instructor-Led
⏳ Early Bird Pricing till 21st June

What you'll learn:
✔ Financial Modelling from Annual Reports
✔ DCF, Comps & Valuation Techniques
✔ Information Memorandums & Pitch Books
✔ AI-Enabled Finance Workflows
✔ Technical Interview Preparation
✔ Risk Analysis & Investment Thinking

Why students choose us:
• Live, interactive sessions
• Real-world deal-focused training
• CV, interview & placement support
• Alumni referral network
• Ongoing career guidance

Our students have secured roles at firms including Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, UBS, Barclays, HSBC, Deutsche, Kroll, PwC, and more.

The goal isn't just to learn finance.
It's to think like an analyst.

Seats are limited.

📞 Contact: +91 93724 43303


AIininvestmentbanking

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Sell-side builds the pitch. Buy-side decides whether to believe it.
Nhich one have you actually been preparing for Most students say "I want to get into finance" withou ealising these are two different jobs that share a vocabulary but reward very different thinking
Here is the technical version
Sell-side is the advisor. M&A and ECM/DCM teams inside a bank.
The iob is to win a mandate, then run the process to a close:
A pitch book to win the work, then a CIM and a sell-side operating model to market the asset
L A buyer or investor list, management meetings, and a process run to a deadline
, A DCF, comps and precedent transactions to support defensible value range
/ou are paid a success fee, so your incentive is to ge the deal done
Buy-side is the principal. PE, hedge funds and asse managers investing their own and their LPs' capital
[he job is to underwrite that pitch and decide what to pay , A full LBO with debt schedules, cash sweeps anc covenant headroom
‣ Returns broken into IRR and MOIC, then attributed to nultiple, deleveraging and EBITDA growtl
, An investment thesis and an IC memo, with the entrr case, exit multiple and downside stress tested before committing
You are paid on returns, so you are rewarded for being right, not for being busy
The base skills overlap
Read the three statements, build a model that ties, and defend every assumption
The difference is the question in your heac
Sell-side asks "how do I present this number well? Buy-side asks "what is management not telling me, anc what happens if the case is wrong?
This is also why the interviews differ
, Sell-side leans on accounting, model mechanics and the deal process
L Buy-side pushes on the LBO, returns maths and whether you can form a view and hold it under pressure
Be honest in the comments
Did you know which side you wanted before you read this?
f you have picked a side, the next step is being ready fo the interviews that come with it
That is the work we do inside Wizenius

Finance interviews are full of acronyms.

The problem? Most students know the full forms, but not why they matter.

📌 EBITDA – Operating profit proxy
📌 WACC – Discount rate in a DCF
📌 IRR – Annualised investment return
📌 CAGR – Smoothed growth rate
📌 NPV – Value created by a project
📌 EV – Cost to acquire the whole business
📌 LTM – Last 12 months performance
📌 NTM – Next 12 months expectations
📌 DCF – Valuation based on future cash flows
📌 LBO – Acquisition funded largely with debt
📌 FCF – Cash available to investors
📌 COGS – Direct cost of producing goods/services
📌 CapEx – Spending on long-term assets
📌 DSO – Customer payment collection period
📌 EPS – Earnings per share

Knowing the definition is step one.

In interviews, the real questions are:
• Why does this metric matter?
• When would you use it?
• What does a higher or lower number imply?

That is where technical knowledge becomes commercial understanding.

Don't just memorise the acronym. Understand the story behind it.

Which finance term took you the longest to truly understand?

Equity Research vs Investment Banking 📊

Both analyse companies for a living.

The difference?

ER asks: "Is this company worth owning?"
IB asks: "How do we get this deal done?"

🔹 Equity Research
• Forms investment views
• Tracks companies for months or years
• Builds deep, detailed sector models
• Focuses on stock recommendations
• Common exits: Asset Management, Hedge Funds, Buy-Side

🔹 Investment Banking
• Executes transactions
• Works on M&A, capital raises, and strategic deals
• Uses DCFs, LBOs, merger models, and valuations
• Focuses on deal ex*****on
• Common exits: Private Equity, Growth Equity, Corporate Development

The lifestyle differs too.

IB generally means longer hours and live-deal pressure.
ER has intense earnings seasons but a more predictable rhythm the rest of the year.

One side sells the story.
The other questions it.

Neither is better. They simply reward different ways of thinking.

If you enjoy forming opinions and making investment calls, ER may fit you better.

If you enjoy transactions, negotiations, and ex*****on under pressure, IB may be the right path.

Which sounds more like you: Equity Research or Investment Banking?

PrivateEquity AssetManagement FinanceStudents CareersInFinance WallStreet

A student once said:
“I learned more finance from ChatGPT in one month than from a full semester.”

He was half right.

AI is excellent for:
• simplifying difficult concepts
• fixing formulas
• summarising reports
• creating flashcards
• testing your knowledge patiently at 2 AM

For confused students, that is genuinely powerful.

But here is the part nobody says enough:

AI can give you answers.
It cannot give you judgement.

A tool can build a DCF.
It cannot tell you the assumptions are unrealistic.

It can explain accounting.
It cannot replace the learning that comes from struggling through a broken model for an hour.

And that struggle matters.
Because finance interviews do not test whether you can generate answers.

They test whether you can think.

The smartest way to use AI:
• use it as a tutor
• use it as a productivity tool
• use it to learn faster

Then close the tab and do the reps yourself.

Read the annual report.
Build the model manually.
Make mistakes.
Fix them.

That is where judgement comes from.

AI can accelerate learning.
It cannot substitute experience.

Where has AI genuinely helped your finance learning, and where has it misled you?

Next live batch starts May 31st.