How an Investment Banker Values Your Business

Classroom

Have you ever wondered how to value an entire business? Did you spend hours searching the internet after Facebook acquired Instagram to figure out how they came up with the $1 billion acquisition price? Do you want to know what the well-dressed investment bankers will do after you ask them "how much could you sell my business for?" Do you just want to know what investment bankers do?

Guess what? We'll cover all of that and more. In my class, I will teach you the most common ways that an investment banker or finance professional values your business. It comes down to three valuation methods: Comparable Company Analysis ("Comps"), Precedent Transaction Analysis ("Precedents"), and Discounted Cash Flow analysis ("DCFs"). In this first workshop, we'll cover comps and precedents. You'll walk away with a better understanding of valuation, and you'll no longer be mesmerized when someone tells you "your business would sell for about 10x earnings."

**Note: You do not need to own a business or have a business plan - simply a curiousity for how to value a company**

Project Guide by Scott Levy

I recently spent 18 months as an investment banking analyst in New York. I received my degree in Finance (track: corporate) from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin. At McCombs, I was a part of the Financial Analyst Program, a prestigious program that selected 40 unde... view full bio