Corporate
M&A Bootcamp
“Everyone interested in banking or private equity should take this course. It breaks down complicated concepts into easy to understand examples – I would’ve come into [investment banking] far more prepared and wish I had this then.” – Former Investment Bank Analyst & PE Associate
Delivery: Live - 1.5 Days
Experience Level:Emerging M&A Pros
What I Will Learn
- Map the full deal lifecycle and know what “good” looks like at each stage.
- Know who does what on buy-side vs sell-side—and how to work with each advisor.
- Predict diligence priorities based on investor type, capital source, and deal stage.
- Use repeatable habits to stay organized, responsive, and high-output on live deals.
- Build LBO intuition (core math + valuation basics).
- Apply practical frameworks to structure analysis and deliver decision-grade insights.
About the Course
M&A Bootcamp gives emerging deal professionals a practical, end-to-end understanding of how transactions work—and how to contribute effectively from day one. You’ll learn the full deal lifecycle, who does what on buy-side vs sell-side, and how investors think about risk, returns, valuation, and diligence priorities.
The course is live, interactive, and case-based. Participants leave with repeatable frameworks and habits they can use immediately to stay organized, anticipate next steps, and deliver higher-quality work on active deals.
Course Curriculum
- Habits That Create Value & Their Applicability to Careers in M&A
- Personal Execution Process: Imagining & Managing the Day©
- Fundamentals: Active Reading, Listening, & Note-taking
- Fundamentals: Synthesize & Reflect
- Fundamentals: The Art of Asking Good Questions
- Fundamentals: Framing, Language, & Communication
- Cast of Characters: Buyers & Sellers, and Their Many Advisers
- Financial vs. Strategic Investors
- Different Types of Investors & Form of Investment
- Where Investors Sit Along the Risk / Reward Continuum
- Primary vs. Secondary Capital
- Pre-Money vs. Post-Money Valuations
- Business Lifecycle & The Investment Continuum
- Major Milestones in the Transaction Process
- Common Diligence Workflows & Third-Party Advisers
- M&A Process Considerations & Impact
- Diligence Advisory Firms & Process Type
- Introduction to Foundational Questions©
- Foundational Questions© as the Question Behind the Question
- Project / Client Foundational Questions©
- Company / Target Foundational Questions©
- Foundational Questions© Exercise
- How Businesses are Valued
- Relative and Absolute Value
- Free Cash Flow (“FCF”)
- Three Sought-After Attributes of FCF
- Desirable Business Traits & Their Impact on FCF
- The Importance of Perspective
- Risk & Opportunity
- Billionaires Brawl
- Identifying Business Characteristics & Their Impact on Value
- Varied Acquisition Strategies
- M&A Diversification Strategies
- Strategic Rationale
- Other Select Considerations
- Private Equity vs. Institutional Private Equity
- Private Equity vs. Public Equity Comparison
- Other Investor Types Similar to Private Equity
- Private Equity’s Prominence & Reach
- How a Buyout Works
- How Institutional PE Works
- Investment Horizon / Hold Period
- How PE Firms are Structured: A Simplified Example
- PE Firms as Broader Multi-Strategy Asset Managers
- PE Firm Activities
- The Investment Box
- The PE Deal Funnel
- AUM vs. Fund Size vs. Dry Powder
- Other People’s Money
- How PE Returns Are Measured
- The Three Ways PE Firms Make Money
- Due Diligence Defined
- Intuition Building: Due Diligence Applied to Other Asset Purchases
- Foundational Questions©
- Perspective & Point-of-View
- Prioritization & Decision Gates
- Build Intuition: Establish Bookends & Fermi Math
- Finding Insights in Contradictions
- SOPs & Checklists
- Examination of Poor or Missed Diligence Workflows
- Evaluation of Two Real World Situations and How Diligence Might Have Been Completed Differently
*Only available as part of the live course.
*This is not part of the standard M&A Bootcamp course, but it is an available add-on selected by some clients given the interactive collaborative nature of the case. This add-on requires a little pre-work (actively reading a detailed case).
M&A Professions
- Financial Due Diligence
- Investment Banking
- Leveraged Finance
- Private Equity
It starts with a conversation
Benefits Obtained :
- Master the M&A Process
- Excel in Deal Execution
- CPE Credit
Interested in Digital Learning?
View on-demand option
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Private Equity Primer is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: NASBAregistry.org.
