Introduction To Investment Banking FEATURED INSTRUCTOR: JIMMY LAI

Syllabus

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Class Syllabus Introduction to Investment Banking

Featured Instructor: Jimmy Lai, CFO 51Talk

Description of the Course

In this 4-week course students gain hands-on experience in finance and investment banking by using quantitative and qualitative techniques to produce a valuation report for a wearable technology company going for an Initial Public Offering (IPO). Students will learn how to use market research, financial concepts like discounting and multiples, financial date, and an understanding of how companies are valued to produce their valuation report. By the end of the course, students will have newfound skills that will make them more competitive to college admission boards and for investment banking/finance internships. Instructor Bio

Mr. Jimmy Lai served as chief financial officer of China Online Education Group, a NYSE-listed company until his retirement as of end of 2018. Mr. Lai currently serves as independent director as well as audit committee chair on the board of PPDAI Group Inc., a NYSE-listed fintech company and Huami, a biometric and activity data-driven wearable device company also listed on NYSE.

Jimmy has 36 years of experience in accounting, financial management as well as in the capital market. He has worked for 19 years in United States and for 17 years in China. During his professional career Jimmy helped to take three different companies public in the US.

Jimmy received his bachelor’s degree in statistics from the National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan and his MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas. Mr. Lai is a certified public accountant licensed in the State of Texas.

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Course Structure

Students learn how to value a company going through a IPO through video lectures from Jimmy Lai. They also participate in three live online classes with personal support from industry mentors, gaining real-world skills in investment banking, data analysis, and presentation delivery. At the end of the course, students present their findings in a live session so they can showcase their new financial skills and earn a certificate of completion to feature on their resumes and applications.

Course Objectives

In this course, students will:

• Synthesize and present complex information to a variety of stakeholders.

• Use quantitative methods to value a company including discounting and multiples.

• Gather insight using qualitative methods including market analysis, competitive landscape, and landscape research

• Apply critical thinking skills to determine how a shift in the market can/will change the valuation of a company

• Present their findings through a written and verbal presentation

Course Outline

Week 1:

• Video Introduction: Overview and Course Challenge

• Preparation: Business Valuation

• Activity: Introductions

• Live Session: Intro to Investment Banking

• Discussion Board #1

• Research Phase: Research on the wearable technology sector, dominant firms, and market.

Week 2:

• Jimmy Lai Video Lecture: IPO Overview

• Preparation: DCF and Other Forms of Valuation

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• Activity: Valuing an IPO

• Live Session: Identifying catalysts and risks

• Discussion Board #2

• Analysis Phase: Valuing the Company with Quantitative and Qualitative Methods

Week 3:

• Jimmy Lai Video Lecture: The Roadshow

• Preparation: Getting Orders/Final Pricing

• Activity: Testing the Boba

• Live Session: Discounting to find the intrinsic valuation

• Discussion Board #3

Week 4: Presentation

• Preparation: Presentation Basics

• Activity: Presentation Prep

• Live Session: Presentations

Grading Policy

Component Percentage of Grade

Research Phase Assignment 25%

Analysis Phase Assignment 25%

Discussion Boards 15%

Final Presentation 35%

Please note that you must attend all classes and receive an 80% or greater to receive the certificate of completion for the course

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Technology Requirements

Students will need access to the internet and the Canvas Learning Management system. Additionally, we will be using WeChat to provide a more tangible and immediate resource for students.

Course Project

The featured firm for the IPO Valuation Project is HeartBeat. HeartBeat a wearable technology company. Heartbeat, provides cutting-edge products that are capable of measuring users metabolic rates and provide an exact count of calories burned based on body type and user body fat ratio. Additionally, Heartbeat’s products have gained traction in the fashion industry. The company wants to IPO and raise funding to resolve current supply chain constraints and expand exposure to foreign markets.

Research Phase

Students will research the wearables market where HeartBeat is expanding its presence. As investment banks would do on the job, students will use sources such as journalistic accounts of IPO’s, publicly available data, and other readily available

sources for market size and growth. Students will also collect information on comparative firms to create a competitive landscape matrix.

Analysis Phase

Students will conduct a quantitative analysis to determine the pricing of HeartBeat while learning what factors cause valuations to increase or decrease. Students are provided financial data as well as financial concepts to support their analysis. They also determine discounting based on quantitative measures and how to find intrinsic value.

Presentation Phase

In this assignment students will use the information obtained and analysis produced to create a mini-evaluation report that includes analysis of how a change in the market would impact the final valuation of the company. The report will include a market analysis, marketability of the enterprises service/product, elaboration on unique value proposition or differentiation from competitors and other features contributing to positioning within a market. All of which provides a holistic understanding of valuation and growth potential.

Academic Integrity

Honesty is an essential aspect of academic integrity. Individual students are responsible for doing their own work and submitting original assignments as per the course directions. Plagiarism and cheating of any kind will not be tolerated.

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Plagiarize: “To steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own without crediting the source; presenting as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source” (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield: G. & C. Merriam Company, 1973, 870).

This includes using information from the Internet without citing the website. Avoid plagiarism by appropriately acknowledging the source of the author’s words and ideas. Cheating: Submitting or presenting an assignment as your own when it was written or created by someone else is not permissible in this class.