Name: Max

Year: Junior

Major: Economics

Minor: Business Institutions

CFS Program: Field Studies in Business Culture

This fall I’ve had the opportunity to intern at NextGen Growth Partners, a lower middle-market private equity firm in downtown Chicago. So far, I’ve really enjoyed my internship experience, learned lots, and made some great connections. In the first few weeks, I have split my time at the firm across three main tasks.

First, there is industry research and analysis. This is the first step that NextGen takes in finding prospective companies to acquire. This process involves lots of online research through business databases on specific industries. After spending time getting to know the industry in-depth, I then complete a report that explains the key factors that make the industry either appealing or unappealing for investment. These reports are then presented to my supervisors, who decide whether they believe the industry is worth pursuing further or not.

The next project I have been working on is list building. This is related to the industry research piece, but is the next step after research has been completed. Once an appealing industry is identified, interns begin building lists of potential companies for acquisition. These lists are usually extensive, and require contact information for a CEO or high level employee in each company as well. These lists are later used to reach out to companies to learn more about them from within.

The final task I have at my internship is learning financial modeling and excel skills. This task is for the benefit of the interns, and is very helpful for both our work at NextGen and any future finance-related jobs we might have.

All in all, I am very happy with the start to my internship, and I am excited to see what the next six weeks will entail. I’m very grateful to both NextGen and the CFS program for this great opportunity, and believe that this experience is extremely beneficial to my career and learning.