Name: Can Divitoglu

Year: Senior

Major: Industrial Engineering

Minor: Computer Science

CFS Class: Business Field Studies

Employer: Torchpass Management

This summer, I interned at Torchpass Management, a small search fund company. My job consisted finding potential targets to acquire every week in niche industries. The Company has the goal to acquire one company and run its operations and management for the years to come; thus, the due diligence and talks of negotiations that goes with the search process are time consuming. I was also responsible for making industry research and monthly industry pitches to my boss. Another type of task I had was company evaluation, where I was shared information on company activities and had the chance to analyze and make both qualitative and quantitative conclusions from the analysis. My analysis on a manufacturing company and important findings from research was used to make an acquisition decision, which was fulfilling to see. All these responsibilities helped me develop a different understanding on markets, especially niche markets, and company activities and valuation. The training we had in the first day covers all aspects of the job and gives a lot of information that is useful to understand industries and company activities.

The work was remote, which requires a liking for autonomy. Because there is no office, communication with the boss is restricted to phone calls and online messaging platforms. In this internship, generally the intern is responsible for his or her own work and setting the work schedule. You can learn a lot about the technical aspect of how M&A as well as industry evaluations are conducted. However, in terms of developing communication skills, networking and gaining an understanding of an office job, another setting might be more beneficial.