Skill Farm

The Ultimate Guide to Breaking into Venture Capital 🏆🏆 If you're looking to break into VC this free guide is for you, it includes the following: 1. Overview of Venture Capital 2. VC Funding & Stages 3. How to Break into VC 4. Mastering the VC Interview 5. VC Roles & Salaries 6. Investment Memo Example 7. VC Term Sheet Explained The full guide includes the a CV template, DCF Model, Cap Table Template & More skillfarm.co/handbooks

If you’re interested in Breaking into Investment Banking. Here’s a free guide for you 🏆 It includes the following: How to Land a Job in IB IB Divisions & Hierarchy Top Investment Banks by Region Outreach Template Technical Interview Questions Technical Skills Explained IB Jargon Bonus: The full guide including an Investment CV template, Excel Shortcuts & Financial Models can be accessed for free using the following link https://lnkd.in/ey2HKsTS If you would like a detailed CV review to help you land your perfect role in IB, you can Join Skill Farm and get in touch with our support team.

Most Common Private Equity Terms Explained 🏆 Here’s a short list of words and terms you’ll want to know as you take the first steps in your career in finance. Download our PDF sheet with a full breakdown of what each term means. We have more learning guides and masterclass courses available at skillfarm.co

Most Common Investment Banking Terms Explained 🏆 Here’s a short list of words and terms you’ll want to know as you take the first steps in your career in finance. Download our PDF sheet with a full breakdown of what each term means. We have more learning guides and masterclass courses available at skillfarm.co

The Man Who Solved the Market by Combining Maths, Luck and Common Sense   Jim Simons – How did he do it?   From a young age, Simons knew he enjoyed maths. From calculating simple mental arithmetic to solving complex equations, Simons enjoyed anything that involved working with numbers.   After graduating from MIT in 1958, Simons travelled to Colombia with his friends to start a business. It was uncharacteristic, as his parents thought Simmons would pursue a career in academia. Well, actually he did. After setting up the business in Colombia, he returned to the U.S and taught mathematics at MIT and Harvard.   Most notably, he invented the Chern-Simons quantum theory in the field of physics. At the same time, he was working as a code breaker for the U.S. Secret Service. Simons is the definition of a creative mathematician. He saw clear patterns where most people saw one-time anomalies, a skill that would come to serve him well later in life.   Back in Colombia, his business venture flourished. Simons sold the business and gave the money to his friend to invest. He achieved a 10x return on investment (ROI) within a relatively short time. This was a lightbulb moment for Simons. He knew he could potentially achieve the same if not more.   Aged 40, Simons decided to start his journey in the world of investing by launching Renaissance Technologies. He took a radical approach. Simons decided to apply a scientific & computational approach to investing. He developed computer algorithms that identified persistent anomalies using different data points such as weather, annual reports and past economic events.   Applying science & automation to investing allowed him to:   1. Reduce volatility in the portfolio & still achieve superior returns 2. Eliminate human emotion in the investment process 3. Achieve narrow spreads for bid and ask prices 4. Invest based on hard evidence as opposed to intuition     Simons is regarded by many as the greatest Wall Street trader of all time. He fundamentally changed the hedge fund industry including the type of talent recruited in the industry. Nearly all of the talent at Renaissance Technologies comes from a scientific background. When asked about this approach Simons replied “You can teach a physicist finance, but you can’t teach a finance person physics”   Simons Rules for Success:   1. Do not micromanage – get the best people and leave them to do their thing 2. Be persistent – failure only occurs when you give up 3. Increase your luck curve – play to your strengths and hope to be lucky 4. Surround yourself with good smart people – as a leader you cannot be the smartest person in the room, it makes decision-making difficult 5. Delegate – do what you do best and delegate the rest

Here are 5 things you should consider if you’re searching for your perfect job or want to level up your career: 1.   Focus on tasks over title  2.  Ask yourself “Would I be doing this if it wasn’t about money” 3.  Perform a self-audit : What’s working for you? What isn’t?  4.  Build a network of professionals with similar passions  5.  Find out what you do exceptionally well with minimal effort

Jobseekers are worried finding work will become even more competitive as more jobs will be automated, while others welcome the opportunity for less desirable work to be taken away. #thefutureofwork https://lnkd.in/gc6cp8bC

Top 5 Skills used by Jeff Bezos to build Amazon into a global superpower? 1. Self-Reliance In his early years, Bezos spent all his summers at his grandfather’s ranch. Over time, he learned how to fix and build things from scratch. His grandfather was very self-reliant and taught a young Jeff Bezos how to fix things by himself. The ranch was in a remote location, which meant the family had to be self-sufficient and resourceful with repairs, food, construction work, and even some basic medical procedures. 2. Deep Research & Analysis During a research assignment at work, Bezos found a staggering statistic. He discovered that the internet was growing at a rate of 2,300% per year. He knew immediately that anything with such an unprecedented growth rate was going to be HUGE. At the time many internet companies were starting and receiving significant interest both from investors and the public. Bezos didn’t want to later experience the regret of missing out on the internet boom, so he started Amazon. 3. Clear and Concise Communication Bezos preferred to write things down in structured memos that were not more than a page long. He figured in this way, he could simplify things and explain them clearly. When he started Amazon.com, Bezos banned all PowerPoint slides during meetings. Instead, he introduced the structured memo. Meeting participants had to go through the memos during the meeting so everyone would have clarity before the actual discussion began. Each answer had to be answered with a “Yes”, “No”, “I don’t know” or “backed up with data”. 4. Effective Risk Management Entrepreneurship is about taking risks Yes, but taking risks blindly can lead to disaster. These sentiments are shared by Bezos who believes you should take risks after taking the downside into consideration so at least you are familiar with the potential consequences if something doesn’t work. For example, In 1995, Bezos's parents poured some of their life savings into Amazon and he told them that there was a high likelihood that they would lose all their money since most startups don’t succeed. Bezos calculated the downside and made his parents aware of what they were getting themselves into. 5. Data-Driven Decision Making Earlier in his career, Bezos was responsible for driving high-quality investment decisions. If he made the wrong investment recommendations, clients would lose money, so he had to collect enough data to back up his decisions. Bezos admits that most of his important decisions were made with intuition after gathering and studying vast amounts of data.  Why is this important? A while ago Bezos realized intuition alone couldn’t be trusted as it is often based on faulty information. He discovered that concrete evidence plus intuition was the right mix for a high-quality decision. This approach allowed Bezos to introduce innovations such as Amazon Prime, Kindle & the transition from a bookstore to an e-commerce giant.

Here are top 5 skills that you can learn today to stay ahead 👇 1.    Data Risk Management Involves the effective management of potential data security risks and ever-changing regulatory and industry requirements. This skill is very valuable for any organisation looking to mitigate threats to intellectual property; strategic plans; financial data; or information about customers, associates and suppliers.  2.    IDEs (integrated development environments) An IDE makes it easier for software developers to generate code. You can think of them as the Microsoft Word or Excel of programming. IDEs help software developers code efficiently and quickly. Your ability to use different IDEs will give you a huge edge! Examples include XCode, Visual Studio, PyCharm & many more. 3.    UX Prototyping This is one of the most critical steps in the design process. UX prototyping is the art of simulating a final product and validating its features and ensuring it is fit for purpose before the product development phase begins. Popular tools used for prototyping include Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD & InVision. Learning UX Prototyping and any of the tools previously listed is the way to really stand out! 4.    Computer Programming (Especially resolving data errors) Programming is the process of writing a set of instructions used by computers/machines to perform a task. It is increasingly used in organisations to automate repetitive tasks and build digital products. The future is technology so learning a high in demand programming language will give an instant boost to your career! Examples of programming languages include JavaScript, Python, PHP, C++, Ruby, HTML & many more. 5.    Data Analysis & Visualisation Data analysis is the process of modeling data to assist in strategic decision making and improve business performance. Data in its raw format can be difficult to understand, which makes data visualisation a critical component of the process. Learning how to perform data analysis and visualisation will give you the edge to own the process entirely! Bonus Skill 😎 6.   Social Marketing & Selling (Find your ranking on LinkedIn by searching “LinkedIn SSI Score”)   This spans all the way from managing your own personal brand to building strong client connections on social media channels on platforms such as LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). Social marketing & selling is proving to be an effective method to facilitate offline interactions with clients & prospective employers. How many employers & clients do you think will search your name on a platform like LinkedIn or Instagram? Nearly 90%!

Should you become a generalist or specialist? Well, let’s see from world-famous examples… Generalist: In 1972 Steve Jobs took a Calligraphy class at Reed College taught by a Trappist monk and used this skill to create different style fonts for Apple computers. It’s thanks to Jobs that we now have different style fonts on our PCs. Jo Malone left school with no qualifications, but through learning different skills along the way such as selling paintings at the local market and creating homemade beauty products for herself, she was able to launch her perfume brand Jo Malone. It has since grown to become one of the most popular perfume brands globally. Elon Musk is perhaps the most famous example. He has continuously applied his knowledge of physics and first principles thinking to achieve phenomenal success with Tesla, Paypal, Space X, and many more. Musk has proven that by acquiring the key skills & knowledge needed in a particular field you can outwit the competition and become successful. Specialist: Warren Buffett is proof that you’re never too young to specialize. At 11 years old, Buffett had gone through most of the books on the topic of Investing at the local library. When he reached 15 years old, he got a job as a newspaper delivery boy, saved up his earnings, and started investing in local farmland. Through his success with Berkshire Hathaway, he is considered by many to be the best fundamental investor of all time. At age six, J.K. Rowling wrote her first novel titled “Rabbit”. She would go on to write many books in her spare time, but it wasn’t until she came up with the idea of Harry Porter in 1990 that things began to change. The first book of the Harry Porter series was published in 1997 and became an instant hit. J.K. Rowling spent over 20 years sharpening her writing skills before she saw success. Up-skilling is important now more than ever. I think knowing how to combine two highly valuable skills is the key. For example, if you know how to design and develop software then you could combine the two skills, as they are more powerful together.