January 2007 Case Interview Workshop Dartmouth College CONFIDENTIAL

2 Agenda  Case Interview Basics  Before the Interview  The First Five Minutes of the Case  The Rest of the Case  Overview of Frameworks  Live Case Example

3  Case interviews are designed to be tricky  FALSE: Case interviews can be mastered by applying a logical framework and stepping through the problem.  Case interviewers want to see you squirm and sweat  FALSE: We want to see how you think. Case interviews show us how you approach an unstructured problem.  Case Interviews have a right answer  FALSE: There is no right answer. We want to see your ability to apply structure to the problem, come up with hypotheses, think creatively, communicate your thoughts, run mental math, and reality check your results.  Case interviews can be fun  TRUE: If you relax and enjoy the time in the interview, they can be a fun and rewarding experience.  You can get better at case interviews with practice  TRUE: Practice is the key to getting comfortable with cases. Case Interview Basics TRUE FALSE QUIZ

4  Read the other presentations on the career services website  Great examples and explanations of frameworks.  Read online sources  The Vault, Wetfeet, Campusaccess.  Great article:  Practice with your friends, roommate, family, anyone who will listen!  Get comfortable thinking aloud and applying the frameworks.  Think about the company and visit their website  What type of work do they do? How do they approach issues? Before the Interview

5  Bring paper and something to write with  Relax and listen to the question being asked  Are they looking for a number, a growth rate, a recommendation?  Repeat the question and ask for clarification  Only if you really have questions. Don’t be a parrot.  Take a 1-2 minutes to gather your thoughts  No longer than that. Write out key questions, equations.  Organize your paper and write neatly  Draw quadrants to organize information, circle results, make sure you can go back and review your notes.  Determine if they have more data or if you need to make assumptions  Ask your interviewer, or infer from their introduction.  Jot down a rough framework to apply to the problem  Dive in! The First Five Minutes of the Case

6 The Rest of the Case  Decide on a framework or structure and write it down  This helps you stay on track and helps the interviewer see where you are going.  Ask questions to get more information and data  Be hypothesis driven and specific.  Make reasonable assumptions where you don’t have data  Give some context for your assumptions, don’t just state them.  Formulate your answer and see if it make sense  Watch out for mental math mistakes.  Revisit key assumptions that change the answer  Discuss where you’d go to get data if you had more time.  Present your conclusions  Take a minute to review notes and keep it simple.

7 Question: How many cups of coffee are sold in Hanover in a day? Case Frameworks Market Size Bottoms Up Top Down  Start with general population  Refine estimate to account for demographics (age, gender, location)  Refine estimate to account for other variables (demand, etc)  Calculate answer  Start with where product is sold  Consider factors that influence demand and segment assumptions (hours, seasons)  Estimate throughput per segment (number of units sold per time)  Gross up that number (per hour, per day, per week, per year)  Sum your segments to get to units per location  Estimate number of locations  Multiply it out to get total units  Keep track of your math  Label units  Step back and think about your answer  Does it make sense?  Revisit key assumptions  Where did you go wrong?

8 Case Frameworks Market Size Example Bottoms Up Top Down 15,000 People in Hanover 2/3 are adults = ~10,000 adults 50% are coffee drinkers = ~5,000 adults x x x 50% buy coffee vs drink at home = ~2,500 adults x 1 cup per person Rush Hour: Average coffee shop sells 1 cup every 1 minutes = ~60 cups an hour 3 hours a day = 180 cups x 10 Coffee Shops in Hanover x Non Rush Hour: Average coffee shop sells 1 cup every 6 minutes = 10 cups an hour 7 hours a day = 70 cups x Consider Rush Hour and Non Rush Hour Metrics per shop Rush hour + non rush hour is = 250 cups sold per day per shop = 2,500 cups of coffee = Question: How many cups of coffee are sold in Hanover in a day?

9 Case Frameworks Profit Tree Revenue Profit Costs QuantityPrice Fixed Costs Variable Costs = - X+ Margin = Profit ÷ Revenue  What impacts price differences?  Do different people pay different amounts?  What impacts sales?  Are there seasonal factors?  Rent  Equipment  Labor  Supplies  Utilities * See Parthenon Presentation for detailed example

10 How large is the market for water bottles? Question Case Example

11  Practice! Practice! Practice!  Structure! Structure! Structure!  Don’t get rattled if you make an error. Stay cool. Key Take Aways