This course will focus on investing in private credit up and down the debt stack including senior secured, mezzanine, unsecured, and convertible debt from both an origination and secondary market perspective. In addition, there will be an introduction to portfolio construction and management including workouts and loan sales.
Real estate accounts for one third of the capital assets around the world. You simply cannot ignore it in as an investor or in any business, whether the business is called real estate or not. The last few years have seen a rapid increase in the use of Big Data in the real estate industry. Much more data have become available that allow companies to radically improve their decision making and create value in ways that are rapidly transforming the real estate industry. This course will use tools from business analytics and new, large real estate datasets to help shed light on important questions in residential and commercial real estate. The course will foster both conceptual understanding and hands-on skill acquisition through coding in Python. This course is meant both for students with strong programming background who want to learn more about real estate and for students of real estate who want to beef up their data analytics skills.
Python knowledge needs to be demonstrated by passing the CBS Python advanced-proficiency exam (B0002). Anyone who has not taken "Python for MBAs" and woud like to register for that class should email python@gsb.columbia.edu to arrange a special sitting of the advanced qualification exam.
This course introduces students to the complex topics of family enterprise and family wealth. Wealth in the United States and globally has become increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small number of families, which is having a major impact on business, financial, and philanthropic sectors. These families often start with an entrepreneur who creates an operating business, that later evolves into trusts, holding companies, investment vehicles, a family office, and charitable foundations. This conglomeration of holdings is referred to as a complex "family enterprise" and all the assets of the family comprise its "wealth." Given the magnitude of this trend, it is almost inevitable that each MBA student will own, work for, invest in, or otherwise interact with family enterprises after graduation.
Students will be exposed to a variety of perspectives, including in-depth research, analysis, and insider's views on family dynamics, governance, business, investments, and philanthropy. The course will proceed from the perspective of family first and particular emphasis will be given the fact that the family’s “human capital” is its most important resource to foster a successful family enterprise and optimize its important role in society. Technical issues, including legal concepts and structures applicable to family enterprises, will also be examined. Guest lecturers from industry and family enterprises will provide real-life context to class discussions.
Students will leave the course prepared to more effectively own, manage, and work with family enterprises, and with a more nuanced understanding of family wealth as it is now understood by leading global families. This will have a direct impact on future success, both personally and professionally. While the course will be especially relevant for students who come from family enterprises, it will also provide insights and tools for students who intend to work in private wealth management, privately held companies, management consulting, private equity/ venture capital, and social enterprises. This is not just an investment, finance, or family business management course, as those subjects are covered in more detail elsewhere in the curriculum but is a multi-disciplinary approach to this complex set of issues.
The course has the following objectives:
- Increase awareness of the role and importance of family enterprises globally.
- Expand understanding of “family wealth” as it is defined and developed by leading
This half semester course provides students with the opportunity to perform due diligence on early-stage social ventures
(nonprofit and for-profit ventures with a social or environmental mission). This course is designed for MBA students
interested in impact investing, social entrepreneurship, or philanthropy. The objective of the course is for students to
learn both the theory of investing in early-stage social ventures and the practice of evaluating early-stage social ventures
through a due diligence process. This course is not designed for the evaluation of larger, well-established social
enterprises.
Students are placed in teams to evaluate social entrepreneurs from the Columbia University community who have applied
for funding from the Tamer Fund for Social Ventures. The course is a combination of in-class lectures and discussion, and
practical application of class lessons outside of the classroom. Major topics covered include: the due diligence process,
assessing venture pitches and teams, due diligence in emerging markets, due diligence of non-profits, impact
measurement and management, and valuations and deal structure.
During the course, each student team completes detailed due diligence on their assigned social venture, including
diligence on applicants, the social venture and the sector. The course concludes with student teams submitting a written
due diligence report and a recommendation for funding to the Investment Board of the Tamer Fund for Social Ventures.