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Introducing Kellogg’s Private Equity and Venture Capital Pathway

Kellogg is a leading educational institution in private equity and venture capital known for its focus on value creation. It is committed to cultivating diverse, well-rounded global leaders in the industry (investors, operators, and other professionals) and providing them with a broad set of opportunities throughout their careers. In addition, Kellogg fosters a lasting private equity and venture capital alumni community and convenes esteemed faculty, industry leaders, and the larger community for knowledge-sharing and thought leadership.

The objective of Kellogg’s Private Equity and Venture Capital (PE/VC) pathway is to equip students with the tools, skills, and knowledge to shape the future of private equity and adapt to the new trends emerging in the PE space. These trends include preparing students for: (a.) the growth and competition for talent at entry points; (b,) functional roles becoming more important at the GP level; (c.) thinking strategically about the GP’s value proposition LPs; (d.) the increase demand for both managers and operators, not just financial experts; (e.) specific sector expertise and regulatory expertise in defined complex fields such as environmental sustainability and healthcare.

The driving theme behind Kellogg’s Private Equity and Venture Capital (PE/VC) pathway is to identify and exploit the potential sources of value in private, founder-owned, public, and closely-held firms by VC and PE investors. This interdisciplinary pathway provides students with the analytical framework and tools necessary to successfully conduct venture capital and private equity transactions, execute mergers and acquisitions, and engage in corporate restructuring activities. The pathway is structured along potential sources of value that PE/VC investors can extract. This pathway has different tracks depending on whether students are interested more in Venture Capital, Growth Equity, or buyouts. It also has a strong international component for those students who are interested in exploring the practices around the world, specifically, in countries that do not have common law legal systems.

In venture capital, investors may generate value in early-stage companies by engaging in operational and strategic engineering that focuses on getting the most from the company’s resources. For investors in the growth equity segment of the private equity industry, these same skills apply. In addition, growth equity investors may redesign a company’s governance structure to reduce friction between management and shareholders and between non-controlling and controlling shareholders, resulting in management decisions more aligned with shareholder interests. In doing so, they will use financial contracts that are characterized by steep incentives for the management team. Private equity investors engaged in leveraged buyouts) and restructuring creates value with operational and governance changes, as well. They may also exploit inefficiencies in capital markets by restructuring a company’s liabilities or by purchasing undervalued assets and selling them at or above their fundamental value.

The PE/VC pathway emphasizes financial, operational, and strategic skills for venture capital investors, adds approaches to corporate governance for growth equity investors, and provides a greater emphasis on accounting and financial skills for buyouts and corporate restructuring. In addition to the Evanston classes, students interested in working for start-ups (Series B and further) or venture capital firms should consider the San Francisco immersion program offered in the winter.

Foundational courses are strongly recommended for students who are planning to undertake a career in the industry. Exploratory courses are introductory courses which can be taken with few prerequisites. Experiential courses can be taken without prior knowledge; however, for a more effective experience, it is recommended that students enroll in the foundational courses before or concurrently.

Faculty sponsors: Scott Baker (Finance), Jose Liberti (Finance) and Paola Sapienza (Finance).

Advanced Private Equity Experience (APEX) 

APEX is an innovative, global, advanced academic experience for full-time students in our One- and Two-Year MBA Programs. Based on relevant prior experience and proven interest in and commitment to the industry post-graduation, select students are invited to APEX when they submit their admissions application. 

This interdisciplinary program enables advanced students to learn from the best in the industry with an emphasis on coursework designed to set them up for long-term success.

Initial Courses – all tracks

Students should complete or test out from these courses before taking foundation courses or applying to the San Francisco Winter Immersion Program

Venture Capital

Foundational


  • Entrepreneurial Finance and Venture Capital: FINC 445
    Students interested in internship in Venture Capital during the San Francisco Winter Immersion Quarter should enroll in this course by the fall of the year applying for the SF Immersion Quarter; 2Y students are encouraged to take FINC 445 in the spring of their first year.

Depth

  • Launching and Leading Startups: ENTR 470
    Students considering the San Francisco immersion program should take this class in San Francisco
  • Advanced Topics in Venture Investing: FINC 982-5
    Offered only in San Francisco Winter Program to students who have completed FINC 445.
  • Global Entrepreneurial Finance: FINC 477
  • Forging and Funding Healthcare Startups: HCAK 627
  • Value Creation and Capture in Biopharmaceuticals: HCAK 960-5
  • Strategic Decisions in Operations: OPNS 454
  • Marketing Strategy for Growth and Defense: MKTG 466

Experiential/Exploratory

  • Bay Area Internship and Networking Lab: ENTR 980
  • Venture Investing: FINC 980-5
    Offered only in San Francisco Winter Program to students who have not completed FINC 445.
  • Venture Lab (V-Lab): FINC 615

    San Francisco Winter Immersion Quarter
    2Y students interested in the San Francisco Winter Immersion Program should complete FINC 431/FINC 440 by the winter of their first year; 1Y students interested in the San Francisco Winter Immersion Program should take FINC 440 in the summer.



 

 

Private Equity - Growth Equity

Foundational

  • Global Entrepreneurial Finance: FINC 477
  • Keeping it all in the Family: Growing, Financing, and Managing Family Firms: FINC 948
  • Mergers and Acquisitions, LBOs, and Corporate Restructuring: FINC 448

Depth

  • Entrepreneurial Finance and Venture Capital FINC 445
  • Financial Reporting and Analysis ACCT 451
  • Value Creation and Capture in Biopharmaceuticals HCAK-960-5
  • Strategic Decisions in Operations OPNS 454
  • Supply Chain Management OPNS 455
  • Strategy and Organizations STRT 452
  • Strategy Challenges in Emerging Markets STRT 466

Experiential/Exploratory

 

Private Equity - Leveraged Buyouts (LBO)

Foundational

  • Mergers and Acquisitions, LBOs, and Corporate Restructuring: FINC 448

Depth

  • Private Equity and Distressed Investing: FINC-951-5
  • Financial Modeling for Private Equity Transactions: FINC 478-5
  • Financial Reporting and Analysis: ACCT 451
  • Issues in Financial Reporting: ACCT 452
  • Financial Planning for Mergers & Acquisitions: ACCT 444-5

Experiential/Exploratory

If you are interested in this pathway, you may also want to view the Growth & Scaling and Entrepreneurship pathways.

Last edited May 14, 2024. For any questions regarding this page, please email kellogg-registrar@kellogg.northwestern.edu.

Contact us about the Full-Time MBA Program at Kellogg

Full-Time MBA Application Deadlines

Round 1: Sept. 11, 2024
Round 2: Jan. 8, 2025
Round 3: April 2, 2025