Take home case study for a boutique consulting firm

Hello, 

As someone who spent 4 years at Altman Solon (TMT boutique, ~50% focused on CDD in TMT), happy to connect and support you during the journey.

For a TMT-focused firm like Analysys Mason with strong PE exposure, expect the take-home to lean much more toward CDD-style analysis than classic broad consulting frameworks.

Take-home case

1️⃣ Framework vs CDD focus
Prioritize:

• Market attractiveness
• Competitive positioning
• Customer dynamics
• Revenue drivers & sustainability
  Less generic “Porter-style” structuring — more investment logic.

2️⃣ Excel / modeling depth
They’re not testing 3-statement modeling.
They’re testing:

• Comfort with numbers
• Scenario thinking
• Sensitivity analysis
• Revenue build-ups (bottom-up logic)

Keep the model clean, transparent, and driver-based. Commercial logic > Excel complexity.

3️⃣ Slide count / detail
Typically:

• ~10–15 slides (unless instructed otherwise)
• Executive-summary first
• Clear storyline: Recommendation → Why → Risks → Upside

Concise, investment-committee ready.

4️⃣ TMT / PE nuances

• Focus on recurring revenue, churn, pricing power
• Understand tech disruption risk
• Highlight value-creation levers
• Think like an investor: “Would I put money behind this?”

Live interviews

Expect more investment-style discussions than generic consulting cases.

They will test:

• Structuring under ambiguity
• Quantitative comfort
• Valuation intuition (not full DCF, but value logic)
• Clear recommendation under time pressure

Quant skills matter a lot in TMT + PE contexts.

Bottom line: think like a commercial advisor to investors, not just a strategy consultant.

As a coach, I’m here to help you — we can simulate TMT CDD cases, refine your investment-style thinking, and structure your take-home so it meets boutique-level expectations.

Hi there,

At McKinsey, even when interviews are grouped into “Round 1” and “Final Round,” each individual interview is assessed separately.

So if you have two interviews in the first round, you don’t automatically move from the first to the second just because they’re scheduled together. Both interviewers submit independent evaluations, and the decision to advance is made after reviewing all feedback from that round.

In practice, though, since they’re scheduled back-to-back, you’ll complete both interviews before any decision is made. They won’t cancel the second one mid-day unless something very unusual happens.

Think of each interview as a standalone assessment, even if they’re grouped administratively.

Happy to help you prep – feel free to reach out

Best
Evelina

It's an excellent question, and moving into a boutique with a PE focus like Analysys Mason is a fantastic path, but it definitely requires a specific approach different from generalist MBB firms.

For the take-home, think of it as a CDD (Commercial Due Diligence) in consulting format. That means you should lean heavily on CDD-style analysis – market sizing, competitive landscape, customer segmentation, value chain analysis, and identifying risks/upsides – but presented with the structured logic and clear narrative you'd expect from a consulting firm. Your Excel should be robust enough to support your key commercial insights, not just a barebones model, but it shouldn't be an IB-level financial model either. Focus on the drivers of value, key assumptions, and sensitivities. A reasonable slide count is often around 10-15 slides, including an executive summary and appendix, prioritizing clarity and impact over sheer volume. For TMT/PE, always consider the investment thesis, exit opportunities, market trends (e.g., SaaS vs. on-prem, evolving tech stacks), and unique monetization strategies.

Live interviews will reflect this blend. Expect a mix of traditional consulting cases, but often framed through an investment lens – "Should a PE firm invest in X?" or "What are the key risks to acquiring Y?" They'll heavily emphasize your ability to structure problems, quantify potential upsides and downsides, and demonstrate clear value-creation thinking. They want to see how you dissect a market or a business from a buyer's perspective.

It's about synthesizing commercial acumen with an investor's mindset. Good luck!

Hi!

I've coached candidates for AM before so happy to provide a perspective. 

1. Neither. I would reach out to the recruiter first and ask what type of cases you should expect in the interview e.g., whether they are focused on a particular industry or not

2. Take home cases almost never include deep modelling. The analyses tend to be high-level and focus on how effectively you connect the different data points across the case.

3 If they don't provide an indication for this (though they typically do) you need to work back from how much time you have for the presentation, how many questions you need to address and decide top down how much time you want to spend on each and how many slides are required to support it. As a rule of thumb, aim for fewer than more slides. 

4 (see point 1 from above - clarify the expectations and requirements with the recruiter since they are role-specific). 

If you want us to run a simulation of the interview, reach out and I can explain how I do this with my candidates.

Best,
Cristian

Hey there :)

For a TMT and PE focused boutique, think more CDD than classic consulting frameworks. Focus on market attractiveness, competitive position, growth drivers and risks. Structured commercial thinking matters more than a very complex Excel model, but your numbers should clearly link to assumptions and value creation logic.

Around ten to fifteen clean slides with strong answer first headlines is usually enough. In live interviews, expect more investment style discussions with emphasis on structuring, quant and practical value creation thinking.

Best,
Alessa :)