misstercool

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Show HN: Quantus – Break into Finance, from 0 –> LBO

quantus.finance

1 pointsby misstercool10 months ago0 comments

Show HN: Quantus – LeetCode for Financial Modeling

quantus.finance

279 pointsby misstercool2 years ago50 comments

comments

2 years agodiscuss

would mind try it again?

2 years agodiscuss

- Adding the hotkey on the top my priority list.

- Agree with you on adding more challenging quizzes!

- Having the various mini assignments in a module on the same tab is an interesting idea.

- Regarding the bird lol, yea, I do plan to redesign the UI at some point to make it more professional look

- We are adding a few more LBO cases

- Sensitive table is a good idea

- Regarding your suggestion on auto-pulling finance data to build dynamic exercise, that is something I have been thinking about from the beginning.

- Double entry accounting is interesting! actually I have been considering building training materials to the offshore accounting firms.

Thank you so very much taking time playing around the tool and writing these thoughtful feedback! Really appreciate it!!

2 years agodiscuss

Just my personal opinion, feel free to disagree ;). There are few issues preventing finance being replaced by AI.

1. The large portion of finance is customization. AI works on the simple models, but it may struggle to perform adequately with complex, company-specific situations. Take pilot as example, it is an accounting and bookkeeping company with the combination of tech solution and human services. There is always human in the loop.

2. Finance deals with the numbers, the bar of accuracy is very high.

However, I believe AI can make learning finance much simpler, that is why I build this platform.

2 years agodiscuss

oh...thanks, apologize for my typo

2 years agodiscuss

love this idea!

2 years agodiscuss

+1, so true!

2 years agodiscuss

Yep, no stats or advanced math is needed. My primary focus is to cater to beginner and intermediate users.

For beginners, it is a good tool to understand the basic finance and accounting concepts. It is interactive, you can practice the formulas via quizzes, much more fun than reading a textbook. I suggest you try financial statement module.

For intermediate users, you can practice financial modeling by solving generic modeling problems (3-statements, DCF, LBO, M&A). It will help you build the muscle memory of using the functions/formulas.

For advanced users, I am planning to onboard more industry specific modeling content and practice cases.

2 years agodiscuss

Yea, I might do more in depth AI integration in the future. The hint function has been the most popular one in assassinating users learning how to solve the financial modeling problems. This platform is designed with the goal of assisting users in enhancing their practical skills in financial modeling.

2 years agodiscuss

Sure! While beginner content isn't unique, chatGPT can handle such questions effectively. Our main aim is to create a mind map that helps users understand concepts deeply and apply them to build various financial models.

2 years agodiscuss

Absolutely, the current platform is designed to help beginners and intermediate learners to hone their technical skills. I am considering expanding in areas such as allowing users to share their models and strategies. I understand it can be daunting for newcomers to an industry to figure out the best way to construct models. What are your thoughts on this?

2 years agodiscuss

The current stage of finance interview is a little bit like coding interview 20 years ago, pre-leetcode time, where you write sudo code on a paper to answer some coding challenges. The coding interview nowadays are quite advanced, I believe Leetcode plays huge role.

The best way of learning financial modeling is by doing it on the excel. Even though many finance technical interviews still focus on behavior type of questions, discussing your model-building approach and assumptions. By practising different scenarios on Excel, timeboxing it, it will help you refine your responses during the interview.

2 years agodiscuss

great suggestions, thanks!

2 years agodiscuss

Our goal is to help users improve their finance and accounting knowledge. This includes acing job interviews and learning how to create different financial models for varied sectors. Currently, we have no plans to provide coding lessons or provide certificates.

2 years agodiscuss

thanks! IMO, excel spreadsheet is like the compiler for finance folks, there is no better way to learning and practising finance on this interface.

2 years agodiscuss

That's an excellent query! Many have asked for a mobile app. Right now, we're improving the desktop version as Excel works best on it. Making Excel easy to use on a mobile app isn't easy. Our plan is to first make a mobile app centered around finance quizzes and concepts. Then, we'll aim to provide a complete Excel experience for financial modeling on mobile.

2 years agodiscuss

Thank you!

2 years agodiscuss

I think this article is much more than this.

  > First, you have to get clear on what the company is looking to get out of the project.

You are not just pleasing the executives. Assuming the company described in the article is a good company. Executives are not idiot that making impulsive decisions.

You need to be able to sense the company direction, communicate clearly, manage the risk, build the trust. This is not an easy task in a big company.

Such an awesome article IMO that explains the art of shipping in a big firm. I believe if any engs can master the skills described in the article, you will get promoted to a leadership role very fast. Of course, this might not be the path everyone loves.

2 years agodiscuss

Well, to be honest, I have never heard any of many FAANG turned startup founder friends told me that the want to build a life style business from the beginning. Every one wants to build a vc-backed startup with a home run idea. Many of them ended up building life style business because the markets of their ideas were actually much smaller.

If you do the math, climbing the corporate ladder at FAANG might have better ROI than running life style business. Of course, money is not the only consideration in life.

2 years agodiscuss

Quote the author “To continue advancing my career, I’d need projects that were even larger in scope and involved collaboration with more partner teams. But that just meant the project could fail due to even more factors outside my control, wasting months or years of my life.”

I am sure if he looks back and reflects again, he will admit that the success of a startup relay on 100+ other factors that out of your control. It is never a wasting time in your life. You learned how the world works!

2 years agodiscuss

From my observation, staff eng is a person that has the capability to handle many type of tasks, like what described in the article: Eng, Idea direction, project management, risk management, cross-function communication. Not every eng can grow into this role. Many engs hate politics, talking and meetings. I felt only the large tech organization needs this role. For the small companies, engineer manager who manages less than 4 engs usually do not need a staff eng.