Tartan Careers - Beata Liberchuk
Sport: Women's Tennis
Class Year 20-21: Junior
Major: Business
Internship Year, Title, and Company
Summer 2020, Private Equity Summer Analyst, Sumeru Equity Partners (SEP)
Application process: I stumbled upon their application during early summer while I was searching for internships for the following year. I had two interviews within several days, and was accepted the following week.
Why did this internship interest you: I was interested in this internship because I've always wanted to pursue a career at the intersection of technology and finance. Tech Private Equity was a field that peaked my interest early on and getting exposure to the buy-side of finance while still in college is very rare, so I knew I had to jump on it while I had the chance.
How did you complete the internship - remotely or on-site: I completed this internship remotely—they were based in San Francisco and I was at home in New
Jersey.
Description of internship: During this internship, I maintained several roles. On the due diligence side, I researched various tech verticals and sourced potential companies that could be of interest. I also had some exposure to financial modeling, and spent a lot of time learning Excel best practices. Finally, I created pitch decks on Powerpoint for investment committees and staff meetings.
How it could have been different if not remote: I worked remotely, and felt that the process would have been much different if it was on-site. The first obstacle
was that there was a three-hour time difference between the company and I, which was hard in terms of communication and timing. Although I did receive almost immediate feedback when I asked a question, it would have been much easier to walk down the hall and ask in person.
How did this internship shape your next move: This internship exposed me early on to the buy-side of finance. Although I will be working on the sell-side next
summer, it peaked my interest in potentially pursuing a role such as the one I held at SEP in the future. I also made many connections in the world of finance not only through the employees at the firm, but also through the external speaker series they held. I was lucky enough to hear from extremely successful and influential people including the CFO of Pinterest and the Former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. Making connections such as these gave me confidence that this is the field that I want to pursue, and was very fortunate to have an experience such as this one so early on in my career.