Coffee Chat is the investment banking recruiting podcast from OFFERGOBLIN (https://www.offergoblin.com/?utm_source=coffee_chat&utm_medium=podcast).
Each week, coaches Michael Neal and Ryan Tan break down exactly how to land the offer. We cover:
Networking that actually works
Technicals that show up in real interviews
A weekly temperature check on what we're hearing right now—across our clients, users, and the street
Whether you're at a target school, fighting from a non-target, or switching careers, this is your playbook.
Drawing on experience across Centerview, Wells Fargo, UChicago Booth, and Training The Street.
Michael breaks down how to answer investment banking's classic three-part question: why banking, why this firm, and why this group, with real structure instead of generic talking points. Part of the Coffee Chat Ready series.
11 Sept 2026
How to Capitalize on a Coffee Chat
Michael shares how to effectively capitalize on a coffee chat for investment banking recruiting, from closing strategies and building alliances to gathering the firm-specific details that make you sound like an insider. Part of the Coffee Chat Ready series.
5 Sept 2026
How M&A Deals Actually Work - Premiums, Synergies, and the EPS Trap
M&A explained from zero: why deals happen, how they actually get done, and the trap inside EPS accretion.
This episode of the OFFERGOBLIN technical series moves from valuation to deals, in three questions. WHY deals happen: synergies, and why cost synergies get believed while revenue synergies get discounted. HOW they get done: what the seller actually receives (cash, stock, and the exchange ratio analysts update every day of a live deal), the control premium and who banks it, earnouts and collars, and the paperwork from the merger agreement to the fairness opinion — the most readable valuation document in finance. And DID IT WORK: accretion and dilution through the earnings yield, and why an accretive deal can still create no value at all. A real Barclays question is worked on air.
QUESTIONS FROM THE EPISODE
Barclays — 2015 (is stock price accretion the same as value creation; worked on air):
https://www.offergoblin.com/q/19e1d7b7-4649-4d0e-9431-723aa6bcfcd3 (https://www.offergoblin.com/q/19e1d7b7-4649-4d0e-9431-723aa6bcfcd3)
Greenhill — 2018 (if Coke acquired Pepsi, what would the synergies be; worked on air):
https://www.offergoblin.com/q/05c12b15-24e7-46d7-9063-df9aefb92f79 (https://www.offergoblin.com/q/05c12b15-24e7-46d7-9063-df9aefb92f79)
Bank of America Technology — 1st Round, 2023 (what could make a 10x P/E buying 15x P/E accretive or dilutive):
https://www.offergoblin.com/q/0aef16ee-5327-4949-9605-29f51e8d461a (https://www.offergoblin.com/q/0aef16ee-5327-4949-9605-29f51e8d461a)
The free guide to mergers and acquisitions:
https://www.offergoblin.com/resources/mergers-acquisitions (https://www.offergoblin.com/resources/mergers-acquisitions)
Practice 3,500+ reported IB interview questions:
https://www.offergoblin.com/question-bank (https://www.offergoblin.com/question-bank)
The OFFERGOBLIN technical series is hosted by Michael Neal, founder of OFFERGOBLIN and former Centerview banker. New episodes every Friday.
Everything OFFERGOBLIN:
https://linktr.ee/offergoblin (https://linktr.ee/offergoblin)
Pick a deal from the last year and read its fairness opinion. What premium did the buyer pay, and do the synergies justify it? Put your verdict in the comments.
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Apple Podcasts (US)
4.0 / 5
3 ratings
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