Two Pitches, Two Companies, One Portfolio Each
Since Session 2, every student in the Spring 2026 cohort has been running a live simulated investment portfolio. Israel and Anthony took theirs further than a check-in. Israel built a full pitch around Tesla. Anthony built his around Bloom Energy Corp. Neither pitch was a slide of opinions. Both were built on real models.
"I've watched people pitch stocks on the internet my whole life. Building my own model instead of just repeating what I heard changed how I actually think about a company."
The Work Behind the Pitch
Each student built a discounted cash flow, or DCF, model for their company: a projection of what the business is actually worth based on the cash it's expected to generate, not just where the stock price happens to sit today. On top of that, both ran dividend index calculations to understand what kind of return a holder actually earns over time beyond the stock price alone.
Defending an Active Trading Strategy
Building the model is one part. Defending it in front of the room is another. Both students had to explain and defend an active trading strategy for their position, not just why they bought in, but what would make them hold, add, or exit. That's the same discipline introduced back in Session 2, applied to a real company months later.
What This Actually Shows
This is the same investing unit every student in the cohort works through. Israel and Anthony went into it wanting to understand markets. What they walked out with looks a lot like entry-level analyst work. That gap, between a curious student and someone who can build and defend a real financial model, is exactly what twelve weeks is supposed to close.