Hi,

I’m Dan Kapuscinski and this is the blog that I will be keeping this semester as a I dive head-on into the world of financial modeling.  I have been in a variety of roles (see: LinkedIn Profile) over the last six years, each with varying responsibilities.  Primarily, these have been operational back-office roles, with a heavy focus on data; data processing, data analysis, data mining, etc.

On occasion, I have been responsible for creating new and updating existing Excel models.  Typically, the end goal is to create a forecast or budget.  While I am not currently doing this, I enrolled in this course for two reasons.  First, I want to formally learn methods for modeling, instead of learning by experience.  I believe that this will give me better starting points and prevent me from wasting time, and teach me how to attack financial models from a more organized mentality.  Second, I want to make sure that I keep my modeling skills fresh and that my skills do not atrophy as I am not doing as much modeling as I have done in prior roles.

Although I am enrolled in the course to learn, I believe that there are skills and experiences that I bring to the table that will enhance my learning process.  My experience working with data as well as a somewhat advanced understanding of Excel may bring some slightly different perspectives to this course.

Over the course of the semester, I hope to use this blog as a general forum for sharing experiences, techniques, recommendations, questions and ideas regarding financial modeling.  I will try to update this blog as ideas come in and as I come across difficulties in my studies.  That being said, please feel free to comment and post your ideas and suggestions.

So, I suppose for tonight, this is it.  Looking forward to sharing this class with you!