Framework Deep Dive: Start Your Case on the Right Foot
The first four minutes of a case decide most of what follows. A clean structure buys you an interviewer who is rooting for you. A generic one — profitability equals revenue minus costs, delivered flat — buys you an interviewer who has already started writing notes. This package is the opening only. We run case starts over and over: prompt, clarifying questions, structure, and the walk-through. Then we reset and do it again with a different prompt. What we work on: (1) Clarifying questions that earn their time. Two good ones beat six that stall. (2) Structures built for the case in front of you, not pulled off a shelf. Interviewers can tell instantly, and a memorized framework applied to the wrong problem is worse than no framework. (3) MECE that's actually MECE — buckets that don't overlap and don't leave a hole a partner can drive through. (4) Walking the interviewer through it. Same structure, said two ways, scores very differently. This is the part almost nobody practices. (5) The hypothesis. Where to state one, how strong to make it, and how to hold it without getting married to it. We won't finish many full cases in here, and that's the point — you'll do more openings in one session than most candidates do in a month.
What's included
- Repeated live case starts — prompt, clarifiers, structure, walk-through, reset
- Structures built for the case in front of you instead of memorized frameworks
- Practice delivering a structure out loud, which is where most of the score actually lives
- Feedback from a former McKinsey interviewer on how your opening reads from the other side
Meet your expert
Ben L.
• Stanford GSB Alum, Class of 2021 -- see relevant background & experience below: • Coaching | Advised 400+ admits into Stanford GSB, HBS, Wharton, Kellogg, MIT Sloan, INSEAD, Haas, and more (see ~100 Leland reviews), while teaching multiple courses through Leland • What I'm Doing Now | Based in NYC, building a publication 'Staying Human', working on a stealth, marketplace startup, coaching and playing chess profssionally, and advising a slate of Seed to Series C startups through Elevate LLC • Public Policy | Prior to Stanford, worked on the Policy Team for the Chicago Mayor's Office under Mayor Rahm Emanuel, focusing on 5G infrastructure policy, criminal justice policy, and citywide corporate/economic development deals • McKinsey | Before policy, worked at McKinsey & Co , with casework focused on job training for the formerly incarcerated and workforce development for at-risk youth • PE / VC / Startup Advising | After Stanford, worked in Bain's Private Equity Group on various due diliegences, managed deals with several venture capital firms, and advised multiple startups on growth and go-to-market strategy • Professional Writing | Speechwriting in public policy & political environments, Lead Editor for Nondisclosure (Stanford GSB's magazine) and Managing Editor for the Stanford International Policy Review • Additional Writing | Crafting op-eds, ghostwriting for major publications, developing a fictional short story collection, policy deep dives, a book on chess applications to life, and application essays of all sorts • GMAT / Test-Taking | Scored in the highest percentile of GMAT test-takers, but more importantly I've honed my ability to help others extrapolate top test-testing strategies in the areas they're weakest • Additional Coaching Details | 5+ years experience working with >750 individuals on essay writing and resume professionalization for top consulting firms, MBA programs, execs, and the broader job market • Interview Training | I was interview-trained with McKinsey, helping me give high-quality mock interviews for MBBs and any MBA program; I've also held 10+ events through Leland on interview prep for McKinsey's PEI and GSB's interview process in particular