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Adjacent Roles
Consulting & Strategy

Corporate Strategy / Corp-Dev Interview

TechnicalHard~30 minDesigned by experts

About this interview

A technical interview on Adjacent Roles, pitched at the hard level. A voice AI interviewer leads the conversation, adapts its questions to your answers, keeps you on topic, and afterward gives you honest, specific feedback on where you were strong and where to improve. Expect roughly 30 minutes.

What you'll be assessed on

Apply core corp-dev financial mechanics (synergy valuation, payback period, ROIC, accretion/dilution) to size a real recommendation
Distinguish build-vs-buy-vs-partner decisions and portfolio capital allocation trade-offs using explicit criteria, not intuition
Translate a board-level strategic mandate (e.g., a growth target) into a quantified portfolio of bets and named gaps
Navigate stakeholder resistance and internal credibility problems specific to a staff function with no P&L authority
Structure a synthesis recommendation for an internal executive audience under real time constraints

Topics covered

Role DefinitionStrategic PlanningBuild/Buy/PartnerM&A FundamentalsMarket Sizing ToolsBuild vs BuyCapital AllocationFinancial MetricsM&A TypesMarket Sizing ApplicationCompetitive StrategyM&A ValuationSynergy ValuationGrowth Strategy

A few sample questions

Just examples to set expectations - the real interview has many more and adapts to your responses.

What is corporate development, and how is it different from external management consulting?
How would you size the market opportunity for a new product line the company is considering launching?
A competitor just announced a major price cut in your core segment. How do you evaluate whether to match, ignore, or reposition?

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