Off the Grid
Jake Marples - Capstone Portfolio
This project has been a struggle to write. As a business student and incoming management consultant, I’ve been taught to collect data, analyze data, visualize data, and frame this visualization through neat little mutually-exclusive, collectively-exhaustive arguments. When unable to find the inputs for your analytical mode, it becomes necessary to make assumptions and quasi-fudge the numbers. Missing vital financial data to run your valuation on a certain company? No problem--just use competitor data as a proxy and assume similarities. At the end of the day, my professors have always worried more about the analytical model than the specific inputs it utilizes. But three weeks from this project's due date, I realized that no amount of input fudging would fix my analysis, because the model itself was irreparably flawed.
Therefore, instead of starting from scratch, I’ve decided to dedicate this project to breaking down the flaws in my initial framework. I can’t imagine ever turning in a project for a business class and explaining to the professor, “look, I know you told me to do X, but I tried and failed; I think discussing my failure would lead to a more intellectually stimulating project.” Fortunately, because this isn’t a cookie-cutter STEM class, I’m able to put forth this project: a story about trying to do something I later determined a waste of time.