Leland+ Content Library

Home for Ambition #19 — Weekly Live Show [8/12/2026] (Recording)

Home for Ambition is a weekly live show, hosted by Leland CEO, John Koelliker, for people trying to stay ahead as work, learning, and opportunity keep changing. Each episode tackles a handful of timely, high-signal topics across AI, careers, education, and the future of work. We expect thoughtful debate, unique perspectives, and practical takeaways you can actually use. It is not a typical interview show or a generic news recap. It is a live roundtable built to help ambitious people make sense of what is changing, understand what matters, and leave with a sharper point of view on how to navigate what comes next.

Investment Banking 101: Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Analysis [7/13/2026] (Recording)

This session is designed for rising college sophomores. We will walk through a DCF from first principles, using a simple business example to understand how investors estimate future cash flows and convert them into a present-day valuation. Students will learn the intuition behind each component of a DCF. The goal is not to memorize formulas, but to understand why a DCF works and how finance professionals use it to determine what a business is worth. By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to: Understand the key components of a DCF model. Explain the concept of discounting future cash flows. Understand how assumptions impact valuation. Calculate a basic DCF valuation. Interpret the results of a DCF analysis. Prerequisite: Familiarity with basic income statement concepts is recommended, but no prior modeling experience is required.

Home for Ambition #20 — Weekly Live Show [8/19/2026] (Recording)

Home for Ambition is a weekly live show, hosted by Leland CEO, John Koelliker, for people trying to stay ahead as work, learning, and opportunity keep changing. Each episode tackles a handful of timely, high-signal topics across AI, careers, education, and the future of work. We expect thoughtful debate, unique perspectives, and practical takeaways you can actually use. It is not a typical interview show or a generic news recap. It is a live roundtable built to help ambitious people make sense of what is changing, understand what matters, and leave with a sharper point of view on how to navigate what comes next.

How to Make IB Technicals Stick [8/11/2026] (Recording)

Many candidates spend hours reading technical guides but struggle to answer questions when the wording changes or the pressure increases. The problem is often not effort. It is the way they are studying. In this session, we'll cover how to begin preparing for investment banking technical interviews in a way that builds real understanding and recall. We'll discuss what to study first, how the major topics fit together, and how to move from passively reading answers to delivering them clearly out loud. You'll leave with a practical technical-preparation system that you can continue using throughout recruiting. You'll learn how to: - Study technical concepts in the right order - Build a foundation in accounting, valuation, M&A, and LBOs - Replace passive memorization with active recall - Practice answering questions clearly and under pressure - Diagnose gaps instead of repeatedly rereading guides - Create a realistic technical study plan for recruiting

AMA/Office Hours with Former Stanford GSB Admissions Director [7/15/2026] (Recording)

I spent more than 16 years working at Stanford GSB, including five years as Executive Director of the school's Center for Leadership, where I helped revamp the MBA leadership curriculum, and more than a decade as Director of the Stanford MSx Program and Director of Admissions. I taught electives, advised students, strategized with the deans, and read thousands of applications. If business school is your objective, I'm happy to offer any insight I have to the admission process and how to maximize its value proposition.

LinkedIn Launchpad: Profile to Profit [8/11/2026] (Recording)

You're invisible to recruiters. Not because of your skills, but because of your discoverability. Recruiters don't browse profiles. They query them, filtering by skill, title, and location through Recruiter Seats. If your profile isn't a high-density match for their search, you don't exist in their results. Join me for LinkedIn Launchpad: Profile to Profit, a live workshop built around the 3 pillars that turn a passive profile into an authoritative brand: Discoverability The LinkedIn Skills Graph and how to hit the 50 targeted skills threshold that gets you ranked in recruiter searches. Positioning Why your profile is a landing page, not an obituary. The formula for headlines and how to transform it into magnetic search real estate. Networking The mindset shift from "favor" to "value" that turns cold outreach into real connections, and gets actual replies. We'll close with a profile audit, applying all three pillars in real time, plus your personalized 2026 roadmap for what comes next. Come ready to work. You'll leave with a rewritten headline, a strategically dense Skills section, and a clear plan for your profile.

How to Walk Through Your Deal Experience in Private Equity Interviews

A practical guide to walking through investment banking deal experience in private equity interviews. Learn a 5 step framework for discussing transaction responsibilities, business models, valuation, investment merits and risks, and your investment perspective, along with common follow up questions and interview preparation tips.

RAG, LangChain & LangGraph: The Modern AI Stack

We’ll explore three technologies that are widely used when building applications with large language models: RAG, LangChain, and LangGraph. We’ll start with RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) and look at how AI applications can retrieve information from documents and other data sources to provide more relevant and grounded responses. From there, we’ll explore LangChain, including how it helps connect LLMs with data, tools, prompts, and other components needed to build useful AI applications. Finally, we’ll dive into LangGraph and see how it can be used to build more advanced, stateful workflows and AI agents that can take multiple steps, use tools, and maintain context throughout a task.

How to Write a Successful Cover Letter: A Practical Guide

A strong cover letter connects your experience, skills, and achievements to the specific position you are applying for. This guide explains how to structure a professional cover letter, what to include, how to use your resume effectively, and how to highlight relevant accomplishments with clear evidence. It also provides a practical template and sample to help you create a personalized cover letter for different job applications.

How to Write a Cover Letter That Complements Your Resume

A cover letter is more than a formal introduction—it is an opportunity to connect your resume to the specific job you are applying for. This article explains how to structure an effective cover letter, what information to include, how to highlight relevant experience and achievements from your resume, and how to tailor your message to a specific position. It also covers common mistakes to avoid and practical strategies for creating a clear, professional, and convincing cover letter.

Building an AI-Powered 3D Game with Three.js

What happens when you combine AI engineering with 3D game development? That question inspired this project. I wanted to explore how far I could push a browser-based game using modern web technologies while keeping it lightweight, interactive, and fun to play. Using Three.js, TypeScript, Node.js, WebSockets, and AI-driven game logic, I built a 3D game that runs directly in the browser. The project combines real-time gameplay, 3D graphics, multiplayer communication, and intelligent game behavior into one experience. More than just building a game, this project gave me an opportunity to experiment with how AI can make game worlds feel more dynamic and responsive. It also showed me how concepts from AI engineering can be applied outside traditional machine-learning applications and brought into interactive experiences like games.

Nerves & Anxiety in the Case Interview: High-Performer's Guide

Strategies for managing interview anxiety and case interview mistakes, for candidates who've already put in the prep but are feeling stressed, worried about going silent, freezing on mental math, not performing at their best, or falling apart after a perceived mistake. This resource breaks down what's actually happening in those moments and gives you nervous system regulation tools to use before, during, and after the interview. Grounded in neuroscience and real coaching experience, it's for anyone who wants to optimize their performance and walk in as the high performer they already are, not just survive the hour.

Sample T14 Why School Essay that Got Offer & Scholarship

This is a real example of the why Duke Law essay. Applicant was accepted to Duke with $$ scholarships.

The Only Tip Sheet You Need for Recommendation Letters

Strong letters of recommendation can quietly make — or weaken — your law school application. This concise guide shows you how to choose the right recommenders, help them write specific and persuasive letters, navigate LSAC logistics, and avoid the common mistakes that lead to generic or ineffective recommendations.

Step-by-Step Guide to Acing the Personal Statement Like No Other

The strategies in this playbook have helped students earn admission to T6 and T14 law schools, as well as merit scholarships. Turn your experiences into a compelling law school personal statement that sounds authentic, shows real growth, and leaves a lasting impression. This practical playbook walks you through choosing the right topic, finding your essay’s core message, structuring a strong narrative, writing an engaging opening, balancing story with reflection, and connecting your experiences to law without sounding forced.

[2026 HSW & M7 Deferred MBA Admit] Example MBA Resume

Example MBA resume from successful candidate with Wharton & Kellogg admits - Female Candidate, Finance

[Successful Wharton Admit] Example Essays for 2025-2026 Cycle

Example essays from successful Wharton admit from latest 2025-2026 cycle. Deferred MBA. Female candidate with finance background.

[2026 HSW & M7 Admit] Example MBA Resume

Example resume from successful candidate admitted to Wharton & Booth - Female Candidate, Finance.

[2026 M7 Admit] Example MBA Resume

Example resume from successful candidate admitted to Booth & Kellogg - Male Candidate, Finance.

The Resume That Got Into Wharton - Deferred Admit

Get an in-depth look at a resume that earned an acceptance to Wharton. See how impressive work experience, leadership, and skills come together.