GRF Research Desk · Winter 2026
What is a company really worth?
Value a real company with a former J.P. Morgan senior economist.
A six-week live research desk for high-school students. Choose your own company, build a valuation the way an investment professional would, and defend your number in front of Alex.
Rolling admissions71 applicants for 5 seats on our first deskFinal deadline Nov 13
- Dates
- Nov 23, 2026 to Jan 15, 2027
- Fellows
- 5
- Grades
- 9 to 12
- Workload
- 4 to 6 hours a week
Admissions reflect each student's full application and relate to prior 1:1 mentorship students, not the new cohort.
Rolling admissions · Winter 2026
Value a real company this winter.
- Final deadline
- Fri, Nov 13Seats may fill sooner
- Seats
- 3 openof 5 on the Winter desk
What happens next
- Tell us about yourselfYour details, your school, and one short response.
- A decision within 3 daysWe review applications as they arrive, so applying early gives you the best chance of a seat.
- Seven days to decidePlus an optional call with the program director. Parents welcome.
- No finance experience required
- Online, worldwide
- All high-school grades (9 to 12)
Your parent or guardian's email is included because prospective Fellows are under 18.
Your company. Your question.
Every Fellow chooses their own company and writes their own research question, so no two reports on the desk are alike. Alex helps you sharpen the question in week one. If you want a starting point, these are the kinds of companies that lead to strong valuation questions.
A biotech waiting on one trial
No revenue yet. How do you value a coin flip?
An AI builder
Huge spending, early revenue. What has to be true for the price to make sense?
A giant the market fears
Strong profits, disruption worries. Is the fear priced too high?
A recent IPO
Priced by bankers, then by the market. Who got it right?
A company in trouble
Falling sales and heavy debt. Is anything left for shareholders?
A listed football club
Trophies and cash flow pull apart. What is a fan base worth?
One practitioner leads every session.
Alex runs the desk the way an investment team works. You bring your numbers, he asks the questions a portfolio manager would ask, and you go back and make the work better.
- Leads all six live sessions
- Helps each Fellow sharpen their own question in week one
- Gives written feedback on every draft submitted during the programme
- Plays the skeptical investor in week five
- Answers research questions between sessions
- May act as faculty adviser on an eligible journal submission
GRF is not affiliated with or endorsed by J.P. Morgan.
From a company name to a defended valuation.
Six live sessions on Mondays, 90 minutes each, with a winter break over Christmas. Each session ends with something concrete to deliver.
Hover over or tap any stop to see the full session plan.
Week 1 · Alex · Mon, Nov 23
Choose your company and your question
Learn how investors judge value, then choose the company you will value.
- Live session
- Alex opens with two short cases, a company the market loves and one it fears, and shows how a practitioner turns "is this stock cheap?" into a question evidence can answer. Each Fellow shares the companies they are curious about.
- Between sessions
- Choose your company and write a one-page brief: the company, your question, why it matters and the first evidence you will need.
- Due
- One-page company brief
Week 2 · Alex · Mon, Nov 30
Read the accounts
Learn to read a company's financial statements the way an analyst does.
- Live session
- Alex walks through the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement using a real annual report, and shows how analysts find the few numbers that actually drive value.
- Between sessions
- Pull your company's last five years of numbers into a spreadsheet, identify its three main value drivers and build your source list.
- Due
- Key value drivers and source list
Week 3 · Alex · Mon, Dec 7
Build the model
Turn the numbers into a valuation you can explain.
- Live session
- Discounted cash flow and comparable companies in plain language: cash flows, discount rates and why similar companies trade at different multiples. Fellows share early numbers and Alex tests their assumptions.
- Between sessions
- Build a working discounted cash flow model and a comparable-companies check, in a spreadsheet or in Python.
- Due
- Working valuation model
Week 4 · Alex · Mon, Dec 14
Price the uncertainty
Replace a single number with a range you can defend.
- Live session
- Bear, base and bull cases, how to put probabilities on them, and why a range is more honest than one price. Every Fellow leaves with a clear plan for their first draft.
- Between sessions
- Finish your scenarios, settle on your valuation range and outline your report section by section.
- Due
- Valuation range and drafting plan
Winter break · Dec 19 to Jan 3
No sessions. Write at your own pace.
A two-week break over Christmas, with no sessions and no mentor reviews.
- Sessions
- No live sessions on December 21 or December 28.
- Over the break
- With your model finished, use the break to write your first draft at whatever pace suits your holidays.
- Due
- First draft, due January 3
Week 5 · Alex · Mon, Jan 4
Face the skeptic
Present your draft and have it challenged by a practitioner.
- Live session
- Each Fellow presents their draft as a short desk briefing. Alex responds as a skeptical portfolio manager, testing assumptions, alternative explanations and the strongest counterargument.
- Between sessions
- Alex sends written feedback by January 8. Add the strongest counterargument and your response, and make any corrections.
- Due
- Revised draft with counterargument
Week 6 · Alex · Mon, Jan 11
Defend your number
Defend your valuation in front of the desk.
- Live session
- Final presentations. Each Fellow defends their conclusion and answers questions from Alex and the other Fellows.
- Between sessions
- Make your final corrections and submit the finished report and model by Friday, January 15.
- Due
- Final report and model
Final report · Fri, Jan 15
Report and model submitted
Your finished 2,000 to 2,500-word report and model are due.
- Review
- Alex completes a final review of every report.
- After the deadline
- With your consent, your report is published in the GRF cohort collection in February 2027.
- Deliverable
- Submitted report and model
What you leave with.
- A 2,000 to 2,500-word valuation reportwritten and signed by you
- Your own valuation modelin a spreadsheet or Python
- Six live sessionsof direct practitioner feedback
- A GRF Research Fellow certificateof completion
What you build
A valuation you can defend
Every Fellow combines several valuation methods into one range, the way analysts do. This is the football field chart you will build for the company you choose.
Fellow's conclusion$29 to $47 per share
Fictional company, made-up numbers. Analysts call this a football field chart. You will build one for the company you choose.
Included for every Fellow
Published on the GRF website
Your finished report appears in the Winter 2026–27 cohort collection under your name, with written consent from you and a parent or guardian. This is a GRF showcase, not an academic journal.
Optional, after the program
Submitting to a student research journal
Reports may be eligible for student journals such as the Journal of Student Research (High School Edition). We help you prepare the submission, and if appropriate and agreed, Alex may be listed as faculty adviser. Journals set their own rules, fees and decisions, any fee is paid by the family, and acceptance is not guaranteed.
The Research Desk vs. a typical research program
Most programs give you a mentor. We give you the desk.
A typical research program pairs you with a mentor from a large network, in whatever subject you choose. The Research Desk is built to work the way an investment team works, and led by someone who has done the job.
"Typical research program" describes leading online one-to-one high-school research programs, based on their published program details, October 2026.
If you want to learn how markets professionals think, learn from one.
What students say.
From students in our 1:1 research mentorship, and from Alex's university students. Names are abbreviated for privacy.
The mentorship has completely changed the way I approach research. Instead of trying to make my paper sound impressive on paper, I learned how to make every claim defensible.
Working one-on-one with my mentor was easily the most intellectually challenging thing I've done in high school. By the end, I was thinking much more critically about markets.
With every draft my work became more focused, every argument became stronger, and by the end I had far more confidence in my ability to tackle difficult questions independently.
Teaching feedback for Alex
Alex is easily the best tutor I've had in any of my modules at SOAS. His willingness to answer every question and make students feel comfortable is unparalleled.
The tutorials were extremely stimulating and interactive, and it was very evident that Alex had real passion for the module. He consistently went above and beyond to support my learning.
He genuinely brought the material to life and motivated me to go above and beyond.
University admissions reflect each student's full application. GRF does not claim credit for any admission decision, and past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
Know when your report will be ready.
The final report is finished on January 15, 2027. Plan around that date.
| Date | What happens | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Open now | Rolling admissions | Short written application, reviewed as it arrives. Decisions within 3 days. Every offer comes with 7 days to decide and an optional call with a parent or guardian. |
| Nov 13, 2026 | Final deadline | Applications close, or sooner if all five seats are filled. No finance experience required. |
| Nov 23, 2026 | Week 1 session | Monday sessions, timed around the cohort's time zones. We confirm the session time with each family before enrolment and payment. |
| Dec 19 to Jan 3 | Winter break | No sessions. Fellows write their first draft at their own pace. |
| Jan 15, 2027 | Final report due | Open to all high-school grades (9–12). Check the January 15 completion date against any application deadlines. |
| February 2027 | Reports published on the GRF website | A finished project to share in future academic applications and portfolios. |
$1,000
Tuition for the full six weeks
- Six live sessions with Alex
- Written feedback on every draft during the programme
- Website publication and certificate
- Journal-submission guidance
How enrolment works.
- Seven days to decide
- Every offer stays open for a full week. Take the time to talk it over as a family.
- Talk to us before you pay
- Book a short call with the program director to ask anything about the desk, the mentor or the work.
- Know your mentor
- Alex's full background is on this page, and you can ask us anything about it on your call.
Questions families ask.
Do I need to know finance already?
No. You need curiosity and the ability to read and write carefully. The desk teaches valuation from the ground up, starting with how to read an annual report.
Do I choose my own topic?
Yes. Every Fellow chooses their own company and writes their own research question. Alex helps you narrow it in week one so it can be answered well in six weeks.
Is this group work?
No. All Fellows join the same weekly session, but each one values a different company and writes their own report. Nothing is co-authored.
What happens over the winter break?
There are no sessions from December 19 to January 3. Fellows use the break to write their first draft, due January 3, at whatever pace suits their holidays. Alex responds to the drafts in the January 4 session.
How much time does it take?
About 4 to 6 hours a week: one 90-minute live session, plus reading, modelling and writing between sessions.
Can I use Python or more advanced maths?
Yes. You can build your model in a spreadsheet or in Python, and go as deep on the quantitative side as you want, as long as the report answers your valuation question.
Is this investment advice?
No. Reports are educational research. Fellows explain how they reached a value range; they do not tell anyone to buy or sell.
What are the rules on AI tools?
The report must reflect your own research, reasoning and writing. Presenting AI-generated analysis or prose as your own is not allowed. Any permitted use follows GRF guidance and is disclosed.