QPCA case studies are built on real companies and real capital structures. Members are given a mock LBO model alongside a company's public filings and are expected to arrive at a lend or no-lend recommendation, the same decision a credit committee makes on every deal. The analysis is published, which means it is accountable in a way that classroom work never is.

The analytical framework we teach is drawn from Michael Gatto's credit analysis methodology, adapted for the direct lending context. Members work through a sources and uses analysis, a qualitative assessment of the business, and a quantitative stress of the financial model, synthesized into a well-structured credit investment memo. A model without judgment behind it is just arithmetic.

Private credit is a bespoke business by nature. No two deals are structured the same way, and the best lenders are the ones who can imagine solutions the borrower hasn't thought to ask for. QPCA members are expected to bring that same creativity to their work.

We encourage members to seek out practitioners and explore specialized lending strategies beyond the direct lending core. Subscription finance, NAV lending, infrastructure debt, royalty financing. The goal is to develop conviction in corners of the market that don't have textbooks yet, and to understand why a structure exists before accepting that it does.

The analysts who will define the next generation of private credit are not the ones who execute templates. They are the ones who understand the first principles behind every clause, every covenant, and every dollar of leverage.