Wall Street Oasis

In this episode, @TexasInvestor shares his winding road from a non-target to starting law school to a sudden pivot to a Masters in Finance. Learn how he broke into a bulge bracket investment bank and why he was so eager to get out and what it has been like working for several family offices in the fund of funds space as a capital allocator.

In this episode, we learn how Barrett managed to break into investment banking out of the University of San Diego even though he didn't even know what investment banking was until his Junior year. He gives some must-listen advice on networking, how to interview when you're not a subject matter expert and how he was able to find the right opportunity in venture capital coming out of investment banking on the west coast.

In this episode, PragueHF shares her road from studying law and business in Prague to starting out in a commercial banking rotational program in Germany. We learn about why when she was transferred to London that she decided to stay even though it meant switching banks and how she approached her big jump to a buyside credit fund in the past year. 

In this episode, Solomon shares his path from Ethiopia to the DC area when he was just 6 years old. Learn how his path was shaped at UVA to consider finance and how his internship at JP Morgan in S&T pushed him to consider banking instead. Listen how he shares some great advice on brand name and taking on risk early in your career.

In this episode, Brittany gives us a front-row seat to her long and winding path to land as a management consultant at BCG. Find out how she was disadvantaged as a first-generation college student, why she went back to get her MBA at UCLA Anderson and how that propelled her into a much more rewarding and intellectually stimulating path she is on now. Along the way, Brittany has also found time to give back by founding SuitcaseOfJoy.org, a non-profit that brings toys to children in remote villages in Africa and around the world. Please check it out and consider donating.

In this episode, Cole shares his winding path in real estate private equity. From landing an analyst position in Agricultural PE right out of Duke to pivoting to a CRE acquisitions and dispositions role, he has always looked to make the move where he'll learn the most rather than chase the biggest paycheck. Learn what he's up to now in the midst of the major slow down due to Covid-19.

In this episode, LiberalArtsBanker shares his winding path from a small liberal arts college to VP at Goldman Sachs in investment banking. Learn why he started out in a trading role, why he jumped to a prop shop after a few years, his advice on trying to build a career as a trader as well as why he pivoted to IB with an MBA. 

In this episode, chicago13 shares his winding path graduating from Berkeley in 2006 and trying to make it big by building apps and living in the start-up ecosystem in Silicon Valley. Listen to why it didn't work out along with some words of warning, what the main turning point was and why he ended up getting his JD and jumping into Big Law...only to leave one year later to join a middle-market investment bank. Learn about the common associate struggles starting out in IB, why he was screamed at during a Holiday Party and how he managed to overcome those obstacles to get promoted to VP.  

In this episode, Jason shares his path coming from a non-target school, and how a mentor from his home town changed his life. Listen to how he was able to land a few critical internships, prepare for the interviews, and beat the odds to land a full-time offer in the fixed income division of Morgan Stanley right out of undergrad. Learn why he ended up moving over to Citi in their investment banking division and eventually why he jumped to the buy-side at a family office.

In this episode, Tim shares his path graduating with a masters in engineering and quickly losing his job as the scandal at Enron unfolded.  We learn how he got back on his feet, how he leveraged the MBA to get a job in investment banking on the west coast during the great financial crisis in 2009 and eventually how he had a 10 year run from Associate up to Director at Barclays.  This is a long one, but Tim was a really insightful guest so I wanted to unpack what each stage was like for him.   

In this episode, FinTechSF shares his winding path from graduating during the financial crisis in 2008 and having to leave the US as an international student back to Dubai.  Learn how he got his foot in the door at PwC in audit and managed to make the transition over to the transaction advisory practice in only 1.5 years even though they kept telling him no.  Find out why he moved back to the US a few years later and eventually joined the corporate side in their M&A group.

In this episode, Yuri shares his winding path starting out graduating from his master's program in London right at the start of the global financial crisis and turning down an offer to start at Goldman Sachs to travel the world and try to get into a more direct investing role.  Listen to his great advice on specific questions to ask when interviewing for asset management or hedge fund roles as a junior analyst and also make sure to check out his blog snippet.finance, a place where he shares interesting snippets of financial data and analysis.

In this episode, SkininTheGame16 shares his non-traditional path to a top asset manager in London.  From dropping out of high school to traveling abroad to breaking into a top Masters program in London, hear how he navigated some unforgiving circumstances growing up in Brussels.

In this episode, Avi shares his unusual path from investment banking, to running a magazine start-up and then back into investment banking two years later.  After that re-entry into finance, Avi was able to lateral to an IR role at a private equity fund and eventually became COO of Riverside's European Fund 7 years later.  Finally, he made the bold (and I'd argue crazy) move to pursue a phD while working and everntually found himself at Landmark, a private equity fund focused on the secondary market, running the quant research division.  

In this episode, Stephanie shares her winding path over her almost 20 years in finance.  From getting a ton of responsibility early in her career for internal M&A at a Big 4 to her pivot into investment banking in DCM, she always seemed to find her way to rapid promotions and managing large teams.  Learn what she feels set her apart and how you might be able to emulate some of that magic.

In this episode, Daniel shares his long and winding path in finance careers.  Initially getting his undergrad degree, a CPA and a Masters in Finance in France, he moved the USA with Deloitte in their restructuring practice.  From there, he used an MBA from NYU Stern to jump into investment banking at Lehman Brothers, starting as an associate with 3 young kids.   We learn how he was able to make the jump into a real estate private equity fund and what happened 4 years later during the Great Financial Crisis.  Listen to hear some wise advice on how to survive many twists and turns! 

In this episode, Ryan shares his interesting path from graduating as an Engineer in rural Canada to pivoting to get his MBA from Oxford several years later.  Learn why he ended up joining E&Y's transaction advisory services upon graduating and how he was able to land a hybrid job in private equity and venture capital within one year in London.  We also hear why he decided to leave it all behind 5 years later for a new degree to get back to his technical roots and what his new business in data analytics, called Zenlytics is up to.   

In this episode, Sam explains his path from the Ivey School of Business to an investment banking analyst position at Credit Suisse in London, right during the financial crisis in 2008.  We learn why he turned down a return full-time offer from Scotiabank and rolled the dice his senior year, what it was like when half his analyst class got laid off within 9 months at Credit Suisse and why he jumped to a hedge fund after two years in IB.  We then delve into what it was really like trying to gain responsibility at a large hedge fund to start running his own P&L, how much his first trade was, the stresses of the job, and some important life lessons he learned along the way.  Don't miss this one, I think a lot of you will really appreciate Sam's perspective and why he made such a dramatic change after so many years...  Also, if you want to hear more about what Sam's up to, visit Samuel's blog at https://www.samuelandrew.com/  Enjoy!

In this episode, member @EdmundBerke shares his path from a non-target school in the southeast US to breaking into an investment analyst role at a $3bn family office straight out of undergrad through a church program.  Learn why he transitioned out of that role, how he helped add value to a legal firm for their ultra-high net worth clients and then was able to successfully pivot to a venture capital role.  

In this episode, member MBBtoPE shares his path out of a target university to a top role at a management consulting firm.  We also get an inside look into what it was like recruiting for private equity during the crazy 2019 on-cycle recruiting process.  From interviewing on a Thursday night from 8pm until 1am to starting again the next day at 7am, listen to game theory applied in a real-life context and learn how he dealt with the split-second decisions that had significant career implications.