Wall Street Oasis

In this episode, member @LouiseBouge shares her path from an investment banking analyst at a bulge bracket bank to getting her JD/MBA.  Learn the common blind spot she had when choosing what bank to join out of undergrad as well as why she chose Goldman to continue her banking career after her graduate degree.  Also, learn how she managed to pivot to private equity and a shocking comment made by a partner during final round interviews...

In this episode, member @BadAxe85 shares his path from classical musician, ju-jitsu fighter and scraping before eventually landing at a top hedge fund and recently a well-respected VC.  Everyone thought he was crazy.  Hear about his winding path and the steps he needed to take before he had his first big break as well as some of the secret sauce that helped him to repeatedly defy the odds.   

In this episode, Maxwell Peara, former leverage finance analyst at JP Morgan talks about how he broke into JP Morgan initially as a credit analyst coming out of Fordham.  How he managed to transition to the front office in leveraged finance and why he left to pursue his dream of playing tennis professionally.  

In this episode, James McKinney, host of the super-popular podcast The Startup Story joins us to talk about his winding path and current success.  From a finance and accounting major in undergrad at a non-target to losing it all, James shares some of the highs and lows along his journey as well as this one career tip he'd give his younger self.

Member @LevFinAlum gives us a 10-minute primer on mezzanine financing and shares his career path.  Learn about why he got into investment banking in the first place, what's the hardest part about running his own shop as well as his one piece of advice to his younger self.

Member @mentorX shares his path going from one of the largest technology companies in the world and then using an MBA to pivot into the asset management industry at not one, but two top bulge bracket banks.  Learn about the compensation structure and how convoluted it can be at these larger firms to why he jumped ship several times in his career as well as his one piece of key advice to young listeners still mapping out their career.  

Member @grbarasia shares his unique path that landed him in equity research, M&A and now a family office running private deals and a global macro fund.  Listen to find out why he graduated NYU at 19 years old only to go directly for his MBA at Cornell.  How he ended up eventually breaking into M&A at Lazard in New York, but only after stints in equity research in Tampa.  

In this episode, Paul Millerd explains how he went from a non-target school to a research associate position at McKinsey.  Listen how he managed to break in even after getting officially rejected and how he ended up at BCG after getting his MBA at MIT.  We learn how he has now left the formal strategy consulting positions behind and started a new life where work isn't the number one priority.

Member @The Pharma Guy shares his path from a hard science biomedical degree all the way to pivoting to a Masters in Management and eventually breaking into a top healthcare strategy consulting firm.  Learn how much he makes now and why he chose to work in strategy consulting over investment banking.

Member @FloridaMan shares his meteoric rise in his short career on Wall Street.  Learn how he got over $150,000 in compensation as a first-year analyst and over $200,000 as a second year.  In this episode, we follow his path a large state school in Florida to a bulge bracket investment bank, all the way to a family-owned private equity fund and finally to his most recent landing spot, a traditional private equity buyout fund.  Make sure you stay to the end to learn his best piece of advice is and what "ABR" means.

Member @Odyssy2112 shares how he has survived a monstrous debt load, horrible timing and some unforgiving industries including investment banking at Jefferies and an internal corporate role at Barclays.  One wise piece of advice on what you should optimize for and some humorous stories along the way.

Member @shaynepunim2 shares her path as a Big 4 tax consultant to leaving the work-force for an extended period of time to help raise her two kids.  How she broke back in and advice she'd give to her younger self.  

Member @Mentor1119 shares her path from a non-target university to breaking into a bulge bracket investment bank.  We cover why she decided to go into finance, how she leveraged certain programs to give her a leg up in recruiting as well as the group dynamics involved during her summer analyst stint.  Why she eventually left to go to the buy-side, why she bombed a case interview and one tip on how to avoid the same fate.  

Member @john_quant shares his path coming from an engineering background to landing in the hedge fund industry.  Learn how he's managed to pivot successfully three times as several risky senior quant positions at hedge funds didn't work out as hoped.  Find out how he came out relatively unscathed and what he recommends to younger listeners trying to position themselves as traders.

Member @coder32 shares his path from a non-target background to a lower middle-market (LMM) private equity shop in the south.  Learn how commercial lenders are getting very aggressive with pricing and covenants to win deals and when he knew it was time to make his jump to private equity. 

Member @REPE shares his incredible story from bouncing between continents for his education to landing at a bulge bracket investment bank on the equity derivatives sales desk in London.  Learn how he survived massive cuts during 2008, even when his bosses were trying to make him look bad, to why he jumped to a smaller bank.  Why he decided to go back to the US to get his MBA from Wharton and what his passion is now.

Member @ParkAve shares his journey -- From working in sales, using an MBA to pivot into a Fortune 20 FLDP program and his latest move into M&A strategy at a top consulting firm.  Learn how much he got paid at each level, as well as the various skills he developed in each stage of his career and how they influenced his path.

Member @BrownChad shares his long and arduous road in investment banking to make it to a reputable firm from two nightmare boutiques.  We explore his journey straight from India to an MBA program, culture shock, the perils of working at very small investment banks with toxic culture as well as what he did when the people closest to him began to doubt his path.

Member @crePE shares his unlikely path.  How he broke into Goldman's ECM group even with no IB summer internship to why he turned down the analyst to associate promotion offered to him two years later.  Why he moved west to start working in Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Institutional Sales in Chicago and how he eventually was able to successfully make the jump to the buy-side at a real estate private equity shop on the west coast.  This episode has a lot of great lessons about optimizing your life and I'll hope you'll listen to the advice from this guest and take them to heart.  

Veteran member @Dedline shares his story from struggling with ADHD during high school, surviving college and finding his niche in healthcare enterprise architecture.  How WSO gave him context on the level of competition for job interviews, his dramatic jump in pay at his latest role and some wise advice on career paths and specialization.