In this episode, we learn about Calvin's path from investment banking at Perella Weinberg Partners (PWP) to corporate development at some of the top technology firms in the world including DropBox and Twitter. Listen to hear how he broke into investment banking out of Berkeley, the big risk he took going into his senior year and what it's really like working on the inside of one of these tech darlings. We talk about pay, lifestyle and some great advice for those of you looking to follow in his footsteps.

In this episode, Jaimi Goodfriend, Head of Point72's Investment Professional Development and director of the Point72 Academy shares her winding path through Wall Street. From starting in M&A when she graduated from Michigan in 1997 to her jump to equity research a few years later, we learn the main reason she decided to pursue a career in finance and how she eventually ended up as a hedge fund analyst working for some of the most successful funds in the world including Balyasny and Citadel.Find out why after 3 years on the buyside she decided to take a massive pay cut and give it all up to become a professor at the University of Illinois and what drew her to Point72. Finally, in the last part of the pod, we discuss the Point72 Academy, what they look for in undergraduate hires and young professionals, the future of the industry as well as the odds of actually breaking in.Key links: Point72 Academy (https://academy.point72.com/​)

In this episode, ConsumerInvestor shares her path from a non-target school to breaking into the equity research group at a bulge bracket bank. We learn how she landed a key sophomore summer internship, why she was so attracted to equity research, and how she eventually made the transition to another bulge bracket bank in order to get into investment banking. Listen to hear how Covid changed everything, what she did with her promotion to associate, and what main tool she used to help her navigate the private equity recruiting process. 

In this episode, member Benioff The Third shares his unlikely path from a non-target school on the east coast to one of the top VC funds on the west coast. We learn how he broke into investment banking at a middle-market shop, why he lateralled to a bulge bracket in tech M&A and eventually why he made the leap to VC. Listen to some great tips on how to position yourself to make a successful transition into venture capital as well as how he got comfortable starting his own business after only one year in VC. 

In this episode, Matt shares his impressive path from UPENN as a biology major to equity research at Morgan Stanley. Learn how he managed to make an internal lateral move in Morgan Stanley's tech IB team, how that opened up the opportunity at Khosla in venture capital and how he approached starting his own business. Finally, learn why Matt ended up back in the corporate world as the HEad of Corp Dev at ServiceNow and why he recently pivoted to the Head of Strategic Finance.

In this episode, Harrison shares why he turned down a full ride to Stanford to play soccer at Indiana University, how he broke into investment banking at JP Morgan and why he transitioned to a smaller middle market firm in Cleveland. Learn how he quickly positioned himself for one of the few coveted private equity spots in Cleveland and how he's already been promoted early twice in his young career.

In this special episode, I give honest advice to a small group of MBAs and MSF students from John Hopkins University that face an uphill battle when trying to apply to front office finance roles. We talk strategy when networking, the future of WSO and I try not to sugar coat anything.

In this episode, John shares his path from a non-target university to his current job in real estate private equity in south Florida. Learn how he was able to land his first internship in M&A, how he managed to transition an internship role into a full-time offer from a family office post-graduation and what he did when he was fired 3 months later. Listen to hear what saved John countless times when his career could have taken a very different turn for the worse.  

In this episode, Omar shares his winding path trying to find his way forward. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, he didn't feel pressure to get a traditional job coming out of school and had experimented with side hustles throughout his time at the University of Toronto. Listen to hear about his networking hack when he was working in dead-end Asset Management and Equity research jobs, why he moved to Calgary and later to upstate New York with no job lined up and what changed to allow him to start to build significant wealth in Texas.

In this episode, we hear about Pierre's improbable story. From growing up with almost nothing to being a first-generation high school and college graduate and earning $30,000 in his first job out of school, to pursuing a master's in organizational psychology and eventually landing at UVA for his MBA at Darden.  We learn how he managed to secure a job at Goldman during the great financial crisis in the Private Wealth Management division, how he navigated feeling like an outsider and why he eventually moved back out west. 

In this episode, TarHeelMonkey shares his path from UNC to BAML. We understand what interested him in finance back when he was in 8th grade, why he didn't get a full-time offer in his first summer and why he ended up transitioning into private equity after 1.5 years in banking. 

In this episode, "Max" shares his path on how he broke into investment banking in London coming from a non-target school in Italy. Learn how networking played a role, how he made the cut during a competitive intern year with an offer rate under 50% and how he was able to close 10 deals in under 4 years once he joined full time. Listen to his struggles with private equity recruiting and how he balanced the difficult process with his full-time banking role to successfully land on his feet  

In this episode, Andy shares his path from NYU Stern to the stressful summer analyst internship recruiting process. We learn how he ended up at UBS, what happened when his group, Power and Utilities got dissolved, his strategic decision to join the energy group, and how he leveraged his time in banking to land a very interesting corporate development & strategy role that allows him to dabble in the public and private markets as well as growth equity and venture. 

In this episode, Dan shares his unlikely path as a history major at a complete non-target college in the midwest. We learn how he was unemployed when he first graduated, how his first job was in the back office, how he managed to break into a business analyst role at a respected boutique investment bank and how he managed the delicate conversations to transition to a front-office IB role at that same bank. Listen to how he navigated private equity recruiting and how one person made a dramatic shift in his thought process and trajectory.

In this episode, Ken Margolis, Partner of Castle Placement walks us through his 30-year finance career. We learn how he quickly moved from Audit at Arthur Anderson back in the 80s to structured finance with Soloman Brothers as his first client, how Credit Suisse (then First Boston) made him an offer he couldn't refuse to jump ship, how he survived multiple crises and layoffs and why he ended up transitioning to Merrill in 1999. Listen to hear about his long successful run there, all of the different groups he worked in, what he liked best and why right before the great financial crisis he decided to leave and set up his own business. 

In this episode, Sarah explains why she ended up at a non-target school, how her 4.0 GPA opened a lot of doors and how she ended up at a bulge bracket investment bank in New York. Learn how she dealt with private equity recruiting and when she realized that she was more interested in growth equity and the VC world. Finally, listen to how she got her big break and was able to make the jump, but only after 3 years in investment banking and an analyst to associate promotion.

In this episode, Jakub shares his winding path going to university in Prague and leveraging multiple internships including at KPMG and Accenture to get important experience. Learn why he went to Seoul, how he landed a full time offer at an investment bank in Vienna, why he transitioned to Munich and some sacrifices he made along the way for family.

In this episode, MilitaryMonkey shares his winding path from West Point to serving in the army for over 5 years. Hear what happened on his birthday when he was stationed in Afghanistan, when he thought an MBA might be a good idea and how he broke into a top bulge bracket bank as an associate with no previous technical background. Also, pay special attention to how he approached his role as a post-MBA associate in IB to be successful. 

In this episode, we learn how Joe used an extra year of school to get a masters in accounting in order to get another shot at recruiting and how he was able to land a relevant position to IB in Capital Markets Advisory at a Big 4 right out of school. Listen to hear how he was then able to make a successful transition to the healthcare group at Jefferies where he stayed for 2 years, what he learned in his short 7-month stint after lateraling to Rothschild's restructuring group and eventually, how he ended up working in corporate development making well into mid-6-figures in his early 30s. During this chat, Joe kept harping on one thing that helped him pave his own path, and I don't think it will surprise any of you... 

In this episode, Alex shares his winding path. This includes his stops at: a non-target university in London to an equity research internship in Moscow, to a target masters program in London, to a 6-month internship at SocGen where he was laid off, only to be re-hired into another group 2 months later, to his internal jump within SocGen to the TMT group from FIG, another lateral, this time externally to JP Morgan's TMT group and finally, his latest jump to a megafund in private equity. Listen to hear how he feels his path to private equity would have been much easier if he had just done this one thing...

In this episode, Elliott shares his winding path from majoring in Mechanical Engineering to breaking into management consulting at Accenture. Learn why he decided to go to Harvard Business School to break into private equity but made one important pivot before enrolling. Listen to how he hustled during school to make his dream a reality and why he ended up pivoting after a year to work in Sales and Strategy at Work Day. There are some very important lessons in this episode about independent sponsors as a model to get into private equity, so pay attention and learn why he eventually ended up setting up his own M&A advisory diligence business.

In this episode, ColoradoMonkey shares his path from a non-target undergraduate state school to an investment banking role at a top bank. We learn how he was able to suddenly unlock ten interviews AFTER striking out on his last superday early in his junior year.... as well as how he was able to take a similar mindset to help him land in private equity less than 2 years later.

In this episode, BoutiqueBananas shares his path from graduating near the top of his class at Wharton, why he ended up at Moelis for two years and why he decided to travel for a year after his analyst stint. Learn how he got back into investment banking only to be laid off soon after and how he is approaching his next search.

In this episode, CorpDevWestCoast shares his path experiencing several 6-month long internships during undergrad to landing in portfolio management at a firm that deals exclusively with ultra high net worth clients.  We learn about the investor allocation or fund of funds world, the ugly side of wealth management, how he showed a genuine passion for PWM to survive recruiting as well as what came out of over 300+ applications. Listen to why he decided on the MBA and the importance of optionality early in your career.

In this episode, Sara walks us through her time at Michigan working toward both a bachelors and masters in engineering as well as how she was able to land an internship alongside other MBAs at Microsoft to help launch her career into strategy and corporate development in the cloud computing space. We learn how her technical background was an asset and about her thought process of transitioning to Google's corp dev team instead of the next shiny startup in silicon valley.