Who I am... Where do I fit in ?
I am new here so bear with me; but here is my situation-- I am looking for advice on where to take my career.
Age: 27 years old
Education:
- Current: Getting MBA (Finance) Golden Gate University (San Francisco) 3.9 GPA
- Past: BS/Biology (BioChemistry) 3.1 GPA
Experience:
- I opened and expanded my own chain of pizza restaurants (2008-present)
- (3 locations now) maanging 80+ employees
- I helped co-found StingCampus LLC (while still in college 2006-2008)
- Raised $250,000 in angel investments
I really like finance, combined with real estate, and trading-- all have a special place in my heart.
My question is what route do I take ?
Where are some good places to apply to ?
Any advice will be greatly welcome-- especially from a community such as WSO
Thanks in advance !
I'm going to be blunt. You have 0 chance in IB, trading, HF, and PE. Go from there.
Even though I turned a mom and pop shop into a 3.1 million/year business (in 4 years) ?
Raised a 1/4 of a million on a whim... Built a user base of 45000 users ?
What if I wanted to go into the aspects you listed I had zero chance in; what would you change?
I make a very good living... I am not doing this solely for the money, obviously it is attractive, but I really like the new challenge and expanding my exposure to new things.
Unfortunately, I agree with this. You mentioned that you have interest in "Trading" but everything you just said shows zero interest in this field and the financial markets.
Your best path is to try to get into VC, Management Consulting, or some Real Estate related role and go from there.
Yeah I would tend to agree that trading is not top of my list. (Hence why I will check that off my list)
Good thing is I don't take no for an answer-- I find ways around, and usually get where/what I want to be.
That being said, i feel the correct path is indeed PE/VC...I also am lucky to live in area rich with VC firms and real estate PE-- now to find the right fit for someone, with my 'unique' skill set.
Nothing unfortunate about it-- I came here looking for perspective and opinion, and for the most part I got it. Hopefully I can return the favor to others and continue learning.
For what it's worth I am doing this for 'fun' and to challenge myself-- so any outcome will be a positive one for me-- even if everyone turns me down.
I forgot to add my undergraduate work was at University of California, Irvine. Where I worked on research with Noble laureate Dr. Rose...not that is super relevant to the business world-- but it can't hurt.
Keep doing what you're doing, until you can buy your way in. You are going to make way more owning 3 pizza places than any entry level analyst position.
1) Save 2) Invest 3) Repeat
I already do, I probably make 5x more than a starting analyst (I don't want that to come off as pompous, just giving the reader an idea of where I am at)... The point is the restaraunts aren't going anywhere; the income will still be there. I want to expand my horizons-- as corny as that sounds. Hence I went back to school to get my MBA (albeit at a sub par school)
I want a position (job) where I can leverage my skills (which I think are unique, maybe they aren't?) and that I find challenging.
That's why I am here, on this site, to get insight from people who already have first hand experience in this field.
So positive/negative all insight is welcome!
I see no reason for you to pursue opportunities in banking... your already doing well...
I think I could do much better in banking, and I don't want to wake up one day when I'm 75 and regret not trying... Worst case I end up hating banking and fall back on the business... haha assuming its still there ;)
How would you guys get into "banking" if you had to do it and were in my position ?
Lower middle market banking? Target consumer-oriented boutiques?
Given your background, you've given no hints to why trading or real estate would be a good fit for you.
So without getting into too many specifis-- I have a passion for making deals (that may sound naive)
But I do, because in addition to the restaraunts I have purchased some real estate (at great deals) through networking and being able to negotiate...
All attributes crucial to trading/real estate/sales...but I am unclear how to convey this to the banks/firms-- or if in fact my skill set is not on par with what they expect, and my aspirations are nothing more than a mere 'pipe dream'
Also excuse the misspellings, this is being posted off my iPhone.
If somehow you did get into banking, your companies would suffer since you wouldn't have time to run them.
If you had gone to a better b-school, you could have gotten into VC as they value entrepreneurs, but I don't know if that's what YOU want. It sounds like real estate would satisfy your desire to make deals and you would have the time to grow your business.
why not consider consulting, specifically management consulting? You can apply your skills. Or, find real estate firms or PE firms that specialize in restaurant acquisitions.
And as mentioned above...VC seems like a great path for you.
Do you think PE/VC firm would consider someone with my background ?
Any aspects I should change improve on ?
Thank you for the responses
Depends greatly on the firm. Some firms are more operational based, so your background would fit in great, since you have a good bit of operational experience. When I interviewed with some PE firms in the south, some of them were very proud of the fact the majority of their team was successful operations managers, and they believe their success as a PE firm is that experience.
Network though! Even if a firm isn't a fit, they probably know some people you should talk to. The best advice I have gotten is from people who weren't hiring, but they led me to the right people to contact.
Well I graduate in May -- in the mean time I will build my network around those two fields and see what I can get out of it.
So after about 20 hours of browsing this site-- I think RE (PE or Dev) would be a good fit.
You guys agree/disagree ? Thoughts ?
you have absolutely no chance. you lack pedigree, experience and youth. go ahead and submit applications but you are wasting your time.
"Hey. Don't ever let somebody tell you... You can't do something. Not even me. All right?" Pursuit of Hapiness.
This is a troll.
Just to balance this thread out a bit:
Keep in mind, a fucking fisherman was given an offer at Pershing...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/monteburke/2012/06/29/the-fishing-guide-who…
With some exceptions, people giving advice at WSO are unemployed or inexperienced kids regurgitating what some kid a year ago thought it was a good approach to get a job.
Yet, when you look at the real world, there is way more variety than that. Just yesterday I read about Einhorn hiring some kid from a random school (if you rather work ar any IB position than this I don't even know what to say). And, when you look at top HF teams, for instance, you really don't see that much focus on college pedigree.
Your entrepreneurial experience is a great fit for VC - those firms value this kind of stuff much more than a college GPA. I think you should apply for whatever you want, and see what happens - worst case scenario is that you'll still make a lot of money by just selling pizza.
If you want to target employees that will like you the most, VC is best, and IB is worse by far. IB wants gullible kids who will be happy to do meaningless work for a 100 hours a week - you'd probably get bored pretty quick by that, and the employers know this.
I'm not saying you'll get hired in a heartbeat or anything like that - the market sucks right now. But the "pedigree" especially is way less useful than many WSO users make them out to be - Bankerella even showed some evidence of this a while ago. The focus on pedigree has cognitive dissonance at its heart. Kids need something to give them some false security that they will stop sucking at life, and having HSW and a big GPA on your resume helps with that.
There are more things you should do -
(1) talk to real people face to face about banking, PE, VC, etc. instead of arguing with college kids on a forum (2) spend more time browsing this forum just to see what options are out there. (3) understand that in banking you don't make deals, you make powerpoints and charts that don't matter.
I agree with just about everything written here. To those who scoff at your chances at breaking into IB/HF/trading, they're right. I'd agree with everyone else who says, why'd you want to subject yourself to that? Everyone gets into banking so they can leave it. Don't move backwards. If you had a chance at PE/VC/RE and you have a strong interest, go for it man. But you are clearly already in a great situation.
VC, Management consulting, project finance or commodities trading.. Anything is possible if you network.. Once you can get someone to take a chance on you, you are golden.. You do have the advantage of being in SF which is home to a lot of VC's..
First off thank you for the responses-- be them positive or negative.
1) Everyone (well almost) has given me the same reaction: 'what the hell are you doing ?' - But to me its one of those things that I want to try-- I don't want to wake up at 80 and regret not trying this.
2) I never wanted to get into IB/HF --- why would i want to make 1/8th the money I do and work 10x as hard - Besides they would apparently scoff at my 'pedigree'
3) For those who gave positive advice, I appreciate it and will heed your advice and explore those options; looks like RE and VC (more likely RE) will be a much better fit for both parties.
Thanks!
If any of you guys ever come by the SF area PM me and you can come by try some of the best pizza in SF !
PM'd you regarding Pizza. Also, I can't help but ask, why Golden Gate University? Assuming you pulled a great GMAT score (720+), and given your background growing a small business, managing an online business, and raising seed capital, you had the experience for an M7 MBA. If you had to stay in SF for your business, why not Haas?
You're clearly doing very well. I'd enjoy the success from the pizza restaurants. Invest the money, grow your business. Being a small business owner can be way more lucrative/rewarding than finance.
But why did you do a MBA in the first place? And why Golden Gate? I grew up in the Bay Area...I didn't know they had a business school.
If you are 100% set on doing this, you could try re-branding yourself. Maybe something like Duke's MiM. Actually, if you are really into real estate, I think USC has a top-ranked master's program.
Also, if you want to make money in Real Estate, you could make much more for yourself taking profit from your Pizza Shop and buying up apartment places / houses for cheap across the Bay Area. One of the best times to buy, and the rental market is probably the hottest in the country. Plus, you set your own hours, wake up when you want to wake up, etc. Don't take that for granted.
My undergrad 3.1 was a hindrance.. In addition they paid for a large part of my education-- I know I probably should have gone to Haas but at this point I am 6 months from graduating; and I feel it would be a waste to redo it.
More insight on me-- I already do own a few apartment buildings, obviously I could be doing alot more on both fronts (pizza/restaurants).
I think I am going to contact some people that I know from Marcus & Millichap and see what they think...
Btw I didn't get a pm yet
i gotta echo the board. you are doing great. why you would want to boff that up by being a PP bitch for a bunch of used-car salesmen is insane.
dude i know you pretty well. I have to say i'm surprised to see you here. I'm even more surprised to see you trying to get into Finance. If you already have cash flow from pizza business and, consequently, all the time in the world, why not just go back to entrepreneurship? So what if StingyCampus didn't take off? Usually it takes about 4 startups to get it right. Why try to get into VC world by, excuse my language, kissing their ass when you can create a company and become one the "partners" by investing your capital?
So, you are making 250k+/year as your own boss and you want to get into IB?
Ridiculous.
From my point of view, you currently own 5 real businesses... thats good enough. A banker knows how to raise funds - thats it. You know how to manage workers, hire, fire, source products, market your stores, etc.
I very confident that you could land an IB job at a mid-market firm. Maybe GS wants someone straight out of undergrad but boutiques come in all shapes and sizes, and every MD has a different perspective on what he is looking for. You might get a lot of rejections but eventually, someone will be willing to hire you. It really is a numbers game.
That said, my biggest question to you is why do you think being a banker is more challenging / interesting than being a business owner...
One option you can pursue is becoming a mid-market lender i.e. commercial banker. In those jobs, they specifically want business owners like you so landing a job will be VERY EASY. In fact, your the ideal candidate. While you wont get to work on exciting cross border M&A deals, atleast you'll get to see how a bank thinks and operates. Essentially, you will get a watered down version of an IB skillset. The good news is that you'll get to satisfy your curiousity regarding the banking industry without the stress and long hours associated with IB (or PE). As well, you will get to meet business owners who run small businesses like your own but also much larger businesses (ranging up to ~$100MM in revenue). By meeting these business owners, you will learn how to take your 3.1MM business to the next level. Many "tricks of the trade" can be learned by observing large commercial business owners. But you cant learn these tricks by analyzing fortune 500 companies.
In the long run, I highly recommend that you continue to own and operate your own businesses. You can diversify into other industries, etc. Dont forget, Warren Buffet is essentially a business owner! The difference is he owns more businesses and in a variety of industries. I'm sure if you ask any investment banker on wall street, they would gladly give up their IB job today to become Warren Buffet.
Roll up your sleeves and make some damn pizza, Papa.
Would you consider brokerage? And then perhaps lateral to the buy side of real estate...
Dude, your doing well for yourself, If you want to feel a little better about yourself get an advisor gig at a local VC/PE firm.
hbs
I don't understand why you are trying to move your focus to roles that really don't add value from a role where you are creating value.
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