Public bio:
- Investment advisor to a book of about 40 clients with total AUM in excess of USD 1bn.
- Prior to that, worked at family office co-managing discretionary mandates and providing cross-asset advisory services
- Started career focusing on credit markets as Fixed Income Sales Trader providing market making and advisory services to financial institutions
- CFA Charterholder, CAIA Charterholder. Also completed the CFA ESG
- MSc Finance & Management from Cranfield School of Management and BSc from HEC Lausanne
- English, French and Italian
Public bio:
- Private Equity Vice President
- Wharton MBA, Berkeley Haas undergrad
- Pre-MBA experiences includes 2 years of investment banking and 2 years of technology private equity (LBO)
Public bio:
- Currently, a Private Equity VP, investing in financial services businesses across Europe
- Previously at Nomura and Stephens in FIG. Elected Junior Banker Representative at Nomura
- Graduated from Cass Business School in 2015 with an MSc in Management and a BSc in Economics from Heidelberg, Germany. Interned in Private Equity, Sales & Trading and M&A during university
Public bio:
- International experience in corporate finance and investment banking
- Expertise includes restructuring, financing, mergers and acquisitions, leveraged finance, and debt advisory
- Bachelor of Commerce, Major in Finance and MSc in International Business
Public bio:
- Former Investment Banking Analyst in JP Morgan's Healthcare Coverage group (2+ years)
- Broad experience in all products (ECM, DCM, M&A) and transactions across biopharma, healthcare services, and medical technology subsectors
- Currently working as a Corporate Development Associate at large, private biotech focusing on strategic M&A and collaborations
- Non-target with Bachelor's Degree in Finance
Public bio:
- Experienced Investment Banking professional and coach
- 8 years as hiring manager for junior bankers
- 10 years Investment Banking
- MBA from Harvard Business School
Public bio:
- Currently, a principal in Private Equity
- Previously spent 2-3 years at Upper Middle Market Private Equity Fund
- Previously was an Investment Banking Analyst for 2 years at a Bulge Bracket bank
- Based out of New York
Public bio:
I have coached many people like you in their careers. I can help you:
- Figure out what is it that you want to do professionally. How to choose your career and how to get there.
- Break into finance (IB / PE) - I have several real-life technical and fit questions. Proprietary modelling exercises also provided
- Understand what are your career goals and design a broader strategy to help you get there
I have been coaching & mentoring for 10 years already. I focus on providing training for breaking into finance (bulge-bracket IB & PE), and I have increasingly coached more young professionals and students in their careers from a holistic perspective to identify the right career path for them to be successful, both personally and professionally. I have coached a diverse range of people, from high school students to professionals with 6+ years of experience. Unemployed to top-PE professionals. US nationals, minorities, Europeans, Asians, first-generations...
I managed to join Barclays Investment Banking in London coming from a public, non-target university. Since then, I have helped many other students break into finance from a diverse set of backgrounds (non-target, minorities...). Later, I joined Pamplona Capital (a PE fund with $15bn of AUM) as the person responsible for Spain & Portugal (also received offers from other top-tier PE funds) - to find out that my true call was in entrepreneurship. As I always do, I have used my PE experience to help others get jobs at other top PEs and infra funds in both London and NY.
I have conducted 150+ job interviews & extended various offers (both in IB and PE) - so I know very well both sides of the table. I am part of the Fulbright admissions committee and also do admission interviews for Kellogg School of Management.
Now I am managing my own search fund - after securing initial capital from a group of 14 investors, and I am in the process of acquiring an SME to manage.
My Bios:
- Currently Search Fund Managing Partner at Surca Capital
- 5 years of BB IBD experience: 3 in London (Industrials Team), 2 in Madrid (Iberia Coverage)
- Former Senior Associate at International PE (+$10bn AUM). EMEA Coverage
- MBA at Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University)
- Areas of expertise: Diversified industrials (logistics, transportation, automotive, capital goods, industry 4.0). Infrastructure (renewable portfolios, airports), tech (health tech, industry tech and fintech)
- Excellent modelling skills, LBO analysis, Levfin and ECM
- 9 years of experience mentoring selected students interested in finance
Public bio:
- Abbas is a multi-award-winning VC investor, financier and serial entrepreneur who previously worked in asset management at BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and in growth PE. He previously interned at Deutsche Bank IBD, Bank of America equity research, BCG, Monitor Deloitte and Trafigura, amongst others. Abbas co-founded both the Oxford Accelerator and a $100 million early-stage VC fund and is currently raising a second fund. He founded his first company at 16 and interned every holiday during his university studies at Oxford.
- He has been recognised as a Forbes 30 Under 30 Standout for Finance, as a Maserati 100, as one of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards Entrepreneurs' Champions of the Year, and as one of startups.co.uk’s Young Entrepreneurs of the Year and Business Growth Enablers of the Year, to name just a few amongst many other awards.
- Abbas has been appointed as a United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Fellow, focussing on youth entrepreneurship and empowerment in MENA, and as a World Economic Forum Global Shaper. He was recognised and selected by the Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as an Arab Youth Pioneer. He advises the UK Government as a co-founding Advisory Board Member of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Metaverse and Web 3.0. He is also one of the youngest fellows at the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce – FRSA.
- Abbas is a graduate of and academic scholar both at Westminster School and Oxford University and a VC Fellow at London Business School’s Newton Venture Program. He is Chairman of the illustrious Oxford Guild, which he has built into the largest university society in the world and where he has hosted a wide range of high profile guests from multiple major CEOs, Founders and Nobel Prize winners, to the likes of Sam Altman and Malala to Kanye West and Woody Harrelson and many more, as well as leading a network of top societies from the 40 of the world's leading universities across the Ivy League, Russell Group and more.
- He is passionate about mentoring and supporting the next generation of young talents. He has extensive experience over the past 10 years in successfully helping over 1500 students with CVs, Cover Letters, Application and Interview Prep, Elite US, UK and European University and School Admissions and Scholarships (including undergraduate and MBA), profile building and essays/personal statements, as well as working with experienced hires and those looking for career change support etc. He has worked alongside several high-profile Career Coaches/Educational Consultants. Abbas regularly judges leading start-up competitions such as MIT Innovators Under 35 and speaks at top universities and conferences globally such as the Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit, Milken Institute MENA Summit, and many more.
Public bio:
- Current Private Equity VP at publicly-listed Private Equity Mega Fund (>$200B Firm AUM, >$20B Latest Fund AUM), covering TMT, Services, Healthcare
- Current team lead for new PE associate training program
- Current member of recruitment team, serving as interviewers for potential candidates
- Former Investment Banking Associate 2 at a top 3 publicly-listed Elite Boutique
- Investment Banking Generalist coverage of industries and products in M&A and Restructuring, with emphasis on Fintech, FIG and TMT
- Former core member of recruitment team for both targets and non-targets, including pre-interview coffee chats, resume review and interviews. Leads on-campus recruiting initiatives and serves as a mentor to summer analysts and associates
- Served in the Army. Graduated from top Ivy League and Law School. International
Frequently Asked Questions
Can’t find an answer? Please send an email to [email protected]
The WSO mentor service runs at a very slight profit (~5-10% net margin) in order to help motivate amazing professionals to provide great (free) advice in the forums (many mentors have green "mentor" buttons next to their usernames) which strengthens the entire WSO community. Luckily, there is a surprising number of elite professionals within the WSO community that love giving back to motivated candidates. We also recently automated the mentor matching with an algo that helps reduce the manual work needed on the backend should a requested mentor not be available. Prices range from as low as $57 up to $997 depending on the package you purchase and the mentor you select. Given the success of our service and the number of repeat clients we have, we know that we can afford to run on thin profit margins and serve thousands of applicants. We also know that many of you will follow the advice of our mentors and invest in additional courses and/or services from WSO.
After checking out, your request will immediately be sent to the mentor you selected. You will be expected to fill our some basic information (location, industry preference, etc) along with upload a Word version of your resume in order to help the mentor decide if they feel like they are a great match. As soon as they accept (usually within ~9-12 hours), an email will be sent making an introduction. Your mentor will introduce him/herself and then proceed to review your current resume and/or offer times when you can connect for a mentor session. Over the following days, you will schedule a time that is mutually convenient for you initial phone call to go over what you need help with (mock interview, career consultation and/or both). If you would like to continue with this mentor, you can schedule more hours anywhere from 1 hour to 3+ hours with him/her over the following weeks & months.
Typically the match happens within 12hrs. If your preferred mentor has not responded within 9 hours or they indicate they can't take you on as a mentor, we will notify other top mentors that have the most in common with the mentor you selected (based on our matching algo). These backup mentors will indicate to you if they are available and you have the choice to move forward with one of them, get a refund or wait longer for your preferred mentor. If for whatever reason we cannot match you in time and/or there are no mentors that are available that you'd like to work with, we will refund your purchase in full, no questions asked.
We have an incredible team of 1,000+ dedicated mentors across top firms all around the world. Our #1 goal is to make sure you are placed in the hands of the most competent and detail-oriented professional in your specific target industry. This coupled with our strict process ensures a smooth and thorough experience. Why do we use actual professionals? The answer is simple: they are the ones ACTUALLY SCREENING APPLICATIONS for their own firms! They know what it takes to make it out of the trash pile and into the interview pile. On top of this, since we have been doing mentor sessions for over a decade across THOUSANDS of clients, we are able to immediately identify a top mentor and feed them more clients to ensure happy customers like you (due to our strict screening process). Our team includes investment bankers at all the top bulge brackets and elite boutique banks as well as private equity, hedge fund and VC professionals at the most prestigious funds. We also have reviewers at the top management consulting firms in the world, elite prop trading firms, top corporate finance roles as well as other related finance careers.
Usually these are all self-limiting beliefs, but if you're unsure if we are a good match for you, please send us a quick email to [email protected] and we can send over some bios if we think there might be a potential good match for you.
Too Young / Too Inexperienced: We do NOT recommend our mentor service until you at least have at least some relevant WORK experience that we can leverage. For the young clients out there, this means an internship, ideally in your target or related industry. If you are still in high school, it is unlikely that you have this experience. The earliest we'd recommend doing a mentor session is early freshman or early sophomore year as you prepare for summer internship recruiting. If you have no relevant experience then it probably doesn't make sense to sign up for the service. Our mentors are amazing, but they aren't magicians. If you tell us you really want to be in Investment Banking or Private Equity (for example) and everything in your background points to law or medicine, it's going to be an uphill battle. On the other hand, if you have unrelated experience but you have started the transition process by taking relevant classes and joining relevant clubs and associations, we'd love to work with you. You may not be the most competitive candidate, but we will highlight the most relevant education and functions at your current job that would translate well across industries.
Too Old / Too Experienced: We DO recommend our mentor service for more experienced professionals that are looking to make a transition or have an interview coming up. We have several very senior mentors that can answer the tough questions and make sure you are up to date on the latest trends in your target industry. However, before you move forward, we encourage you to give yourself an honest assessment. If you are looking to make the transition and have not made any steps outside of considering this mentor program, you probably aren't ready. If you've taken steps (education, new degrees, courses, etc) and feel like you're ready, we're on board and eager to help!
Yes, but if you have a negative attitude you are unlikely to have success. If you think a mentor session is an automatic referral, please don't bother to hire us.
Yes, our mentors often do refer our clients for open positions at their firms (over 20%), however, this should not be asked of our mentors to avoid a conflict of interest and it should not be expected as part of the service. It is up to you to impress the mentor if this is your goal, however, we believe you can gain much more out of the experience by being honest about your weaknesses and concerns with the mentor so there can be an open dialogue on how to improve your chances.
The only discounts are for larger packages and more hours purchased at once. This is an incredibly labor intensive 1-on-1 service using finance professionals that typically make well over $200/hr and are doing this primarily to give back.
This is a personal question and the answer is naturally subjective. If you are serious about landing a job in investment banking, private equity, hedge funds, trading, asset management, management consulting or any other competitive industry, it's more than likely that the answer to that question is a resounding "YES".
Career services advisers at your school are not screening applications for interviews...neither are your classmates. If you do happen to have a friend in the industry, are they going to take the hours necessary to give you a realistic mock interview? Odds are that their time is limited outside the office and if they do give you some guidance, it won't be as thorough as our expert mentors. If you look at the competitive nature of recruiting nowadays, why would leave your application up to chance when many of these jobs pay well over $100,000?
Join the 1,000+ candidates just like you who have already used the WSO Mentor Service
If you’re reading this, you’re here for a reason: because you want to be one of the very few who gets an an elite job and because you need help doing it. The choice really is yours. And your opportunity really is limited.
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