How Barry Rosenstein got his job - Graham &Doddsville interview

I always enjoy reading Grahamm & Doddsville as they always have pretty interesting interviews. The last issue's is good as always, but there this particular bit that I thought would please the crowd on WSO. That's probably the most insane cold-calling success story I ever heard of:

"Back in the mid-80s, corporate raiders were beginning to make themselves known, and I would excitedly read
about their exploits at the time. That was an interesting world to me, so the question was how to get into that field? I once again tried the cold-call technique (I don’t remember how I found his number) to speak to one of the main raiders of the time – a guy named Asher Edelman – and wouldn't you know it, he answered the phone. I
started talking as fast as I could and he finally said, "Well, come on in." This led to me becoming Edelman’s co-head of takeovers, a job for which I really wasn’t qualified.

G&D: Can you tell us the story of how you actually got the job offer from Asher Edelman?

BR: Asher was the corporate raider back then, and I was a nobody associate at Merrill Lynch; no one there even knew who I was. He started by telling me that he'd been talking to the heads of the M&A departments at various investment banks about coming to work for him to co-head his takeover business. I didn’t understand why he was telling me this as it had nothing to do with me. After about 15 minutes, he turned to me and said, "I think you and I are going to do a deal here." I had no idea what he meant. Then he asked, "What's it going to take to get you to take this job?" At the time, I was making a salary of $40,000 and hoping for a $30,000 bonus, but my reviews were not strong so I didn't have high hopes. I had heard that the top merchant acquisition bankers made $1 million, which was more money than I had ever heard of in my life. So I said to him, “one million dollars." He stared at me for 30 or 45 seconds, which is a long time when you're completely full of crap. Then he said, "Alright, done. You just have to start tomorrow," to which I responded, "I'll start right now. I'll sleep here tonight if you want."

That's how I became cohead of takeovers for Asher Edelman. I wasn’t prepared for the position when I started, so I had to figure out the responsibilities of the role as I went along. This made for a uniquely amazing experience. "