This is a PSA to any 1st year (or incoming) bankers/consultants who are considering paying for access to the OfficeHours platform or coaching service.
Don't do it.
This company will pull out all the stops to make you feel inadequately prepared for PE recruiting. They send weekly (or sometimes daily) newsletters trying to convince you that you have no shot at a PE offer without paying some absurd amount of money for their coaching platform (~$7K+). They intentionally induce anxiety in the type-A personalities that usually go into banking/consulting, and capitalize on that anxiety by trying to peddle you an unnecessary service.
Prepping for private equity recruiting is relatively straightforward. It does take some time and initiative, but you do not need this service (or any paid service) to be adequately prepped. Thousands of ex-bankers and ex-consultants have received buyside offers without paying a dime. Here are some FREE workarounds for each aspect of the overpriced services OfficeHours offers:
Modeling tests:
Ask second years in your group or alumni from your school who went through the recruiting process. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to share.
Firm-level details (culture, mandate, associate role, etc.):
Network with folks who are either currently associates or have been through the associate program at the firms you're interested in. Start with alumni from your bank/consulting group and from your undergrad. This networking effort might also allow you to bypass headhunters and give you a shoo-in to an interview in the future.
Behavioral/Fit Questions:
If you landed a job in banking or consulting, you should already know how to handle these.
Technicals:
Again, you shouldn't need to do too much prep on this front, but it can't hurt to ask around to see what kind of technicals people in your network received during on-cycle.
Business cases:
If you're recruiting from IB, ask your consulting friends for some basic cases. I guarantee they have dozens that they practiced when they were recruiting. If you're recruiting from consulting, you shouldn't need to worry about prepping for these.
General mentorship:
everyone needs good mentors in their careers. I am of the opinion that a mentor/mentee relationship should be organic, and that if it is set up by a grossly overpaid intermediary (and the mentor is receiving financial compensation for the mentoring), it won't have the same integrity/impact. If you don't already have good mentors, look for folks following a similar career path from your university or banking/consulting group, or if you're lucky enough, within your network of family/close friends.
+1 on OfficeHours being terrible and a scam. I was one of the first people to test run the platform back in summer 2020 - they reached out when I was interning. Paid $100 for 3 15-minute coaching calls (45 min total). The first call ended up going really well (we still keep in touch) and ran 36 minutes. They told me since I'd run 36 / 45 minutes, would have to pay more to get more coaching calls and they wouldn't schedule any more.
The idea is solid but that initial interaction totally put me off.
The dude itself hypes up PE so much and preys on analysts fears that they can't get into PE.
OP here - huge fan of Peak Frameworks. Didn't use any of the paid materials, but the free materials + YouTube videos Matt makes are phenomenal and helped me land a MF offer on-cycle. Definitely recommend.
Other free resources that were helpful for me were Short Squeez (Litquidity) and High Finance Careers (IG: highfinancecareers).
Agreed on this--PeakFrameworks really rounded off my abilities outside of what I learned from the internet/googling, and I still use their course on the job for some things I need to get my head around.
Fucking love Matt
Wtf happened to my comment about Peak Frameworks?
SBs all around. OfficeHours is terrible and their two founders are snakes - they call themselves "ex KKR ex GS" after doing a 3 month internship lmfao. Anyone considering shelling out that much money just needs to read the above post.
It's also impossible to get off their email subcription list which is literally illegal - I finally blocked their entire email domain
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Sounds like the wallstreet mastermind of PE recruiting haha. Parasites the lot of them.
Agree. Their emails make me cringe
Legitimately the most cringe emails I've ever seen… and I've gotten some wild ones
Counterpoint, I worked with them and landed a MFPE offer from a group that historically had pretty bad placement. I think having the mock interviews with the coaches was very useful practice. Also, being able to anonymously talk to people at different funds and be blunt about it instead of having to pretend to be decisive/interested in everything etc. was really helpful for me to figure out what I actually wanted to do. That being said, I had the money to blow and obviously tons of people get these offers without them.
Thanks for the insight.
I like how he added the last sentence to make it seem as if it was a genuine response. On this forum at least, if you go against the post's view (and everyone agrees with it) no one will be able to provide genuine responses without getting MS and trolled in the comments. Go target some insecure analysts who think PE is the dreamland and all problems will be solved.
+1 to the point that you should ask second years in your group for modeling tests, and then the prep is pretty similar to IB interviews but much less comprehensive IMO (technicals, behavorals, basic market insights).
Most of my interviews focused really heavily on my deal talk, so that’s what I would focus the most on. Only studied a small amount over 1 week and perfected my modeling skills, was able to land a MF offer. I studied way more for my banking interviews cause I didn’t know shit.
+1 on PeakFrameworks rec. split it with another analyst and it’s like $200 each, if you go through that course you will be more than enough prepared.
Fuck office hours, their daily emails are awful
Office hours reeks of scammy bullshit.
WOW, look at THIS
*insert random iMessage lines without context*
>Did Apollo start shitting and farting?"
>>yeah, we just have an Evercore exit, they said that the technicals were easy
>5 hours later
>>just wanted to say that I just emailed Apollo and got the job, Office Hours really is next level and totally worth the $14k loan I took out
>you're welcome man
>>proceeds to write 193 paragraphs namedropping Apollo and ThomaBravo over and over and over again
At least they have that blond chick that's hot (Brooke something?)
+1 for brooke
Lmao this is so on point
Is their employee, Brooke Baker, even a real person? It crossed my mind that this lady:
1. Has a completely non-filled out LinkedIn other than school and graduation year, for a business that is 100% marketed through LinkedIn.
2. Girl graduated from NYU but has no other job other than being a business dev analyst for OfficeHours, yet isn't noteworthy enough to be part of their "team" on their website?
3. Has the most generic name in the world yet has no trace online
4. Has a generic stock photo of a white blonde girl
Seriously is sketchy. As an avid Tinder user throughout college I've been able to sniff catfishes out within seconds of seeing their profile and was never wrong. The moment she requested to add me on LinkedIn my catfish alarms were going off but I thought, no one is weird enough to catfish on LinkedIn right?
I feel like the founders definitely thought, man these bankers definitely don't want coaching from two nerdy ass dudes, what if we had a fake LinkedIn of a girl? Any NYU alumni wanna check the database to see if there is even a Brooke Baker that graduated in 2020 (or even at all)? Seriously seems like they're the type of dudes to have a fake LinkedIn account of a girl to attract male bankers.
Edit: Brooke confirmed fake, check this thread: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/getofficehours-fake-employee-lin…
Brooke Baker is 100% an alias of Roshit. I asked my NYU buddy to look in the alumni directory and there is no trace of her existence. Also just look at her LinkedIn activity. No trace of existence before OfficeHours.
It's not uncommon for companies to make AI generated faces for fake Linkedin profiles now, probably what happened.
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/27/1088140809/fake-linkedin-profiles
+1 on Peak Frameworks. Very straightforward course and pricing, good insights through occasional emails (will tell you when headhunters start reaching out, coffee chats happen, and on-cycle starts)
The videos explain modelling concepts pretty well, so you don't need to bang your head against the wall when you don't get some more complex topic and can't figure out why they're modelled a certain way. It also lets you know what you need to focus on if you have only a few hours to prepare. I did the 2 modelling tests and watched the videos the weekend before PE recruiting and landed MF
A few interractions I had with Office Hours to add onto OP:
1) Literally spends hours on Twitter roasting DB among basically every other bank / group that isn’t GS TMT essentially trying to prey on the insecurities of 23 year olds. Keep in mind this is coming from an individual who never actually did banking or private equity which I found to be extremely disrespectful and narcissistic to me and my fellow peers
2) Attempted to up-play his experience at Battery Ventures and claimed he was more qualified than IB analysts when he was only at the firm for 2 years without a title change. As someone who is obsessed with Prestige / Titles, he obviously would have updated his profile for a promotion. Also not to mention growth equity / VC firms are known for hiring people from a non-traditional paths. (Peek his linkedin title it literally says “Former PE / VC” when he never did PE)
3) MOST BLATANT: Once I received my offer at a Large Cap buyout fund in San Francisco (Genstar / Thoma / Accel), he followed up with me asking about my recruiting status. I told him I signed at a MF and won’t be needing his course any more. He messaged me saying that he was going to offer peers that he knew in my incoming associate a steep discount for his Associate Training Program, and train them to get a potential VP promotion over me unless I paid for his full $10K course. Obviously I’m not going to fall for his fear induced tactics
If anyone is considering using his platform, I’m more than happpy to discuss it over PM. After 3 years in this industry I’ve been fortunate to have found mentors who invest in me free of charge. People like OfficeHours are the ones who give this industry a bad reputation
Anonymous calls to me just seem like they have 0 benefit or value. Half the point of calling someone and hearing their take is context that allows you to triangulate what different people think and eventually coming to a truthful conclusion. Similarly, another value of calling is that person being a reference you can call down the line for additional input or even a job! It’s almost selling how to network like an idiot.
Not quite as convinced as others that Brooke is fake, but if true that’s seriously seriously messed up. I don’t think banking analysts take kindly to being lied to and someone using deception to run their business. Dude might have flown a little close to the sun on this one…
Check the comments, look like Brooke isn’t a real person:
https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/getofficehours-fake-employee-lin…
Now convinced she is absolutely fake. Holy scumbag. Dudes indeed flew too close to the sun.
If you're looking for free prep - Short Squeez has a lot of great materials as well.
Could you link it? Never heard of this one, appreciate it.
Following
I was in contact this on-cycle with OfficeHours but never ended up buying their package (although I was very close and thank God I didn't). He asked what my status was and I said that I received an offer from X firm (it's not a household name like a MF) and it was immediately put on his silly logo page the next morning. Not sure if he had someone else accept at the same time at the same firm as me but I could definitely see just putting the logo there just to up his creds even though I wasn't a customer.
Absolute clown. Have interacted with the founder a few times and thankfully stayed clear. Post should be stickies candidly speaking - this is real dollars.
Glad these guys are finally being called out. Their obsession with ThomaBravo and Vista might be the most cringe thing I've ever seen. They have a free file on their site that pretty much lists every single associate at those firms, their backgrounds, prior roles, education, etc., which just gives me really weird and uncomfortable vibes. Like I'm sure all of us put together some form of a networking spreadsheet with people to reach out to / info about them at one point or another, and it's all public info from linkedin, but this platform doing it and sharing it publicly is so weird. Is their goal to help analysts get to PE, or to suck up to certain PE firms in hopes they hire them as recruiters and add it as a role to their LinkedIn?
To those in the know: Is this post title being satirical of clickbaity titles typically employed by this seemingly dubious OfficeHours company? Or is it OP just applying a clickbait title to a post that, as it turns out, looks like it is full of legitimate advice that is providing real value to the audience?
Haha OP here - I mostly included that in the title because I meant for this post to show some workarounds for the “services” OfficeHours is peddling, but this thread really just turned into a straight roast + his fake employees (well-deserved imo). I’ll adjust the title to be look less like clickbait lol
Hey man, I appreciate the effort, the post, all of it. You're doing all of the prospective PE guys a solid, and sticking it to the asshole who's trying to scam them for their hard-earned dollars.
Met with the founder and was immediately put off. In fact, my experience actually dissuaded me from applying to PE entirely (may do off-cycle but who knows). You're better off paying for an expensive watch than buying this guy's course - much better value imo. Don't even respond to this guy. Complete tool.
A scumbag and classic scammer
also - a cheap ass too. went to a meeting w him at the standard hotel restaurant and i honestly think he ordered nothing but tap water the entire time
I saw that Litquidity had partnered with him a while back. I wonder if that deal is still a thing.
Yeah, it is. Only for student-athletes (I think only D1) looking to break into banking. Got the IB prep course for free (is a worse M&I 400/WSO prep).
Source - I am a Litquidity Athlete
Still waiting on free merch though.
the intern wasnt even in a real group at GS or KKR lol
Is he going to officehours full time? How'd he end up there from KKR..
I'll give him credit where credit is due for helping scale SourceScrub, absolutely love their solution. But Jesus Christ what a fall from grace to end up starting this awkward training program. 0/10 would not recommend.
Agreed. He was my firm's rep for SourceScrub and seemed like a decent guy. Not entirely surprised to see him getting dragged like this though.
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See my comment below:
Following
How about Brooke Baker?
Please explain the following
1) Fake Employees in Brooke Baker / Nadia Persaud, which you very obviously glossed over. If they are real people, invite them to a video interview on LinkedIn which you often conduct
2) Your “intern” going to Deutsche Bank fulltime, which you very openly roasted on Twitter (referring to as the “butt of all finance memes”) inviting all incoming DB analysts to use YOUR platform to help them lateral from the firm. Is your intern already planning on dipping?? That’s what his future employer may think you are implying.
3) Your anxiety induced fear tactics, attempting to make analysts feel unprepared and insufficient into paying you $1,000’s of their hard earned money
4) Constantly roasting the placement of analysts who possess the metal and determination to put up with a demanding 90 hour+ week role
5) What qualifies you or your co-founder Asif to criticize candidates when neither of you worked at any of the Upper Middle Market / Mega Fund investment firms you religiously worship? Asif worked at Wells Fargo which is a bank you’d likely roast then went to a LMM buyout firm which you’d also likely roast
People aren’t questioning your intern or your determination to build a business. We are questioning your unprofessionalism towards how you speak down to a group of high achieving people in their early 20’s without the qualifications you expect us to have, along with disrespecting world class institutions (DB is a great firm!)
You’re a snake oil salesman with questionable morals (stop literally making shit up dude). From overusing examples that have maybe happened a few times— people getting multiple offers and renegotiating for profit— to adding or pretending about results that never happened (not to mention fake employees…?). 1000+ helped with 1M+ revenue this year? No one with a second of real world experience (unfortunately you target kids basically) trusts any of your ‘numbers’. You basically admitted up there you don’t care because you get fresh new victims in every successive recruiting class (re: don’t need to sell to everyone, just people you can successfully panic sale or are generally naive / don’t know enough to steer clear of scammy tactics). You are the exact type of guy to sit and think about how you can reframe shit to make it sound better, add straight up LIES, then end up believing your lies and getting worked up or showing off w a massive ego when called out for it.
You showed like 10 oncycle placements this year while ‘selling out’ of your platform access (a software where you yank and put back capacity whimsically to pressure sale, yuck). For the coaching, you’re ‘sold out’ of 1 or 5 coaching hours but not 10? Who’s gonna believe that nonsense. You say people get their real value from the offering by renegotiating starting salary, signing, etc. but seems like none of these oncycles were in that position (or most people last year either, for that matter).
Then on top of that boasting to have helped 1000+ kids and have a 7 figure revenue business? I bet this number is from you texting 1000 people or spamming them on LinkedIn / some bs like that, MAYBE people you bought your platform access. Wheres the 1M Revenue you brag you got THIS YEAR come from? Previous posts say you placed ‘~40 people in UMM/MF’ funds LAST year in on/offcycle with like 10 placements THIS year. Of which, who knows how many signed up for coaching, who got multiple offers (and of those were successful negotiating), if placements were post-banking or everything under the sun lumped together to make yourself look better, etc. Been on WSO for a few years now and have never heard of you until now— that silence is a million words.
Mr. Delusional, your sense of reality is so warped— thinking you’re so cool and can handle criticism by asking banking analysts to call you out as if they owe you anything after you’ve clearly tried to scam them by lying about things they would make a purchasing decision off of. You reek super insecure and for all we know be the type of person to shit on the analyst that calls you out to people you know at funds they are recruiting at— why would anyone risk that to call you out? While I’m at it i will call BS to your ‘refunding and go in different directions’ statement. If at all, these were probably candidates who were in a position of messing with your reputation (e.g. came from a group w good placements or a ‘bad’ one that you go out of your way to target) but even then could have been given partial refunds or held up for bs reasons.
My post is starting to get a bit too hater-y for some dude I don’t know but JFC you deserve it because you seem like a ‘do what i can get away with guy’ and don’t understand people can spot this shit, you’ve just gotten away with it because we are young and naive OR move on instead of calling you out and you just move onto fresh new victims every year.
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