What I learned

Partner at a multi-billion fund here. My 2 cents.

• People skills > Technical skills

• Smart assholes > smart nice guy ...career/money wise and banging hot chicks wise

• Smart assholes smart nice guy ...life happiness wise and great life partner-wise

• Extrovert > Introvert (I'm introvert, but some extraversion can be trained and practiced)

• Talking ≠ communicating

• Failure, criticism and rejection = information

• Brand names > doing cool stuff you like ... early in 20s and early 30s (career wise)

• Average performer at growing organisation > being a star at a stagnating place

• Being ruthlessly organised and leaving early > doing face time and stay in the office all day and night

• 30min focused meetings > 1 hour meetings

• Side passive business + day job > focusing only on your day job [selling stuff online, real estate, long term investment, whatever builds passive income]. Start early.

• Details/facts/practical steps + excitement> "strategic" sales pitch

• Learning how to learn (check out Art of Learning book by Waitzkin) > rote memorisation and practice

• real life experience, talking to experienced people, being on the ground, getting your hands dirty > education, study, academia, theory, models, strategic pitchbooks

• networking = waste of time

• building meaningful relationships / bonding over time with very smart people = goldmine

• Learning = cycles of fast growth, plateau (work your ass off)/failure (learn from it), fast growth, plateau (work your ass off)/failure (learn from it), etc. etc. Iterate.

• Being very good at something = 10 years of practice. Start early

• You dont make real money in finance until you are an MD/Partner and that takes a lot of time, and increasingly a lot of time. So you better love what you do or just do a stint for the brand and get out.

• Marrying in your 30s > Marrying in your 20s

• In your 20s - dating nerdy types, artsy types, foreigners and anything that takes you out of your comfort zone > dating only people from same background and industry. And pay attention to what they do. That'll make you grow as an individual and sharpen your self-awareness

• 2 year stint in an emerging market in your 20s > staying in US/Western Europe. Date a local and learn the language.

• Learning how to cook, play an instrument very well, basic dancing and singing skills / fashion / staying fit > reading about finance / trying to ace that exam / practicing modelling / going out clubbing / drinking

• weights and exercise 10 min in the morning when you wake up and 10 min before you go to bed > trying to make it to the gym

• fat you eat = fat you wear

• Giving up sugar > going for a run now and then

• back or knee problems, recurring headaches = try taichi with a top teacher

• after 25-27 yo...cheater = cheater, asshole/bitch = asshole/bitch, irresponsible = lost cause [unless they get a major slap in the face or major life lesson ]

• Finally,

• for all of you doing startups or thinking about it. For god sake, please think about your addressable market size, how much it costs to get a customer and how much you get from them, and how long it takes to get that money back before starting. You're not Elon Musk.

** Past the CV screen stage / first meeting nobody gives a f* anymore where you went to school so stop mentioning your HSW degree (from a HSW alum)