Public bio:
- Vice President at growth-focused PE firm, focused on technology investments
- Previously spent 2.5 years as a private equity associate and senior associate, focused on tech and as a generalist. Prior to that, spent 2 years as an investment banking analyst at an elite boutique
- Formerly ran the private equity associate recruiting process at prior fund
- Helped many candidates break into banking and private equity; have reviewed resumes and provided mentorship services to undergrads and recent grads
- Undergraduate degree in Economics from top school
Public bio:
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Current Investment Banking Analyst in Investment Grade Finance and Acquisition Financing at a Top US Bulge Bracket
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Previously interned in M&A at HSBC, Evercore, Moelis and William Blair (total of ~1 year experience)
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Graduated with a BSc in Business & Economics from Vienna University of Economics and Business and MSc in International Political Economy from London School of Economics
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Fluent in English and German
Public bio:
- Vice President at AEA Investors and a Founding Member of the firm's growth equity investing arm, AEA Growth. AEA Growth focuses on minority and majority equity investments between $20-100 million and specializes in the software, technology-enabled services, and healthcare services industries.
- Previously, a Senior Associate at a middle-market growth equity firm, focused minority and majority investments in the software sector
- He spent two years as an investment banking analyst in both M&A and Financial Restructuring
- Graduated with a B.A. in Economics, and is an active mentor and career coach for current and prospective finance professionals
Public bio:
- Currently, Director at California-based middle-market PE firm specializing in FIG. Responsible for sourcing and evaluating, transaction execution and board governance.
- Previously, worked for 5 years at NYC-based middle-market investment banking firm specializing in FIG.
- Experiences involve traditional buyout and growth equity investments along with expertise in M&A, restructurings and bankruptcy structures.
- Dual degrees in Finance and Accountancy.
- Non-target background, no MBA.
- Have reviewed hundreds of resumes and actively provide mentorship services to both students and early/mid-career desiring positions in investment banking and PE.
Public bio:
- Currently an Investment Analyst at The Carlyle Group in the Loans & Structured Credit team
- Previously experience of c.2 years at bulge bracket banks, in both the Leveraged Finance and Investment Banking Credit divisions
- Graduated with 1st Class Honours in Economics from the University of Warwick and an MPhil from the University of Cambridge
- Has reviewed resumes and successfully helped prepare candidates for both buy-side and sell-side roles with mock interviews and general career guidance
Public bio:
- Experienced start-up executive with a diverse set of experiences restructuring and growing businesses of all sizes (Seed->Series E+)
- He started his career as an IB analyst in the TMT Group at a BB, worked on a variety of transactions including M&A, financing and activist defense
- Graduate with dual degrees in Finance and World Politics
Public bio:
- An established M&A practitioner with 15+ years of experience with elite institutions on both sides of the table
- She recently joined a global ingredients company to lead its M&A department
- Vice-President within the Consumer Retail IBD practice, covered global food companies
- Spent 8+ years with an Industrial company in its Corporate Development & Strategy team and field operations
- MBA with concentrations in Economics and Finance
- BSBA in Accounting and licensed CPA
Public bio:
- Currently a Senior Associate at a large-cap private equity firm investing in the financial services, healthcare and technology sectors.
- Previously worked at a BB bank in its Financial Institutions Investment Banking group for 2 years.
- Graduated with a B.S. in Applied Mathematics and Economics from a non-target school and played 4 years of collegiate football.
- Have interviewed dozens of candidates for both investment banking and private equity roles, and review resumes and provides mentorship services to undergrads and recent grads.
Public bio:
- An Associate Director at a Swiss-based PE alternative investments manager with a focus on private equity and liquid alts / HFs
- Previously spent 6+ years at BlackRock, beginning in legal / compliance before moving to an alternatives sales/business development team
- Graduated with a B.A. degree in Economics and is a CFA charterholder
Public bio:
- 4 years lending experience, having completed 70 transactions (£500m) to UK SME's and property developer. Won an award by the CEO of the institution which included a holiday.
- 1 year Investment management experience buying positions across global LBO's and participating / leading VC transactions.
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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