Wall Street Oasis

In this episode, John LeFevre, author of Straight to Hell and popular twitter handle @GS Elevator joins the WSO pod to discuss his volatile career path. We learn about what initially drew him to Wall Street, why he left after a decade and what he's up to now with a variety of startups. I think John's path is a great reminder of some of the dangers young finance professionals face. The temptations,...

In this episode, we hear about Kunal Mehta's path from pure finance at NYU to Sales & Trading at Nomura once he graduated. Find out why he quit without anything else lined up, what he did to pay the bills, why he was lost and how he stumbled into work that had meaning for him. What I like most about this episode is his willingness to share is failed missteps an entrepreneur and how it has shaped h...

In this episode, member @Yologoose96 share his path from being unemployed when he first graduated in 2011 to working as a paralegal for $43,000 per year to now making well over $200,000 as an Associate Director at a large private equity fund in a business dev function. Learn how he was able to make an internal pivot from compliance to business development at a large asset manager, what was the key...

In this episode, Arjun shares his path from a top undergraduate university to a quant role that also gave him exposure to some fundamental investing. We learn about his short stint in venture investing and why he jumped back into a quant role at a bulge bracket investment bank as well as the programs and skills needed to land these competitive roles.

In this episode, @Nick shares his path from the University of Chicago to working at Piper Jaffray in Healthcare M&A out of the New York office. How he was able to transition from a summer analyst role in ECM to M&A with a risky move, why he left after two years to start not one, but two companies and why he followed his sister's advice to go straight into Venture Capital.

In this episode, @Gaurav-Goel shares hit path from the ultra-competitive Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to ECSP Business School in Paris for his Masters in Management. Learn how this degree differs from an MBA, the opportunities it affords during the gap year and how Gaurav leveraged it to land multiple top internships at large investment banks. Hear about his struggles to get his first brea...

In this episode, @MauricioMBA shares his path working at JP Morgan in the strategy and CFO office and his ability to make the jump to the structured products desk. How he transitioned to Barclays, eventually making his way into an impact investing role as well as some important advice for younger listeners just starting out their careers.

In this episode, we talk with Nate Bailey who survived a tough job market by selling life insurance out of his non-target university. Learn what was the hardest part of his path, the difference between being an agent and a broker and specific advice he gives to the younger listeners. 

In this episode, @BostonMD shares his path of 11 years of schooling to get his medical degree to breaking into top consulting firm. Learn why he pivoted away from medicine and some of the opportunities afforded to graduate students trying to break into strategy consulting. We also hear what has been the most difficult part of his transition to work and one wise piece of advice he gives to the youn...

In this episode, Joshua Glessing shares the unique path that has landed him the role of VP of Strategy of the Haslam Group which is the parent company for the Cleveland Browns, Columbus Crew, and other sport affiliated businesses. We learn how a late pivot during his college days was a life-altering decision, how he transitioned from a public finance role to an advisory role at Goldman Sachs as we...

In this episode, Adam shares his long and winding road from investment banking at Goldman Sachs, to medical school at UPenn and then to joining the MD/MBA program at Wharton. Learn why he ended up in McKinsey doing strategy consulting after one year of residency and listen to the end for one big warning as you set out to map your career.

In this episode, @BankerTurnedDrinkMaker shares his path from Arizona State to breaking into a bulge bracket investment bank. How he navigated coming from a non-target school, how he prepped for his interviews, how he networked and lessons learned along the way. Don't miss this one, there is some great insight!

In this episode, @WSO1856 shares his path from an FLDP program and how he managed to lateral into an investment banking analyst position. We learn about his thought process during college, why he was too late and how he managed to break in through the side door after a year in the finance development leadership program at a Fortune 500 company.

In this episode, @dcorey shares his path from how he broke into Bear Stearns from a complete non-target school right before the financial crisis to how he survived once it was acquired by JP Morgan. Listen to hear why he followed a managing director to a smaller firm in the renewable energy space as well as one piece of advice he would give to his younger self.

In this episode, @Mentor2020 shares his path to working in investment banking even though he was super late to start recruiting and waiting until his junior year before trying to land a summer internship. How he was able to survive layoffs at his first bank by lateraling to another and why he eventually jumped over to an internal strategy role at a bulge bracket investment bank. Listen to hear the...

In this episode, member @jKim219 shares his story graduating during the financial crisis in 2008. Hear about what is was like to work at a prop trading shop that requires you to put up your own money, what he did when he burned out and quit and finally how he turned it all around. 

In this episode, Rick shares his path from a complete non-target school in the midwest to breaking into a top MSF in Europe. Learn what he did that allowed him to break into a Bulge Bracket bank in London BEFORE his Masters in Finance and why he turned down offers from a private equity megafund. What he did when bridges were burned with some recruiters and how he ended up at a long/short hedge fun...

In this episode, @DSICA shares his path starting out as a financial advisor for Merrill Lynch back in 2006 to transitioning twice internally with a critical mentor connection. Learn how he pivoted to VISA, got promoted to Director and eventually helped co-found his own FinTech venture capital fund. He also shares one piece of advice he gives to younger folk graduating today to build meaningful con...

In this episode, Emily shares her path from a non-target school to landing a summer internship at Goldman Sachs. What she did when she didn't get the return offer in 2008 and a detailed dive into the day to day of analysts in the fund advisory group at Lazard. Learn how that group and working as a placement agent is different from investment banking and why a transition to investor relations in pr...

In this episode, @PIKtoggle shares his path from semi-target school to working two grueling years as an investment banking bulge bracket analyst. Learn what it's really like behind the scenes and how he was able to successfully pivot to private equity in 2008 even though he was very late to the typically "on-cycle" recruiting process. Listen for his advice on how to deal with recruiters but also h...

In this episode, Joe shares his non-traditional path from a non-target school (University of Wisconsin) to breaking into investment banking at Merril Lynch right before it was acquired by Bank of America. Perhaps more impressive than that feat was his ability to land a highly competitive buyside associate role straight into Bain Capital Ventures and then break into Harvard Business School a few ye...

In this episode, member @LouiseBouge shares her path from an investment banking analyst at a bulge bracket bank to getting her JD/MBA. Learn the common blind spot she had when choosing what bank to join out of undergrad as well as why she chose Goldman to continue her banking career after her graduate degree. Also, learn how she managed to pivot to private equity and a shocking comment made by a p...

In this episode, member @BadAxe85 shares his path from classical musician, ju-jitsu fighter and scraping before eventually landing at a top hedge fund and recently a well-respected VC. Everyone thought he was crazy. Hear about his winding path and the steps he needed to take before he had his first big break as well as some of the secret sauce that helped him to repeatedly defy the odds.  

In this episode, Maxwell Peara, former leverage finance analyst at JP Morgan talks about how he broke into JP Morgan initially as a credit analyst coming out of Fordham. How he managed to transition to the front office in leveraged finance and why he left to pursue his dream of playing tennis professionally. 

In this episode, James McKinney, host of the super-popular podcast The Startup Story joins us to talk about his winding path and current success. From a finance and accounting major in undergrad at a non-target to losing it all, James shares some of the highs and lows along his journey as well as this one career tip he'd give his younger self.