Decoding Wall Street: Investment Banking & Private Equity

Video Description

In this episode, I speak with my Stanford classmate Jennifer Hwang. She’s an absolute boss in the professional finance world and she gives the download on recruiting for and working in investment banking, private equity, and hedge funds. Jenn also balances warmth, kindness, and silliness, which is why she is one of my closest friends that I met at business school. I am so excited for you to join our conversation. Let’s dive in! *************************** 🍿 WATCH NEXT: 🌀 Our Upbringing as Harvard & Stanford MBA Grads: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylbt-kqkPGk&t=13s 🌀 Networking 101 from Harvard & Stanford MBA Grads: https://youtu.be/q2D1agAvgkw?si=syXSqjCohGplfdH_ 🌀 Roelof Botha: Career & Personal Lessons from Sequoia Capital Managing Partner: https://youtu.be/5s9Y5c6OXzs 🌀 The Internet’s Big Sister and Career Mentor: Jean Luo: https://youtu.be/V_J236VrkrY?si=aSukqYXTOvb5Z4Li 🌀Decoding Wall Street: Investment Banking & Private Equity [Jennifer Hwang] https://youtu.be/hAko_0L-u9M 🌀 From New York Times Newsroom to Classroom: https://youtu.be/4RPHfYxgmpU 🌀 From India to Stanford MBA: https://youtu.be/tblJ42KTcNk 🌀 From College Dropout to Stanford Startup Entrepreneur: https://youtu.be/sW_vcuSGAFM 🌀 U.S. Army Commander and Stanford MBA: https://youtu.be/bKgeKTjiOgs 🌀 Life after Harvard Business School: https://youtu.be/rx2qout3UKM MY FREE ONLINE GUIDES: 🙋🏻‍♀️ 100+ MBA Interview Question Prep: https://shop.beacons.ai/cherie.brooke/bf87ebaa-a565-4507-8b13-24adbf2448af?pageViewSource=lib_view&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fbeacons.ai%2Fcherie.brooke 🎓 MBA M7 School Comparison Document: https://shop.beacons.ai/cherie.brooke/675593f5-44bf-43af-8874-8cb4b4f78387?pageViewSource=lib_view&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fbeacons.ai%2Fcherie.brooke LET'S CONNECT 🤳🏻 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cherie.brooke 🌍 My website - https://www.cherieluo.com 📱 TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@cherie.brooke ✍🏻 My Substack - https://cherieluo.substack.com/ 👩🏻‍💻 Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherie-luo/ Ｘ Twitter - https://twitter.com/cherie_luo ⌚️Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 02:09 Start of podcast 02:53 Cherie’s goals 03:44 Biggest lessons as a content creator 05:22 How has the GSB changed Cherie? 06:19 Dealing with conflict at the GSB 09:06 Jennifer’s background 10:40 IB vs PE vs Growth Equity 13:11 Funding by company stage 14:05 Private equity explained 14:55 Investment banking explained 15:48 Public vs private investing 16:51 Public investing roles defined 18:58 Hedge funds explained 20:28 Traits needed for IB and PE 22:16 Transition from IB to growth equity 25:06 Process from IB to PE roles 25:32 Lack of diversity in finance 26:35 Are IB analysts prepared to jump to PE in only 3 months? 27:34 Training process for new grads 29:24 How research in undergrad influenced Jennifer postgrad 30:21 Cherie’s experience in research labs 32:42 Sacrificing your 20s for future success 36:00 Compensation structure for finance 37:39 Base + bonus for PE junior analyst 38:27 Base + bonus for PE VPs 40:50 What Jennifer likes about growth equity 42:43 Jennifer’s favorite brands 43:39 Traits needed to succeed in finance 44:45 Late nights in finance 45:56 Finance or “finance” 46:39 Protected weekends 48:48 “In-day” at LinkedIn 49:37 Investment banking long hours 51:04 What has Jennifer learned in the last 5 years? 52:12 GSB being a break from the work world 53:40 Life giving vs life draining endeavors 54:31 Importance of mental health in work 55:28 Should you make your passion your job? 57:33 The next 5 years for Jennifer 59:15 Where did Cherie see herself today as a child? 01:00:29 Did Cherie want to be an entrepreneur growing up? 01:02:15 Jennifer’s favorite class at GSB 01:03:52 Cherie’s favorite class at GSB 01:05:20 Why are Stanford students so passionate in class? 01:07:28 Cherie’s legacy 01:10:42 What Jennifer looks forward to in remaining time at GSB 01:11:52 Closing thoughts ABOUT ME Hello friends, thanks for watching! My name is Cherie and I'm a content creator, Stanford MBA student, & former LinkedIn senior product manager 👋🏻 I share personal career stories on Cherie's Corner Podcast via YouTube and Instagram, so you can learn from my friends and our successes and failures, all while owning our authentic selves and living happier lives. Music produced by Sammy Signal https://open.spotify.com/artist/2HsyknHuxhT8RoZfn5rqMS?si=SGH_SbD_SBStH2wJHcBXrg