Dear SpringBoard Friends,
Further to our sharing of SpringBoard success story – Darren says “Goodbye Deutsche, Hello Smartkarma!”, we wish to share another three success stories from our platform.They might have taken longer, but with faith in “Continue Learning and Keep our Networking”, they (finally) got there.
Xiaoguang made it to be buy-side analyst!
We met Xiaoguang at one of the key CFA events in April 2013. He is a humble, soft-spoken guy who quickly saw the value of our Mentorship Programme and signed up for it. He was placed in the hands of industry veteran GC with more than 10yrs experience in the investment industry. He picked up the basics of top-down investing style under GC, and moved quickly into our Advanced level, where he was given numerous assignments from Yoman. He also had the chance to learn from other SpringBoard mentors, namely Joyce & Jessie, in private equity & IPO investing. Towards the end of his SpringBoard stint, he was given the chance to participate in SpringBoard’s first Stock Pitch competition in Dec 2013, and benefited from the advice & tips given by panel of judges & special guest (who was a hiring manager).
Things were not smooth sailing for him– work & other personal commitments, such that he had to complete the SpringBoard stint early this year. Nevertheless, he did not forget Yoman’s advice and encouragement for him to “Continue Learning and Keep On Networking”. Besides doing a busy full-time job, he never stopped networking, practicing research and investment skills, as well as monitoring the lasted industry trends. Eventually, his efforts paid off and he now makes it to be buy-side analyst!
XY makes a significant step closer to his dream career path!
XY came to know about SpringBoard’s Investment Banking masterclass by word of mouth. Straight after graduation, he found work as an analyst with a small corporate helping with M&A work, but found learning opportunities there to be limited. He also found out that a fresh graduate with a corporate M&A experience often does not match up to advisory experience and is generally not recognized in the job market. Hence, he wanted to move into an advisory role to gain more deal experience and progress his career within the corporate finance industry. He learnt well in class from KK who has been in the Investment Banking business for more than 15 years. He learnt about the intricacies of capital market, IPO & M&A deal process, identifying potential red flags in deals and the role of an investment banking analyst. Moreover, KK provided invaluable career advice after class to XY when he was at a career inflection. Thanks to KK’s advice, XY renewed his confidence and continued with his job hunt, utilizing KK’s advice and lessons. Right before the final class with KK, his efforts paid off and he found his way into a firm providing M&A advisory services to clients. XY is now doing valuation advisory, which includes pre-acquisition transaction valuation and post-acquisition goodwill valuation. His team also works closely with the M&A advisory team on potential deals. XY thinks that, without KK’s advice and guidance, he would have committed mistakes that may be detrimental to his future career path.
Gavin: from IT analyst to a private equity analyst!
We met Gavin at one of our events in campus in April 2013. He was an IT analyst in a global bank while doing MBA studies and looking for front office opportunities. At that time he had found his role of not much interest to him and also saw a trend of big banks offshoring their non-core operations to lower cost countries.
He was trying to do career switch into front office. He was very impressed with SpringBoard’s practice based training and well structured mentorship program. He was later mentored by a senior analyst Ruishan who had more than 5 years of experience and worked in a global investor. Gavin demonstrated what an ambitious individuals should possess – hardworking, committed and passionate about success.
During his job search, SpringBoard provided numerous supports to him, from interview skills to industry insights. He has been offered positions in a sovereign wealth fund, a macro investment fund and a private equity. As he has a strong interest in investment on fundamentals, he chose the private equity fund opportunity and thus became a senior analyst.
