-: Yeah, so I think you know, the basic understanding
of accounting and finance is the critical building blocks
that you have to, obviously, understand.
But then there's also the communications angle of it
in terms of telling the story of this business.
Every investor is not a purely rational being
the way you might expect.
Everything's not done in an Excel model.
They have to believe in the vision and they have to believe
in the story, and they have to like the people.
And so there's all these soft elements that
go around that, so those are critical.
But I think ultimately, it's really an apprentice model
and the best bankers you'll meet
always worked for a great banker
who they learned it from on a kind of day to day basis.
So it's getting your foot in the door
and proving that you can add value to someone like that
that you can then learn the business from them.
I'm ultimately looking for someone
who can rise to the managing director level
and that person has to have the ability
to get in front of clients and sell.
And has to have the ability to talk to clients.
Someone that, I can put them on the phone with a client
and not be worried that they're gonna say the wrong thing.
So I think it's those soft skills,
it's those creative skills
in addition to finance and accounting.
I was in the SEED program, which is the
Student Endowment Educational Development,
so they invest about $5 million of the school's money,
at least they did at the time, I'm sure it's grown,
in stocks and bonds.
So that gives you a really core understanding of
the investment process...
and being able to speak the language as a result.
And then the network there is tremendous as well.
They often come back and recruit people
who are in SEED as well.