My C student friend hired my A student friend ☕
Last month, my C student friend and I grabbed coffee.
We first met 6 years ago at an MBA networking event.
He didn't come from a famous university, so he wanted an MBA to break into the best hedge funds.
I wanted an MBA because I wanted to work in the States.
💡 We both got offers.
We both turned them down.
From time to time, we kept in touch.
Fast forward to a month ago, we sat down for coffee.
He told me he had set up a hedge fund with his finance friend.
And raised at least USD 100 million. 💰
He wanted me to help him hire a portfolio manager, reporting directly to him.
I felt genuinely happy for him.
He's only a few years older than me and he made it at such a young age. 🙌
So my colleague and I started searching for CVs.
Then one profile came through with a name that looked... familiar.
I clicked on the CV.
It's my A student friend.
Turns out, he and I interviewed at an Ivy League more than 10 years ago.
He got the offer. Perfect SAT score. 🎓
I got rejected. My academics weren't strong enough.
✏️ But here's what surprised me even more:
He had been laid off from a bulge bracket bank... and was jobless for almost a year.
Now he was applying for this PM role.
So there it was.
My C student friend
- No famous school
- No perfect scores
Raised USD 100 million.
And hired my Ivy League, bulge bracket A student friend. 🤯
And my A student friend, no matter how high his salary climbs, may never reach the stage of my C student friend.
This real-life story reminds me of two things:
1️⃣ Connections and sales skills matter far more than your education background.
2️⃣ Ownership and equity in a business will always beat a salary.
No matter how big it is.
This story reminds me to keep investing my bonus and salary into owning stocks or buying business or starting businesses if I want to break through the cycle in the future.
Your degree opens the first door.
Your network and your mindset open the rest. 🚪
What's a moment that made you realise grades aren't everything? 👇
PS: If you’re job hunting today, feel free to check out my guides on:
📝 Fixing Your CV & LinkedIn in 1 Day
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