Getting Started

I'm now through with the first week of my internship, and it seems like there is going to be a lot on my plate all summer long. For those who haven't read my first post, I am working at Four Wood Capital Partners, an independent private equity and advisory group.

Four Wood just started up in November, so the office environment is extremely dynamic. To start, I found out the day before I began working that our office had already moved from Avenue of the Americas to Wall Street. As for the new office, it's still being put together. There were construction and maintenance crews in and out of the office hanging up art and TVs the first few days. Nonetheless, we still had clients and partners coming in and out of the office every day.

There is a really interesting culture in the office. There are about 25 employees who have all come from really impressive backgrounds in finance, many working on high (and some executive) levels at firms like BlackRock, Guggenheim Partners, and BNP Paribas. Everybody had left very successful and lucrative jobs to join FWCP at the ground level, so everybody there is very driven and collaborative.

This week, I worked on a few projects. First, I set up a spreadsheet for the firms partners and prospective partners with the other interns. I also worked on an investment prospectus for a gold bullion holding company, and set up a PowerPoint for high net worth client strategy. I learned a lot through the process. The rest of the summer will be more concentrated in the private equity area.

Finally, getting settled in New York. I moved in to Union Square at the start of the week. It's a very young area and it looks like there are a lot of people to meet and a lot of things to do. I'm looking forward to what's next.

A Crash Course in Banking

At the start of this year, I had no idea what investment banking meant. ECM, DCM, M&A, TMT? It sounded more like TV stations to me. I guess that's pretty standard for a student beginning his first year in the Ross BBA program. Well, I made sure to learn all about these areas (and more) throughout the year. Now I have a summer internship as an analyst in Private Equity and Mergers & Acquisitions, and as the summer is approaching, I realize I don't know how any of this works in the real world. I guess the steepness learning curve is what gets me most nervous about working for Four Wood Capital Partners.

 

Four Wood Capital Partners is an independent financial services firm focused on delivering unique investment solutions to the market. Through both organic growth, as well as partnerships with boutique managers, the firm seeks to deliver a diverse range of investment products across traditional asset management, real estate and private equity platforms. The goal is to provide investors with wealth preservation and current income strategies to meet their liability-driven needs. FWCP and its subsidiaries serve institutions, high net worth and individual investors.

 

Like I said, there is going to be a very steep learning curve. As an independent firm (with far fewer employees than the bulge banks), I am going to be working closely with clients and senior members of the firm. While this raises some concerns, I think I am more excited about the opportunities that I will get to learn the business inside out. It will be really valuable to learn the technical side of the business, and even more valuable to take part in interpersonal business at high levels. Ultimately, this should be a tremendous experience.

 

I am very excited to start my career in finance, and I hope to hit the ground running.