Brian DeChesare is the Founder of Mergers & Inquisitions and Breaking Into Wall Street, which are dedicated to helping students, entry-level professionals, and career changers break into investment banking and private equity, advance on the job, and master valuation and financial modeling. Starting out with no funding, no team, and no external support, he built a business with over 20,000 customers in less than 4 years, all by using a combination of free content and promotional materials and paid, video-based interactive courses. He and his team are currently working on expanding both sites, covering additional topics, and improving the products for both individual and enterprise customers. In his free time, he enjoys working out, getting as many stamps as humanly possible in his passport, and obsessing over Game of Thrones (and occasionally other serialized TV shows). Sometimes, he even produces his own shows (see below). Mixergy Interview: http://mixergy.com/interviews/brian-dechesare-breaking-into-wallstreet-interview/ Forbes Profile and Article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/brettnelson/2013/07/23/the-freemium-model-top-flaws-and-potent-fixes/

Owner @ Brian is the Founder of Mergers & Inquisitions (M&I), the biggest investment banking blog in the world, with nearly half a million monthly visitors and close to 100,000 email subscribers. It covers topics ranging from investment banking to corporate finance to business school to private equity, hedge funds, and more. Specific experience at M&I includes: -Writing and editing the majority of the content (400+ articles), including research and interviewing readers from all experience levels, ranging from undergraduates to C-level executives. -Overseeing all content additions and marketing efforts for the site. -Hiring writers, editors, designers, and a marketing team to lead organic efforts (SEO) as well as paid advertising (Adwords, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.). -Writing weekly email newsletters and email sequences for new subscribers. -Leading social media efforts (Facebook and Twitter). He also runs Breaking Into Wall Street (BIWS), which provides video-based training on accounting, 3-statement modeling, valuation, discounted cash flow analysis, merger models, and LBO models. Specific experience at BIWS includes: -Creating 200+ hours of video-based content (the equivalent of ~3 million written words) on all topics across accounting, finance, valuation, and valuation modeling in all industries. -Writing email newsletters and creating 15+ hours of free video tutorials to promote the courses. -Creating case studies based on M&A and LBO deals, such as Microsoft's $44 billion bid for Yahoo, Exxon-Mobil's $41 billion acquisition of XTO Energy, TPG's $3 billion LBO of J Crew, and Silver Lake's proposed $24 billion LBO of Dell. -Hiring a content development, support, and sales staff. -Researching industry-specific modeling for the oil & gas, real estate, commercial banking, and insurance industries, and creating advanced courses based on industry surveys, research, and models actually used at banks. From November 2007 to Present (8 years 2 months) Creator @ How far would you go for the biggest deal of your career? "Wall Street meets The Social Network." It's a rare behind-the-scenes look into the shadowy world of billionaire investors -- where egos and intrigue collide and a single deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars must get done at any cost. 6-episode web series created, written, and funded by Brian DeChesare and released in September 2012. From June 2011 to December 2012 (1 year 7 months) Greater Los Angeles Area

B.S., Computer Science @ Stanford University Brian DeChesare is skilled in: Valuation, Mergers & Acquisitions, Investment Banking, Social Networking, Accounting, Blogging, Training, LBO, Entrepreneurship, Start-ups, Financial Modeling, Business Strategy, Venture Capital, Strategy, Management Consulting