A few people have asked me about the genesis of TAG – and this blog.  So I thought I’d share my personal story with you to shed some light…

My dream was to work on Wall Street.  But I didn’t want to work at some bucket shop – no, no.  I wanted to work at the most prestigious, white-shoe firm on the street – I wanted a job at Goldman Sachs.

3 years into my college experience I realized that there was a giant, elephant-sized problem:

I was attending the #1 party-school in the nation.

This was hardly a hotbed for financial talent, at least in Goldman’s eyes.

There was also another problem – I come from a family of real estate attorneys and real estate agents.

So, I faced an enormous battle:  How would I get past the resume screening eating software with zero connections while attending a school better known for football championships than its academic horsepower?

Well, I did have one thing going for me…a simple insight that I carried with me since childhood…

LIFE IS ALL ABOUT WHO YOU KNOW.

With that nugget, I thought to myself, “well, now’s the time to get to know some people.”  And so I began the journey of building my own professional network.

I started with my personal rolodex – some of my parents’ friends happened to know some people that worked at CitiGroup.  Well, that reached a dead-end pretty quick – not because they weren’t nice people.  But because no one I was connected with was in a position to help me.

So I tried Professors – well, 1 professor to be precise.  There was exactly 1 professor that actually had real-world experience and real world connections.  Unfortunately for his students, he had a “no referral” policy.

STRIKE 2.

5 days after my networking journey began, I was stuck.  There was only 1 option left: the dreaded cold call strategy.  So, that’s what I did.  Over the next six months, I got sent directly to voicemail.  I got hung up on.  I got yelled at.  I shook more hands and manufactured more fake smiles than I ever thought possible.  I even paid thousands of dollars in flights and hotel rooms just to meet people for 20 minutes and some coffee.  But – thanks to the law of large numbers and a little bit of luck – it worked.

Over those six months, I built relationships with professionals throughout the finance world.   Armed with their invaluable career guidance, I was able to land my dream job: an analyst position at Goldman Sachs.

5 years later, as I was reflecting on that experience, it hit me: Why not create an entire platform that connects students with professionals?  Why not turn that exhausting process into an easy one?  Why not allow others to take control of their career just as I did?

AND SO THE IDEA FOR TAG WAS BORN.

Shortly after my epiphany, I left my high-paying hedge fund job and began the next step in fulfilling career dream #2…I became an entrepreneur.