I have been LMAOâing since I started watching WSW on hulu and reading this thread. This show is a joke in terms of the people featured in it, however, itâs hilarious and extremely entertaining. I just couldnât help but wanted to write my opinions on the characters.
Timmay: The star of the show. He won the top spot by far in the âwho in WSW, do you wanna punch in the face?â contest. Heâs inexplicably annoying and immature. And with that level of maturity, heâs hoping to raise $ millions, I mean come on. And whatâs he gonna do with that money? Shorting microcaps? With $10 million? How sustainable is that? He should be really grateful to those guys who gave him a couple hundred thousand, yet he was almost going to kick the guy out of the apartment for preventing him from making $1K in profit!?
Laetitia: NYU degree is great, but based on my experience, I think sheâs the very bottom of her class. I went to NYU-level schools for business undergrad and MBA. Her NYU acceptance smelled âdonation from parentsâ to me. I know from my own experience and also I had a chance to observe many of my friends that a business grad (undergrad or MBA) has some clue about the business world. She acts just like a freshman and as one person put on this thread, she is like âdeer in the headlightâ mode all the time. SMB capital is obviously not a place for an NYU grad, and she is applying there, probably because she was found to be stupid by the major wall street firms, where most of her classmates will be working at. Also, I was annoyed by her childish behavior like her âI need to save money, I wonât make any money, but I take cab to everywhere, even to workâ approach. She is very spoiled and immature (not as damaging to earth as Timmay though).
Also, about the degree or no degree discussion: I think prestigious banks look for degrees as they need people, who are not only smart, but also stable, organized, hardworking and trustworthy. You cannot just bring in a guy from street and put him to work on a valuation model for one of the major M&A deals. On the other hand, trading is a totally different game, and I believe, it requires a different skill set, which might or might not be found in an MBA grad. Were there stupid people like Laetitia in my classes? Hell yeah. But, most of the time, the natural selection process in interviews finds out about those people, as recruiting folks are not very bad in selecting people. And those types of people in my classes also ended up in places like SMB capital. At the end of the day, you get what you deserve.
Brett: Guy is always wondering around, looking for some âsexyâ ventures to invest in. It looks like his investment criteria is how he âenjoysâ the goods/services of the potential business. We never see him pursuing a grocery chain, trucking company or a mining operation. Guess what his next investment will be in: a car sharing club of course.
Also, the questions he asks are very shallow and he listens to the business owners just like a tourist, listening to the tour guide in front of the Eiffel Tower. No challenging questions, no kicking the tires, no financial check. Watch/read Barbarians at the Gate and then see how real PE is done. Of course there is some mumbo jumbo in this business (i.e. Kravis going to 2-step dance with the RJR CEO), but it also includes a lot of hard work and number diligence.
Boiler Room guys: These guys are the most entertaining ones in the whole show. Everytime they say Sandisk, I start laughing like crazy. I cannot decide who is more stupid: them or the ones that buy stock from them. When the hard sell guy was telling the $10M worth CEO to step up to the plate, he mentioned about 1% commission. Wtf! So, he charged him $1K in commissions for selling 2500 SNDK? I really want to know about this dumb CEO and want to short his company badly. Online commission is $10 and phone commission is $40, thatâs it. Who on earth pays 1% for a regular equity? This is not some structured finance tool that they came up with or anything. Itâs a âcommonâ equity.
I agree with all the comments on diversification and stupidly waiting on one stock to go up. I wish I was a CEO and got a call from them. I also laughed out loud for a while to one of the posts, where someone said they might be taking their stock ideas from Timâs BS press. I can even see them reading and considering those spam mails, pumping OB stocks overnight.
OJ Hedge Fund guy: This guy is another version of the boiler room guys. Buys OJ futures and prays that it goes up in price. No analysis, diversification, nothing. And he claims to be a hedge fund manager? Who would want to give him money and 2% management fee, if heâs only going to invest in one single asset, on which he doesnât have any clue (as proven by his shock when the OJ supply numbers are announced). How better will he manage my money than me, if he literally bets on the OJ prices, without basing his decisions on any experience, analysis etc.
German deal maker chick: I think she was the âBrettâ of Season 1, as she was wondering around hot places, without actually doing much. Weâve never seen her doing hard work, but she was closing the so-called 250-500 million deals. Wonder how
Guy de Chimay: This is the hedge fund manager from Season 1, and I think he was one of the most real characters in this show, along with the other hedge fund manager, who invested in troubled companies for long-term.