Career Path Of A Partner At McDermott + Bull
Michael's career journey began with sales and marketing internships at CBRE and LogicCallus, providing exposure to "larger organizations." After college, a desire for entrepreneurship led to opening an Earl of Sandwich franchise, providing a "mini MBA" experience running the full P&L before transitioning to executive search, ultimately becoming a partner focused on private equity clients.
Entrepreneurship, Sales and Marketing, Management, Executive Search, Overcoming Challenges
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Michael Finegold
Partner
McDermott + Bull
Arizona State University (ASU) - W. P. Carey
None
Communications
Consulting & Related Professional Services, Recruitment, HR & Related Professional Services
Sales and Client Management
None Applicable
Video Highlights
1. He started his career with internships in sales and marketing at firms like CBRE and Logic Callas, gaining exposure to various aspects of business operations.
2. He took an entrepreneurial path by opening an Earl of Sandwich franchise, learning valuable lessons in management, operations, and finance through hands-on experience.
3. After selling his franchise, he transitioned to executive search, working his way up from analyst to partner, focusing on recruiting for private equity investors and their portfolio companies.
Transcript
Could you walk me through your career path, starting with your experiences in college? Please include any internships or jobs you've had before your current role.
In college, I had multiple internships each summer. I started as an intern in sales and marketing at CBRE, a large commercial real estate firm. A lot of what I was doing was data entry and cold calling on different types of clientele for one of the main partners there, focusing on industrial deals.
My second summer, I interned at an IT infrastructure company, also in sales and marketing. It was called Logic, Logicallus; it's a multi-billion dollar business. I found it through the ASU career center, where they had posted an opening. So, another ASU student and I were interns there.
We got a lot of exposure across sales, marketing, and operations. I really tried to help in any capacity that I could through those experiences. I learned a lot about how to operate in larger organizations.
Personally, I wanted to do something more entrepreneurial. I came from a family of entrepreneurs, and my college roommate and I had decided that when we got out of school, we wanted to open our own business. So, we started researching.
We found a franchise, a sandwich franchise called Earl of Sandwich. Earl of Sandwich made toasted sandwiches, and we had a connection to the owner of the parent company. We talked to him about what we wanted to do, to be his first franchisee. We raised some outside capital from family and friends.
We ended up putting together a business plan and opening this sandwich franchise. It was on Mill Avenue, right in the center of all the bars. Very quickly, I became the general manager of that business. I was 22 years old and had about 60 people underneath me when I started.
For the next four years, I was running the full P&L. I learned about inventory, operations, sales, and management. A lot of it was learned through failing, coming in and realizing what I was doing was wrong and figuring out how to correct it. It was a really great experience, almost like a mini-MBA, where I really got to understand how all facets of business work.
I decided that I didn't want to be in franchising forever; it was pretty grueling. I was working pretty much all day, every day. I'd be there open at 5:00 AM to start catering orders and close by washing dishes at 10:00 PM. On the weekends, we were open until 3:00 AM because of the bars. It just wasn't something I wanted to do long-term.
We ended up selling it to a taco shop that is still there today. Then I came back to California, and that's when I got into my current career, which is executive search. Executive search is high-level recruiting. We build out VP, C-suite, and boards for mid-level industrial businesses.
I started as an analyst, and over the last nine years, I've really worn every hat in the business. I'm now a partner at the firm. I run a team here focused on working with private equity investors and helping them build out their leadership teams when they buy out new companies.
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