u/Individual-Belt5283

Hey everyone,

I’m in high school in India and trying to optimize my path into investment banking / private equity long term — not from a “what sounds cool” angle, but purely from a probability and ROI perspective.

From what I’ve seen so far, it feels like IB/PE recruiting is heavily biased toward a few pipelines:

target schools (Wharton, LSE, etc.)

or India route (SRCC/IIT → IIM ABC)

Everything else seems significantly harder.

I’m trying to figure out if that’s actually true, or just perception.

My background:

96% boards, 1530 SAT

Regional math olympiad winner

Built a finance startup (4000+ users, ~₹5L profit, small team)

Research in IPOs/market behavior

Right now I’m deciding between:

India path (SRCC → MBA later)

IPM (IIM Indore etc.)

Applying abroad with financial aid

Or going more quant/tech-heavy and entering finance from that side

My questions (would really value blunt answers):

Is IB/PE realistically a pedigree-dominated game, or can strong execution offset it?

Which path actually gives the highest probability, not just theoretical upside?

If you had to start again from scratch, what path would you choose?

Is traditional IB even the smartest route anymore, or is quant/tech finance a better bet long-term?

Not looking for motivational answers just honest, experience-based takes.

Hey everyone,

I’m in high school in India and trying to optimize my path into investment banking / private equity long term — not from a “what sounds cool” angle, but purely from a probability and ROI perspective.

From what I’ve seen so far, it feels like IB/PE recruiting is heavily biased toward a few pipelines:

target schools (Wharton, LSE, etc.)

or India route (SRCC/IIT → IIM ABC)

Everything else seems significantly harder.

I’m trying to figure out if that’s actually true, or just perception.

My background:

96% boards, 1530 SAT

Regional math olympiad winner

Built a finance startup (4000+ users, ~₹5L profit, small team)

Research in IPOs/market behavior

Right now I’m deciding between:

India path (SRCC → MBA later)

IPM (IIM Indore etc.)

Applying abroad with financial aid

Or going more quant/tech-heavy and entering finance from that side

My questions (would really value blunt answers):

Is IB/PE realistically a pedigree-dominated game, or can strong execution offset it?

Which path actually gives the highest probability, not just theoretical upside?

If you had to start again from scratch, what path would you choose?

Is traditional IB even the smartest route anymore, or is quant/tech finance a better bet long-term?

Not looking for motivational answers — just honest, experience-based takes.

Hey everyone,

I’m in high school in India and trying to optimize my path into investment banking / private equity long term — not from a “what sounds cool” angle, but purely from a probability and ROI perspective.

From what I’ve seen so far, it feels like IB/PE recruiting is heavily biased toward a few pipelines:

target schools (Wharton, LSE, etc.)

or India route (SRCC/IIT → IIM ABC)

Everything else seems significantly harder.

I’m trying to figure out if that’s actually true, or just perception.

My background:

96% boards, 1530 SAT

Regional math olympiad winner

Built a finance startup (4000+ users, ~₹5L profit, small team)

Research in IPOs/market behavior

Right now I’m deciding between:

India path (SRCC → MBA later)

IPM (IIM Indore etc.)

Applying abroad with financial aid

Or going more quant/tech-heavy and entering finance from that side

My questions (would really value blunt answers):

Is IB/PE realistically a pedigree-dominated game, or can strong execution offset it?

Which path actually gives the highest probability, not just theoretical upside?

If you had to start again from scratch, what path would you choose?

Is traditional IB even the smartest route anymore, or is quant/tech finance a better bet long-term?

Not looking for motivational answers — just honest, experience-based takes.

Hey everyone,

I'm a finance student and I've been watching the same problem repeat itself across every freelancer community I'm part of — and honestly in my own circle too.

Indian freelancers are incredibly good at their actual work. But the money side is a mess for almost everyone. GST calculations done on a WhatsApp forward. Invoices sent on a random template someone Googled in 2019. No real idea what the actual profit is after taxes. And a CA who picks up the phone once a year.

I want to build something simple that fixes this. Not another heavy accounting software. Not QuickBooks with 200 features nobody uses. Just a clean, India-specific tool that answers three questions a freelancer actually cares about:

— How much did I earn this month?

— How much GST do I owe?

— What is my real profit after everything?

But here is the thing — I am not going to build anything until I talk to real freelancers first. I've seen too many people build something for months and then discover nobody wanted it. I don't want to do that.

So before I write a single line of code or design a single screen, I want to get on 15-minute calls with 20 Indian freelancers this week. Designers, developers, writers, consultants, marketers — anyone who invoices clients and deals with GST.

I'm not selling anything. There's nothing to buy. I just want to listen and understand what your actual day-to-day finance headaches look like.

If you're open to a quick call, drop a comment or DM me and I'll send you a calendar link. Totally free, no pitch, just a conversation.

And if you don't want to call but you have a strong opinion about what's broken — drop it in the comments. I'll read every single one.

Thanks for reading.

Hey everyone,

I'm a finance student and I've been watching the same problem repeat itself across every freelancer community I'm part of — and honestly in my own circle too.

Indian freelancers are incredibly good at their actual work. But the money side is a mess for almost everyone. GST calculations done on a WhatsApp forward. Invoices sent on a random template someone Googled in 2019. No real idea what the actual profit is after taxes. And a CA who picks up the phone once a year.

I want to build something simple that fixes this. Not another heavy accounting software. Not QuickBooks with 200 features nobody uses. Just a clean, India-specific tool that answers three questions a freelancer actually cares about:

— How much did I earn this month?

— How much GST do I owe?

— What is my real profit after everything?

But here is the thing — I am not going to build anything until I talk to real freelancers first. I've seen too many people build something for months and then discover nobody wanted it. I don't want to do that.

So before I write a single line of code or design a single screen, I want to get on 15-minute calls with 20 Indian freelancers this week. Designers, developers, writers, consultants, marketers — anyone who invoices clients and deals with GST.

I'm not selling anything. There's nothing to buy. I just want to listen and understand what your actual day-to-day finance headaches look like.

If you're open to a quick call, drop a comment or DM me and I'll send you a calendar link. Totally free, no pitch, just a conversation.

And if you don't want to call but you have a strong opinion about what's broken — drop it in the comments. I'll read every single one.

Thanks for reading.