Alec Nickolov

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT ALEC NICKOLOV

Growing up, I always had a keen interest in business, I was the kid who was selling candy during recess. I’m a freshman at NYU Stern studying Finance and Economics. I was born in Chicago, lived in St. Louis for half my life, and moved to the Bay Area for the other half. My parents immigrated from Bulgaria, where my father was still in college and my mom was hustling and reselling DVDs. I would sell anything I could including pictures of cars I made around the block and during recess. Hustling every day was tiring, but it did help me develop a work ethic that most kids my age did not have. This hustle taught me at a young age that the money I make is a reflection of the work I put in. Since then, I have been looking for a career where my hard work resembles the meaningful impact of the projects I will work on. This led me to pursue a degree in finance and economics, as I believe having a strong understanding of human behavior is crucial in navigating the markets and knowing how to create value. My first ever job as a cashier at Panera gave me the foundational skills to land a marketing internship at a mid-sized tech company, where I learned the skills of approaching people and not taking no for an answer. Those experiences led me, during my freshman year at NYU, to connect with various upperclassmen and alumni. With their insights, the career that was most interesting right off the bat was investment banking. These M&A transactions and capital raises, having the power to transform businesses, captivated me. I don’t think I know any other things that are as impactful as that. I wanted to explore this path even further, so I got an internship at Green Hat Legacy, a small private equity firm. There, I learned the primary target for an LBO and analyzed 550+ companies for potential acquisitions. This work helped me build a better business intuition, which I was able to apply with the mini investment firm I founded. Combined with my money and several investors, having $130K+ AUM, I recruited analysts to analyze stocks for us to invest in. After a couple of months, we had multiple investments reach over 80%. All these experiences have solidified my interest in business and have led me to explore the key component that drives markets, investment banking.