Breaking Into Wall Street

Breaking Into Wall Street (BIWS) is an online training company for people trying to get into, and then do well in, investment banking, private equity and related finance jobs. It sells self-paced courses in networking, interview preparation, Excel, PowerPoint and financial modeling, all built around case studies of real companies and deals. The home page describes it as "the world's first and largest online training platform dedicated to helping students, entry-level professionals, and career changers" break into those fields, and counts 56,763+ paid user accounts, 144,189+ free YouTube subscribers, 145+ official university and corporate clients and 340+ separate organizations using its courses. The founder, Brian DeChesare, created BIWS based on his experience in technology and investment banking, according to the About page.

The teaching approach

The About page sets out the idea behind the courses: other training companies "might teach you the formulas, but they don't teach you how to use the financial models in real life." BIWS instead teaches "how to use financial modeling to make investment recommendations and advise clients." Every course is built on case studies "where you have to advise a client, make an investment recommendation, or decide whether or not a deal makes sense," and the coverage is global, with companies and assets "across the six inhabited continents." The models are tied to corporate filings, industry research and investor presentations, which the company admits makes the training "more complex" but "truer to real life."

The case lists show what that means in practice. Core Financial Modeling uses Monster Beverage, Stadler Rail, Coles, Target, Vivendi, Netflix and several M&A and buyout deals. The Oil & Gas course models Range Resources, Western Midstream Partners, Saras and China Oilfield Services. Project Finance covers a Spanish toll road, a North Carolina solar plant, a U.K. wind farm, Singapore Changi Airport and a lithium mine. The bank course uses Shawbrook, KeyCorp / First Niagara, ANZ and the Philippine Bank of Communications.

The course catalog

The courses page arranges the catalog in four levels, with all prices in USD:

• Level 1, winning interviews. The IB Networking Toolkit ($147, or 4 monthly payments of $37) covers coffee chats, cold emails, cold calls, weekend trips and information sessions. The IB Interview Guide ($197, or 4 payments of $49) has 578+ pages of technical tutorials, answers to fit questions, resume templates, quizzes and 17 Excel-based case studies. Together they cost $244 as the Level 1 Bundle.
• Level 2, the core skills. Excel & VBA ($197) covers shortcuts, formulas, graphs, data analysis and macros. Core Financial Modeling ($297, or 4 payments of $74) teaches accounting, 3-statement modeling, valuation, and M&A and LBO modeling with 10+ global case studies. PowerPoint Pro ($197) covers pitch book and slide creation and includes a macro package with 25+ commands designed for finance. The Excel & Financial Modeling bundle costs $397 (marked down from $494) with 11 global case studies, and BIWS Premium, labeled Most Popular, combines all three for $497 (from $691), payable in 6 monthly payments of $85.
• Level 3, buy-side modeling. Venture Capital & Growth Equity Modeling ($247), Private Equity Modeling, the LBO course ($197, with 6 conceptual models and 6 full case studies), and Private Equity Funds of Funds & Secondaries ($197).
• Level 4, industry modeling. Advanced M&A Modeling ($97, 4 global case studies), Biotech Valuation ($97, 3 full case studies), Oil & Gas Modeling ($197, 4 global case studies), Project Finance & Infrastructure Modeling ($247), Real Estate Modeling ($247, with 6 short and 5 in-depth case studies), REIT Financial Modeling ($247) and Bank & Financial Institution Modeling ($497).

Resume/CV editing and private coaching are also offered for people who want individual help with their strategy.

Plans and the guarantee

Individual courses come with access that does not expire. The alternative is a 1-year plan, which the page says saves 60 to 85%+ off the normal prices: Silver at $97 for 1 year, Gold at $297 for 1 year and Platinum at $497 for 1 year. The page puts the savings over buying individual courses at $147 (60% off) for Silver, $397 (57% off) for Gold and $2,808 (85% off) for Platinum. The plans do not renew automatically; you can choose to renew after the year, "but the default is no renewal."

Everything carries a 90-day money-back guarantee. The home page puts it simply: "Take our courses and guides for a test drive for 90 days," and if they are not what you are looking for, "you can request a refund." The VC course page calls it no-questions-asked and adds that you do not have to finish the course within that time.

Inside a course: the VC example

The Venture Capital & Growth Equity Modeling page shows how a BIWS course is built. It has 9 case studies, split into 5 short ones (a "weekend crash-course plan") and 4 longer ones, plus study plans of 2-4 hours, 10 hours or 20 hours depending on how deep you want to go. Learners model cap tables for Seed through Series C rounds, liquidation preferences and option pools, SaaS metrics such as LTV / CAC and retention, exit options (M&A, IPO or SPAC), venture debt and a sum-of-the-parts biotech valuation. The full package is 117 separate videos, 141 pages of written guides and interview questions, transcripts and captions, and "Before and After" Excel files. The page priced it at $247 as a new-course discount on seven $97 components.

Support is asynchronous but long-lasting. Each lesson has a Question/Comment area answered by an expert support team "every one of whom has personal experience working on deals at finance firms," and the VC course includes 5 years of support, updates and video access. The page is clear about the limits: the team will not complete models or homework for you, and will not answer questions on topics outside the courses, such as sales and trading or coding interviews.

Certification exams

Each course ends in a certification exam with a 90% passing score. The certificates page claims "The Industry's Most Rigorous Testing Provides the Industry's Most Valuable Certification," and explains that the exams test conceptual knowledge and "outside the box" thinking. Grading is automated and results are instant, and the company says "very few students pass them the first time around." Sample exams are published for every course, from Excel setup and lookup functions to bank buyout models. In the VC course the quiz has 25 questions, there are no limits on time or attempts, and passing earns a Certificate in Venture Capital Modeling that the page suggests adding to LinkedIn. These are BIWS's own course certificates.

Free material and group use

Before buying, learners can sign up for free Financial Modeling 101 tutorials, a free DCF video tutorial series and a bonus guide on sourcing free financial data; the home page says 120,000+ people have joined for the free tutorials. For firms and universities there are group licenses, and the courses page lists schools and companies where it says the courses are used, from Harvard Business School, INSEAD and the London School of Economics to Barclays Capital, Morgan Stanley and HSBC.

Who it suits

BIWS suits students and career changers aiming at investment banking, private equity, venture capital or hedge funds who learn well from Excel models and case studies, and current analysts who want to deepen a specific skill such as LBOs, project finance or bank modeling. The home page testimonials reflect that range; one, from James W., a career changer moving from consulting to finance, reads: "I was in consulting at MBB and your course helped me land a job in Private Equity." The non-expiring courses suit someone who wants a reference for years, and the 1-year plans suit someone preparing intensively for one recruiting season.

It suits people less well who want scheduled live classes, since support runs through lesson comments rather than sessions, or who are recruiting for sales and trading or programming roles. The modeling is detailed and tied to real filings, which the company itself says makes it more complex, so a learner with no accounting background should start with the Level 1 and Level 2 material. And the sales pages lean heavily on salary math and job-offer stories; the 90-day guarantee is the better basis for a decision.