Josh Jia
Founder and Partner at Finance Interview Coach
0 followers·0 connections
Josh Jia is the founder of Finance Interview Coach, the world’s #1 interview coaching service for students and professionals in investment banking, private equity, corporate development, corporate / commercial banking, equity research / hedge funds, and venture capital. He is also the founder of Wall Street Elite, which provides online courses, advisory services for family offices, and financial modeling consulting for PE, VC, and VC-backed companies. Josh is the author of the 350 Questions guide and has taught IB lectures at 10 universities, including UVA, Princeton, Wharton, and UCLA. He has coached clients in 33 countries across the world, including North America, Europe, Australia, Asia, Africa, and South America. Through his efforts, Josh has placed 350+ candidates in finance roles and held thousands of interview prep sessions from the Analyst and Associate level to the Director and Principal level. During his time in investment banking (BMO) and private equity (Imperial Capital), Josh has accumulated significant transaction experience, including the C$300M IPO of Sleep Country, the US$156M acquisition of Atlas Paper by Resolute Forest Products, and a private equity roll-up of food testing labs in the U.S. Having worked closely with the sell side and buy side alike, Josh knows exactly how to position candidates for success both for the short term and the long term, and is eager to provide coaching and share his resources in the areas of investment banking, private equity, corporate development, and other subsectors of finance.
Interested Industries
Skills
Financial Analysis
expert
Financial Modeling
expert
Analytical Thinking
intermediate
Work Experience
Founder
2017-11 - Present
Coach candidates for IB, PE, VC, corp dev, ER, HF, FP&A/strategic fin, IR interviews; 400+ placements, 93% success rate Teach Investment Banking at the University of Virginia’s MBA program (2024 – present), driving increased IB placements Creating #1 online course in IB, breaking down complex topics into digestible pieces with 1,000+ interview questions Partnered with edtech companies to hold IB, PE, ER, and HF interview prep courses across Canada, US, UK, and Australia Created guides on IB, PE, REPE, ER, HF; built LBO, VC, and M&A cases; filmed LBO models; writer of 350 Questions Guide Placements include: Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Evercore, Moelis, Apax, Citadel, Onex Provide consulting for PE, REPE, VC, VC-backed firms on LBO, financial modeling, refinancings, capital raises, turnarounds
Private Equity Analyst
Imperial Capital
2015-11 - 2017-11
2017: Acquisition of Northland and Richter; Roll-Up of 4 US Food Testing Labs (~US$1-2 mm EBITDA each) • Performed deep dive industry research; interviewed 10+ industry experts; analysis led to pursuit of proprietary roll-up • Analyzed each product and service line to identify cross-selling opportunities, supporting a hub-and-spoke roll-up model • Worked closely with CEO partner to categorize key drivers; construct sum-of-parts LBO model to justify earn-out and entry 2016: Terminated Acquisition of Security Company (US$5-15 mm EBITDA) • Completed trending analysis of gross adds, ARPU, and attrition; analysis drove spin-off of non-performing division • Collaborated with CFO to build cap schedules on equipment, revenue, and costs to disaggregate accounting vs. cash flow • Produced LBO model driven by regional subscriber and installation schedules; analyzed non-performing division spin-off 2016: Ackerman Securities (portfolio company, US$50-100 mm revenue) • Bridged G&A increase; identified sale incentives to maximize sales while ignoring equipment and install creation costs • Analysis ultimately led to the hiring of a new management team, IT improvements, and modifying the go-to-market strategy
Investment Banking Analyst
Bank of Montreal
2014-07 - 2015-11
C$300 mm IPO of Sleep Country • Built IPO model based on management forecasts; sensitized same store sales growth and management target assumptions • Constructed comparables and benchmarking analysis on delivery, price and service to support the IPO multiple • Created roadshow presentation and managed all charts in the prospectus; interfaced directly with client to reflect comments Resolute Forest Products’ US$156 mm acquisition of Atlas Paper • Categorized vendor transactions into revenue and cost items; analyzed SKU volume, price and standard costs for forecast • Assembled sum-of-parts model and sensitized against COGS and price increases, which supported the purchase price