Ken Moelis admits that launching a boutique investment bank in the middle of a global financial crisis was not the most obvious move for a banker trying his hand at being an entrepreneur for the first time.
Do you know how many people told me we were going to go bankrupt? Everyone, says the veteran adviser as he reminisces about the early days of Moelis & Company in 2007. When I was expanding in the crisis the whole street thought I was crazy, he says.
The bank enjoyed a dazzling growth rate as it hired about 200 staff in less than two years. But critics predicted it would struggle to find new clients, relying instead on securing a few big-ticket deals with old clients of Mr Moelis, such as Hilton, which the bank advised in 2…
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