Education

Columbia University

B.A., Chinese Studies

University of Pennsylvania - Lauder Institute

M.A., International Studies (Chinese Language & Culture)

University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School

M.B.A., Finance

Podcasts

29:29

157: What It’s Like to Work in Private Equity Investment in China w/ Brock Silvers, Kaiyan Capital [Main T4C episode]

Brock Silvers is Managing Director at Kaiyuan Capital, a private equity investment firm in Shanghai, China. Previously, Brock served as the CEO of Laris Group, as well as Managing Director of Kaiyuan Investment Advisory. Additionally, Brock was a co-Founding Partner at Power Pacific Company and he served as Director of..

15:59

191: How to Break Into Private Equity Investment in China w/ Brock Silvers, Kaiyuan Capital [Espresso Shots]

Career Path

Interview Highlights

“Going through that cycle from the time you’ve raised money and found a target, made a deal, run it, grown it, and then when you look to get some money out and make your exit, that’s the private equity life cycle.”

Best Career Advice

“[Sam Zell] said ‘I can teach you accounting, but I can’t teach you to be a smart guy and I can’t teach you to be my kind of guy’ … what he was trying to say to me is that he could give me an opportunity, but what I did with that was really going to be up to me.”

Career Challenge

“A lot of the finance world in the West end in Asia is … a difficult world filled with hard people, and there’s lots of money and careers involved and people can be difficult and not everyone is always going to be friendly and not everyone’s always going to be happy to help you along. And you have to take those same attributes … for me, it was, I never wanted to go into a meeting unless I thought I was the best prepared guy there. I was in an atmosphere where everyone was super smart. So I couldn’t count on being the smartest guy in a room … but I knew that I could be the most prepared guy and I worked like a dog.”