How to Build an Investment Bank from Scratch

It’s almost a cliché in the cultural narrative of the U.S.—attaining the so-called “American Dream” and how people here live that out. Sam Kelly’s story reflects a singular aspect of that: how Americans outside of the mainstream—specifically those from migrant or immigrant backgrounds, communities of color, those from the socioeconomic margins, etc.—reach for that dream, and define it for themselves. 
In this episode of Pencils Down, Sam reflects back on his public school and undergraduate days, where he had little direction and knew only that he didn’t want to go into government work, as his parents had done. And through his own readings and his gumption to try something different beyond the expectations of his peers and community, found himself working in private equity and finance, after college. 
Join host Fed Baradello in this human—and humane—story of bootstrapping a life in the financial industry, as it were, via Sam Kelly’s journey into the beating heart of global finance in New York City, USA. Beginning as it did at the very start of the Covid pandemic, Sam’s story about founding Solomon Gideon Capital is extraordinary in its parts, and in its whole.