vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
Context: assessed project as part of a tech internship in an investment bank, working in small groups, task: to design an app using a financial solution that has an ethical impact.  We came up with (what I hope) is the smart sounding idea of an app for impoverished farmers in developing countries who lack the information and market access that larger or unionised farmers would have. The app would use some kind of decision tree (which may grow with machine learning) to assess the best kind of crops to grow given the region and local conditions for max profitability, and would provide access to some kind of derivatives market, and insurance, allowing the farmers a consistent income.  Struggling with the specifics of how the business/finance side of things would work. Let's assume the bank builds the app and puts it on the app-store as part of some charitable initiative. 1) Would the farmers go directly to the bank to price and purchase derivatives on their crops? 2) Options/futures/forwards - which is most appropriate, or would it make sense to offer all three? 3) Is there any way this could be adjusted to provide regular payments, with a lump sum at the end? Would this be something the bank chooses to do, or is there an existing financial instrument for this kind of setup? 4) How does this tie in with the commodities markets (or is that what the derivatives already are?) 5) Probably a long-shot but any chance of know-your-customer implementations for countries with terrible infrastructure?  6) (probably a dumb question) Say the farmer sells an option on his crops, would this be sold directly to the bank or a 3rd party who'd be more interested in actually buying the crop? Or is this a far too simplistic view? Basically who would the farmer actually deliver the crops to? 7) Any other issues/oversights? Any ideas to make this sound somewhat viable?  It doesn't have to strictly be realistic in any sense, but it also can't be flat-out incorrect!  tyvm in advance, edited to make questions clearer
You ought to talk to the UCLA career services people as soon as you can and get names of UCLA graduates who work at the banks you're interested in. Career services also ought to have the names of the relevant HR representatives. Both the employees at these banks and the HR recruiters will have an important voice in who gets interviews, so make sure you talk to both of them. You should be inquisitive and ask about the bank and the experiences those you talk to have had, but you can also try to creatively weave in details about your story. I.e., when talking to someone you could bring up concerns about getting looked at because of your background and then ask whoever you're speaking with WHAT YOU CAN DO TO OVERCOME THAT. It should always be phrased as a question, so as to avoid seeming as if you're trying to sell yourself or brag during any informational calls. The purpose of the calls should be to talk about the bank and the job, so try as best you can to work in limited mention of yourself unless specifically asked and focus the discussion on the employee/recruiter and not yourself. You should also work to learn all the finance information you'll need for the job. Being that you have a nontraditional finance background and limited academic credentials, you will be asked extensive financial information questions if not during any informational calls definitely during first round interviews. Your knowledge of and commitment to a financial job is uncertain due to your academic background, so people will ask you basic to slightly more advanced financial analysis questions to see where your competency is at. Study up in the vault guide, with a particular focus on the fields you will be applying for. Understand DCF, LBO, M&amp;A accretion-dilution, and financial statement analysis primarily (for IB internships). Learn specifics for other roles (Equity research may require more equity specific stuff, cap markets will be similar to IB as listed above, S&amp;T will be less specific prep and more bainteasers/fast math). Prepare a stock pitch of some sort as well in case they ask you for one, and pick something obscure-ish so that it won't be too closely scrutinized. Stock pitch will come up randomly in interviews and specifically if you apply to equity research.
Trying to buy things with equity at this early stage just creates inequality, arguments, and unfairness. How much should the investors own vs. the founders and employees? That depends on market conditions. Realistically, if the investors end up owning more than 50%, the founders are going to feel like sharecroppers and lose motivation, so good investors don't get greedy that way. If the company can bootstrap without investors, the founders and employees might end up owning 100% of the company. Interestingly enough, the pressure is pretty strong to keep things balanced between investors and founders/employees; an old rule of thumb was that at IPO time (when you had hired all the employees and raised as much money as you were going to raise) the investors would have 50% and the founders/employees would have 50%, but with hot Internet companies in 2011, investors may end up owning a lot less than 50%. Conclusion There is no one-size-fits-all solution to this problem, but anything you can do to make it simple, transparent, straightforward, and, above-all, fair, will make your company much more likely to be successful. The above awesome answer came from the Stack Exchange beta site for startups, which has now closed. I expect that this equity distribution question (which is strongly tied to personal finance) will come up more times in the future so I have copied the content originally posted. All credit for this excellent answer is due to Joel Spolsky, a moderator for the Startups SE beta site, and co-founder of Stack Exchange."
I have never had a lender ask my budget, only my income, savings, credit rating and value of the collateral. That's considered adequate info to estimate risk for most ordinary loans. Yes, they may want the income proven by evidence from your employer or via a copy of your tax returns. They don't care what you buy as long as there's evidence you'll make loan payments on time for the life of the loan.
As a CFA charter holder, I would wholeheartedly encourage you go through the process.   As someone that interviews potential employees (financial services industry), I would advise you to be prepared to defend your pursuit.   I often come across resumes that state, “CFA Level I candidate,” and when I do, I immediate ask related questions – and most applicants respond inadequately.   Don’t do it to simply pad your resume; do you it because you are committed to the franchise.
This is an extremely common mistake and it's terrible when it happens. You have these companies where 3 cofounders have been working day and night for five years, and then you discover there's some jerk that quit after two weeks and he still thinks he owns 25% of the company for his two weeks of work. Now, let me clear up some little things that often complicate the picture. What happens if you raise an investment? The investment can come from anywhere... an angel, a VC, or someone's dad. Basically, the answer is simple: the investment just dilutes everyone. Using the example from above... we're two founders, we gave ourselves 2500 shares each, so we each own 50%, and now we go to a VC and he offers to give us a million dollars in exchange for 1/3rd of the company. 1/3rd of the company is 2500 shares. So you make another 2500 shares and give them to the VC. He owns 1/3rd and you each own 1/3rd. That's all there is to it. What happens if not all the early employees need to take a salary? A lot of times you have one founder who has a little bit of money saved up, so she decides to go without a salary for a while, while the other founder, who needs the money, takes a salary. It is tempting just to give the founder who went without pay more shares to make up for it. The trouble is that you can never figure out the right amount of shares to give. This is just going to cause conflicts. Don't resolve these problems with shares. Instead, just keep a ledger of how much you paid each of the founders, and if someone goes without salary, give them an IOU. Later, when you have money, you'll pay them back in cash. In a few years when the money comes rolling in, or even after the first VC investment, you can pay back each founder so that each founder has taken exactly the same amount of salary from the company. Shouldn't I get more equity because it was my idea? No. Ideas are pretty much worthless.
The LLC will not be liable for anything, it is disregarded for tax purposes. If you're doing any work while in the US, or you (or your spouse) are a green card holder or a US citizen - then you (not the LLC) may be liable, may be required to file, pay, etc. Unless you're employing someone, or have more than one member in your LLC, you do not need an EIN. Re the bank - whatever you want. If you want you can open an account in an American bank. If you don't - don't. Who cares?
"I've hired a lawyer to make sure all the T's are crossed.   - I am not charging my employer for the service. I created a ""Free tier"" that fits the scale of my employer, and implemented it that way for them. Larger government bodies are paying for the higher tiers. On multiple levels, i've been sure that nothing conflicts with either our purchasing policy, or any written employee policies.    - I did 100% of the work on my own time and using my own resources. I was extremely careful to ensure this was the case. There is no clause anywhere in my employment agreement that says the company owns anything I do outside of company time. Believe it or not, this is actually less of an issue for a government body because the government doesn't exist to make a profit from services, and because they are getting an expensive service for free, it's actually a significant net benefit for them.  I certainly would be at a significantly higher risk if I was working for a for-profit corporation as they certainly would try to go after me.    - I was also careful in how the software was presented. While I agree there is a level of a obfuscation without a doubt, I've confirmed it certainly not a legal issue for the company, nor is it grounds for a lawsuit, and likely not even grounds for termination (although at this point, I don't really care as I have bigger fish to fry)"
First of all, I've raised VC money before so I have experience in this area. The other commenter who said they'll only cause trouble is wrong, as a general statement. Some may, but that just means you've chosen your investors poorly. Choosing an investor is a very important decision and you should choose someone who you think will be able truly add value to your business, rather than just someone who is willing to write a check. Cultural alignment is important, and having a shared set of goals and timelines for the business is important.   That said, no one here is going to be able to tell you how to structure your deal because it varies so much based on the business. In general I think it's a good idea to only take money when you need it and have a solid plan for how you're going to use it. Every time you take money you're diluting your ownership and reducing your long-term upside. Keep in mind that, as the other commenter said, if you take a deal now that means that you maintain 51% and then you take more money in the future, that 51% will be diluted further. That said with more investors in the mix you still are likely to be the largest shareholder, but again, that depends on how the deals are structured.   My advice: seek out as much advice from as many sources as you can. And hire a good law firm to handle your financing transaction because their advice is invaluable as you negotiate terms. Finally, you should have more conditions than just retaining 51% ownership -- there are a lot of terms that get baked into these deals that have an impact on the long-term upside. Learn those terms. Do a bunch of googling and a bunch of reading. And ask for more advice. :)
Depends on the type and scope of your business. I am very strongly considering starting my own mobile app business while unemployed to fill the employment gap. The odds of turning a decent profit are probably low, but my overhead is so low that my risk is virtually zero. Just as long as it helps me get work later on, I will have accomplished my goals.
"I expect the company wanted to pay you for a product (on a purchase order) rather than as  a contract laborer. Whatever. Would they be willing to re-issue the check to you as a sole proprietor of a business named ABC Consulting (or anything like that)? You can register your sole proprietor business with the state using a ""Doing Business As"" (DBA, or fictitious name), and then open the bank account for your business using the check provided by the customer as the first deposit. (There is likely a smaller registration fee for the DBA.) If they won't re-issue the check and you have to go the LLC route... Scrounge up $125 doing odd jobs or borrowing from a friend or parents. Seriously, anyone can earn that amount of money in a week or two. Besides the filing fee for the LLC, your bank may require you to provide an Operating Agreement (which is not required by the State). The Operating Agreement can be simple, or more complex if you have a partner (even if it's a spouse). If you do have a partner, it is essential to have such an agreement because it would specify the responsibilities and benefits allocated to each partner, particularly in the event of equity distributions (taking money out of the business, or liquidating and ending the LLC). There are websites that will provide you a boilerplate form for Operating Agreements. But if your business is anything more than just single member LLC, you should pay an attorney to draw one up for you so the wording is right. It's a safeguard against potential future lawsuits. And, while we're at it, don't forget to obtain a EIN (equivalent to a SSN) from the IRS for your LLC. There's no cost, but you'll have to have it to file taxes as a business for every year the LLC exists and has income. Good luck!"
"I, too, have worked in both small and large companies; I started with the small ones and am currently at a big one. I agree with all of your points about the upside of working for small companies. Some of the upsides I find at the big company where I work are:  - there are people around you that know more than you do. There is a huge opportunity to learn from them, which is a lot harder when you're the lone expert at a 5-person company (you rely on whatever you can scrape up from the internet, etc.). Most people learn faster with good mentoring.  - there is money to spend on things that you need. No raised eyebrows from the CEO when you say that you need a $20 lamp for your desk, or even more serious issues like adequate hardware for what you need to do, getting tools you need, etc. (Less of an issue at a VC-funded startup, until the money starts running low.)  - there are entire teams that help with things like documentation, customer support, sales, tools, and other things, which frees me up to do what I'm good at, which is making software.  I remember reading some advice a while ago that still rings true to me, which is that there isn't a single ""right"" place to work (small/large, etc.); the right thing to do is get experience with a variety of different environments - in the end you'll be stronger for it."
"First off, with startups, forget that you know about common structures of debt and equity. Just try to think of this money as a generic ""investment"" that meets the investors risk and return objectives.  Startups are unique in that they are high risk but generally have almost no assets or security for an investor. Investors generically want two things: 1) Return and 2) Limited Risk.   Without speculating too much: consider that the investor might be viewing the return component as the 30% equity and the 8% dividend and he views the risk management component as the additional 30% equity, until repaid.  A different way of looking at this might be that the investor would require an equity stake greater than 30% with greater than a 8% dividend if he did not get the initial investment back in return for the reduced stake.  In other words, this structure is debt and equity because that is what the investor can demand.  Maybe you can get around this by offering a higher equity stake or offering something else although this structure is common because it aligns interests of the investor and the startup."
Is all data in the company equally sensitive? Does everyone in the company have equal access to this type of sensitive information that would cost a company 'billions of dollars in fines' or is your argument that any work product of any employee in the company could result in such fines? Can you provide an example of any company ever paying a fine of such magnitude? If not what is the basis for your estimation of that number?  Ok I'll take the stealth edit to mean you pulled it out of your ass which I already knew.
The best answer I can give is - be prepared for change. There's no perfect question you can ask or assurance you can get prior to accepting the offer that will give you any particularly perfect security or sense of stability here.  The company itself is going through a change of identity that can change how it will do business and even what the business is and how revenue is acquired.  In the time of the acquisition your role within the company could change radically for better or worse, it could even be eliminated entirely. If that type of uncertainty doesn't appeal to you - don't take the position. If you are absolutely psyched about this job, the best thing you can do is to learn more about the business itself and see if you can make any educated bets about how your role will play into the changes in business strategy that will come with the acquisition.
Both you and the Company were probably benefitted by this decision.  Specifically an option grant that was not FRV or more would require you to recognize the option as income whether you had exercised it or not.  Additionally a host of other 409A tax issues/penalties could have been levied against you as an employee recipient.  I certainly appreciate your concern about a change in compensation, but this is one where Corporate America likely saved your bacon.
"&gt; I have a bachelor's degree in management, but for the most part, we skimmed through several finance-related subjects like investments, project analysis.  I wish I could flag the question of ""why do they do this to you kids"" for future discussion with those more knowledgable, because surely there are incentives shaping these programs.  However, you asked for assistance, so I will share the limited knowledge that I have.  From the other advice, it seems clear that you should absolutely pursue a stronger background in accounting and finance in order to accomplish your long-term goals.  This work will need to extend past the point of this particular interview, whether you are hired by this company or not.  So you should probably approach that as a concurrent educational goal, rather than tying it to your preparations for this interview per se.  With regards to seeming smart, per se:  don't sweat it too much.  If you're qualified for the job without a certified educational background, then it's not a position where relative intelligence, short of frame-breaking brilliance, is going to be decisive.  Past the point where your prospective competence is established, other factors will quickly overshadow it.  Attempting to impress people with intelligence, rather than concrete achievements, should by rights serve as a red flag for prospective employers.  Intelligence cultivates its own set of liabilities and deficiencies.  The world is full of intelligent people who would rather be measured by what they *could* have achieved, rather than what they *did* achieve.  If attempting to be hired for this job involves a fully transparent approach --- that is, the company would be interested in knowingly hiring someone with an incomplete background   *in the work they will eventually be expected to perform* --- then your ability to prepare for the interview is a significant part of your resumé.  Low-hanging fruit, nonetheless easily missed, are histories of the industry, the technology, and the particular company."
"I'm a recent Finance grad from a CSU (Dec. 2016) looking to apply for Finance positions like financial analysis or financial planning. I have no relevant experience unfortunately, but would love some feedback on my resume! thank you!   Please let me know if this resume format looks strange or unappealing to the eye.  I wanted to use ""MyPerfectResume"" because their professional template was exactly what I wanted, but I don't want to pay money for a template."
In such a situation, is it really safe to give financial info to a person who does not encrypt it? Encryption only helps to an extent. i.e. during transmission of data or during brute force makes it more difficult to get the real data. However you concern is more of staff using this data, which encryption will not help much as they would be able to decrypt and see the data. In what ways could it be misused? This depends on the type of data. The financial data can be used to hack into your accounts if other bits of info are known. i.e. most of the times on Telephone requests; say putting card on hold, requesting balance on account, etc; only your address, mother maiden name, last few transaction details are asked. Some critical requests need more ID proofs; so generally not of concern. The other misuse would be selling this to marketing companies, so that you can be bombarded with sales pitch for anything and everything. The PAN and other ID documents are becoming more prone to mis-use. i.e. give a copy of PAN to open fraudulent accounts etc. A good practise would be to mark every copy of ID proof you give with the purpose as to why its given and a date. This would make the ID proof stale to an extent. If she is not going to encrypt it, should I ask her to delete all my old data and then create a new profile for my communication with her; the new profile not being my name, but a fake name? The regulations would not allow her to create fake accounts and may lead to issues and as such any recognised financial advisor would not allow this to be done. Quite a few countries have regulations for financial advisor's that need to be adhered to.