I got into SMERGERS by writing about a cafe in Goa.

The job post asked for a three-page case study on any small business instead of a resume. It was the middle of Covid, so I had nothing particularly interesting to do. I picked a place I liked in Goa, Eva Cafe, and submitted a case study on it.

A few days later, the team called me.

That’s it. A case study on a cafe got me the job.

I didn’t know much about SMERGERS at the time. I knew it was a marketplace, but I had never worked in investment banking or M&A.

Not knowing the industry made me curious enough to try. The hiring process itself stuck with me too. No resume, no traditional filter, just the actual work.