Michael N.

Michael Neal

5.0

(6)

Centerview Tech | Prep Founder & Author | The West Coast Authority

4,755 min coached

41 followers

Chicago Booth Logo

Studied at Chicago Booth

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Worked at Centerview Partners

Successful clients at

Available Tuesday at 1:30 AM UTC

Usually responds within 9 hours

Questions? Start chatting with this coach before you get started.

Michael's Coaching Offerings

Custom hourly · $150/hr

Get help with Technical Interview Prep, Mergers & Acquisitions, and .

Michael’s Leland+ Resources

Access expert resources from Michael and hundreds of other coaches on Leland+

Michael’s Investment Banking Qualifications

Experience level: Associate

10+ people coached for Investment Banking

Michael has helped clients get into these companies:

The candidates who don't get offers typically aren't underprepared — they're overprepared on the wrong things. The pattern I see over and over: candidates who memorized 500 technicals but have a generic "Why Banking." Who can nail the DCF walkthrough but can't actually talk about a deal or a trend with any conviction. Technical accuracy doesn't create separation. Delivery does. I've guided hundreds of candidates to offers at Centerview, Goldman, Qatalyst, and more — through one-on-one coaching and the prep platform I built from scratch. What separated them was understanding that getting the answer right is only 10% of the interview. ——— BEHAVIORALS The hardest part is knowing when your story isn't working. Every candidate has a "Why IB" answer. Very few are memorable. We rebuild your TMAY, your "Why's," and your scenarios from the ground up. I'll interview you, figure out what actually makes you different, and build a narrative around it. The goal: a story that is genuinely yours and impossible to mistake for anyone else's. ——— TECHNICALS Most candidates who fail actually knew the material. They just couldn't deliver it under pressure. I wrote the open-access textbook on IB technicals. I'll identify your blind spots, teach you to structure answers like a senior banker, and show you how to play defense when you're unsure. We turn a "pass" into a "top bucket." ——— MARKET This is where preparation becomes differentiation. Bankers are looking for colleagues, not students — and they can tell the difference between someone who follows markets and someone who's cramming for an interview. Most candidates treat market knowledge like a homework assignment. Bankers can tell. They're looking for the start of a real point of view. We'll carve out your sector niche so you speak with the conviction of someone who's been covering the space for years. This is the section that gets you the callback.

Michael can help with:

Technical Interview Prep

Mergers & Acquisitions

Behavioral Interview Prep

General Exploration

Networking Strategy

View all of Michael’s categories

About Michael

I walked out of my Centerview superday knowing I had the offer — not because I was the smartest candidate, but because I had figured out what actually mattered in the room. That became the foundation for everything I've built since. I led UChicago's Investment Banking Group as Technical Lead and helped dozens of candidates land offers before founding OFFERGOBLIN, the adaptive prep platform with 5,000+ verified interview questions from every major bank. I wrote the industry's open-access textbook on IB technicals. My full-time job — my only job — is figuring out what gets people offers and building systems around it.

Why do I coach?

Most coaches fit sessions in between deal work or their day job. This is all I do. No busy season. No distractions. I've seen every failure mode, I know exactly where the bar is, and my only focus is getting you over it.

Work Experience

Centerview Partners Logo

Summer Associate

Centerview Partners

June 2025 - August 2025

Technology Group

Deloitte Logo

Consultant

Deloitte

November 2020 - September 2024

Cloud Strategy / Tech coverage

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Logo

Head Teaching Assistant

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

August 2018 - August 2020

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Operations engineer

KATERRA

May 2019 - August 2019

Education

Chicago Booth Logo

Chicago Booth

MBA & MS CS

2024 - 2026

Activities and societies: Investment Banking Group — Technical Lead; Quantum @ Booth — Founder

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Logo

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

BS + MS, Civil Engineering

2016 - 2020

6 Reviews

Overall Rating

5.0


Knowledge

5.0

Value

5.0

Responsiveness

5.0

Supportiveness

5.0


Michael has helped clients get into these companies:

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Michael N.

Michael N.

5.0

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