First Post (Also in the “About” Section)

Posted by Jeff Lu on February 10, 2009

I created this blog because I’m passionate about the technology start-up community. I enjoy learning about new and innovative companies and networking with the brilliant founders, managers and investors of those companies. As an investment banking analyst, everyday I’m humbled by the opportunity to work for and learn from people far more intelligent than myself.

I’ll probably eventually link JeffreyLu.com to a another url, and although beyondthedeal.com is already taken, I thought that the title epitomizes what this blog is and what I hope to be.

What I love about start-up communities is that often times members are willing to passionately go out of their way to build lasting relationships and to help each other succeed. Due to this dynamic, I believe that in order to build a successful Internet banking practice, bankers need to have an intellectual curiosity and passion for the sector; to drop their natural instinct of hunting down the deal. We need to love what we do not just because we love executing transactions, but also to love helping people build great companies so that we can have great clients.

I hope that I can leverage this blog as an avenue to meet more brilliant people in the community and look “beyond the deal” to help people in whatever way I can.