7 Tips for the Boutique IB Summer Stint

Hi Monkeys,

I am entering the final week of my summer internship at a boutique investment bank. It's been a great experience, and I want to share some tiny pieces of advice I wish I had received earlier. Most of these are almost definitely specific to boutique banking, but I hope they prove useful generally. Here we go:

1. Work as long as possible

Let me be clear about this: I am not encouraging you to work backbreaking hours. I am encouraging you to work as many weeks as possible.

On Monday I will be entering my 12th and final full week of work this summer, which has been very positive. It takes time for your team (from analyst to MD) to trust you. The longer you give them to realize you are competent, fully immersed, and hungry, the longer they are likely to reward you with meaningful work.

Intensity comes in arcs: you ease in and ease out. The longer you give the arc to span, the higher your intensity can reach.

As a con, I gave up my summer. My first day of work was separated from my last day of school by the three days of a long weekend. My last day will be six days before I get back to school. I got to spend time at a great firm, do interesting work, team up with talented people, and enjoy culture in [one of my favorite cities].

2. Get on as many calls as you can as early and often as possible

A lot of interaction between the client team and the IB team takes place over the phone. The most valuable part of being an audience member to a call is listening to senior management and senior bankers have meaningful discussions. Nothing will fuel true understanding of a business like hearing such people discuss it. Beyond the technical 'analyst' skills I picked up this summer, I learned a lot about how to sell a business (especially in the sector we focus on) from listening in on calls.

Over time, people started expecting me to be on calls. This had a double effect of earning points with analysts and MDs alike. The MDs respected that I could keep up and take over for an analyst; the analysts loved that I could sub in for them on the more boring (lawyers...) or unexpected calls while they cranked out their work.

3. Live near where you work

The office I work at is in [center of city]. Based on my expected hours, I decided to live in [farther from my office] to save some money (and other more personal reasons). It totally worked out for me, but if my hours had been any longer than they were, the extra commute time would have really been a drain on my energy and productivity.

Side-tip: Getting in early is always more important than staying late. I was in a private role, but I bet this goes double for people in the markets. Be smart about your time!

4. Don't worry about your comp

I get it. The GS version of you and me is getting 10K before taxes or something great like that. It doesn't matter. Sure, he got comp'd out, and he has a better name on his resume, but taking the chance on a good gig where you may not get paid is almost always worth it. Just make sure you can cover rent.

5. Try to work for a good business

One of the many things that worked in my favor this summer was how busy my firm was. At one point during the summer we had more live deals than people (including myself and the other intern). This definitely contributed to how many assignments I was staffed on.

This might be similar advice to the "pick a good group" line, but I think it's a lot more important at a boutique bank, given how variable the experience can be.

My other internship experience wasn't in IBD, but the quality of my experience was very tangibly linked to the strength of the business I was working for.

6. Keep networking

This one is really hard for multiple reasons. The first being working hours. You've been in a relaxing college environment for a year or two, and suddenly you are working some pretty long days. The faster you can adjust to the time drain and still go home and send e-mails at the end of the night, the more leverage you will be able to generate through your internship. In my case, being in [city] helped me develop new relationships and jumpstart old ones, just through proximity and the ability to grab coffee before work or in the afternoon.

The second is that presumably you would be networking with people at competitors to your current firm. This was true for me, and it kind of presented a weird conflict of interest (I found myself pretty loyal to my guys after working together for a while). It’s ok to use your current experience as leverage; nothing is final till offer letters are sent and signed, so definitely keep your options open no matter how much you love your team.

I would note that I never took non-work related calls in the office. Our bullpen was really small so we could all hear each other's phone conversations. Be respectful, but not naive.

7. Mind the hierarchy

We hired a new analyst about 3/4 through my summer stint. It was tricky for me to get used to having him around. Just be deferential at all times if possible. I'm sure a lot of the advice regarding 2nd year analysts and fresh associates applies here.

That’s it! Some of this might seem pretty obvious to some people, but I guess I just felt like writing. I hope other students/interns got some value out of this. Happy to take questions to the extent that I might be useful…

TS