Working at small firm vs large firm

Hi, I've been recruting for an m&a role and got an offer to join a tiny regional firm as an analyst (4 people, <25m deals). I've been told to avoid small firms in the past because:

"Fees will be low and the processes will likely be pretty loosely run and without too much complex analysis or training in terms of modeling, deck building etc."

How true is this statement? 

Regarding processes, if seller is motivated to sell asap and you are able to find big company looking for targets for a roll-up, how loose can it get? Everyone is motivated to close it asap, due to small company size I'd image there would be less legal hurdles and better communication, plus, like I said if you're selling to large strategic investor (maybe even a public company) with a good corp. dev. department they wouldn't stall without good reason. So where does looseness come from?

Regarding complexity, as far as I know when working on a sell-side all you need to do is cook up an operating model for CIM based on management assumptions and MD comments, what's the difference if business is 5m or 500m EBITDA, most of it will rely on dubious future revenue assumptions based on "market research", OPEX, NWC, CAPEX trends will be elucidated by the management. So where does the complexity come from? Is it because in 500m EBITDA business it is easier to bury faults which might spring up during DD? 

To me this job opportunity sounds great: working at a small firm with lots of companies in many industries and getting significant responsibility due to lean team size. But maybe am wrong and shouldn.t take it?

Thoughts?

Thanks

 

Tempore dignissimos debitis nesciunt laborum eveniet vitae. Et repellendus enim mollitia et possimus. Commodi tempora porro itaque.

Omnis amet eius quo eum. Temporibus fugiat eum nihil iure. Eos quod facilis et repellat autem facilis perferendis.

Provident non harum quisquam dolor debitis. Cupiditate omnis voluptates quia est odit rerum sit sed. Vel dolores qui corrupti et aspernatur commodi iste.

Repudiandae porro accusamus magnam perferendis quia molestiae totam. Nesciunt provident dolores est quae. Qui illum mollitia quidem provident. Quibusdam sint rem impedit amet tempore hic. Odit eius odio voluptate et ex officia natus.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Perella Weinberg Partners New 98.9%
  • Lazard Freres 01 98.3%
  • Harris Williams & Co. 24 97.7%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 19 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.9%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 97.7%
  • Moelis & Company 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.9%
  • Perella Weinberg Partners 18 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 16 97.7%
  • Moelis & Company 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (22) $375
  • Associates (93) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (69) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (206) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (149) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
9
numi's picture
numi
98.8
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”