IB in Denver and Salt Lake
Anyone know of MMs or BBs with offices in Denver, Salt Lake, or elsewhere within the Rocky Mountain region?
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Denver Boutiques: Q Advisors, St. Charles Capital, Headwaters, GK Baum, Berkshire Capital
Not much out there that I know of from a BB perspective. There are a lot of PWM shops like Janus, Merrill Wealth Management, Wells Fargo, etc - but not much as far as investment banking that I'm aware of.
From a BB perspective, BAML still has part of their O&G team in Denver from Petrie Parkman, although they may not be around come next year. Other than that, RBC has a small tech-focused office and Piper Jaffray has a public finance banking group out there.
CaptK touched on all of the boutiques/smaller MMs that are worth mentioning in Denver.
Yeah man, banking is a big city thing. Hit up the New Yorks, Chicagos, San Frans, LAs, Houstons of the country.
RBC has part of (most of?) their Communications & Media team in Denver. Mostly telecom.
ShawnDU and CaptK pretty much covered all of the good shops in Denver. Some other strong MMs have shops here, but I think they're mostly ER/Trading. Morgan Joseph had a one-man op in Denver a while back, but not anymore.
Goldman has an office in SLC, don't know if they do IB.
Wasn't aware about RBC in Denver for Comm/Media, I thought it was only PWM/FAs, of course I guess I'm not THAT in the loop.
Good luck! Denver's getting bigger, but it's always been a slow and steady growth. None of that spiky bullshit you see other places, thus the recession hasn't hit that hard.
RBC bought Daniels in 2006 and kept their people in Denver. Daniels was a leading telecom and cable boutique.
RBC Daniels Article
As I understand it, GS SLC is pretty much back office and ops.
Ah okay, thanks for the info TB!
Sorry for the old bump but I'm interested in IB in Denver. I hear the city is comprised of a lot of transplants from other parts of the country. Will this make it easier trying to land a job there if I am currently on the east coast? I know some companies are hesitant to hire out of their geographic range so I'm wondering the best way to break in in Denver.
If you can demonstrate a clear tie to the state, that will help your case a lot, even if it is as simple as extended family, a girlfriend, etc. You can make something up, if you have to. You don't want to come across as only wanting to move to CO for quality of life (i.e. I have been on vacation there and liked it.) because you don't sound like someone who wants to move there to take work seriously.
The reality is that most people move to CO for quality of life, but you can't mention that in an interview (sort of like mentioning money in "why finance?").
If you have legitimate NYC finance experience, it will give you a massive leg up in CO as there simply aren't many local candidates with great past work experience.
Thanks for this insight. I'm also interested in moving to a smaller city so that my banking dollars actually buy me nice stuff, like a house with some land instead of just a medium-sized apartment. I'm a big-city banker. Can you provide any tips on either IB or buyside (small- to mid-sized PE, venture, etc) in the smaller markets? I'm a lifestyle guy so having nice things and being affluent relative to the local standard of living is more important to me than the number in my bank account.
Thanks
One thing you need to realize before going to a small market is that comp will generally be much, much less than a BB in NYC or SF. This is essentially the same for PE. Good luck for getting into a small market VC fund...not many of those positions even exist, and if one did exist, they'd want to hire someone with a local network.
Don't believe whatever number they promise you; I've seen a number of cases where firms promise a big number to just get a candidate to accept and then never live up to it (this happened to me, and I know several other people that went through the same thing). They will give you every excuse under the sun on the back end, a year+ later. Get a clear understanding of the comp structure and how comp decisions are made.
Despite my issues with comp. It's still a great living, and it's a good thing to be a big fish in a small pond. You just need to make sure your expectations are in line with reality. You will take a huge pay cut but (depending on how senior you are) may also work 1/2 the hours.
TechBanking are you in Denver now? I live in Colorado Springs and will be leaving for b-school shortly. My hope is to make it back out to Colorado eventually even if it takes a few years of working in NYC before being able to make the move back here.
Yes, I'm in Denver. I am no longer in banking though. Start networking with any banks or buy-side firms in CO that you might be interested in as early as possibly. Positions come up randomly, and, if they know you and you have solid experience, you should have a solid shot at landing an opening. The number of places you'd want to work in Denver is quite small so it shouldn't be too hard.
Could I PM you about some specific questions about groups, comp numbers, lifestyle, etc?
Thanks - I'm actually pretty serious about moving for lifestyle and have been for a while.
TB, thanks for the insight here. I am going to PM you if that's alright?
Lifestyle, how many years experience do you have in a big city banking environment? I'm probably a few years younger then you but it sounds like its easier to move to a smaller market once you have the experience. So I may have to slug it away in NYC for 2 years.
2 years consulting, working on my second year of banking now - 3 years out currently, 4 years by the time my commitment here ends (assuming I don't take a 3rd year). I'd assume any move to a smaller firm in a smaller city would come with a promotion to either Associate 1 or maybe even Associate 2 given my experience. I'd be highly unlikely to take the risk of going to a small shop in a limited financial market without the sweetener.
This is not the time, IMO, to move to a smaller city. Your "banker bucks" that you come with might go farther, but you will make much less when you are here. You can certainly get a job at Ksl or krg on Denver with your experience, but expect to start at 80k base. You may still have a good bonus % on that, but maybe not (as discussed above).
Now if you can wait long enough and bring a track record, you can get hired as a vp + and you get p&l / carry treatment. That is really the sweet spot in small cities. Most firms operate like this (10 mds 3 analyst).
So speaking to your sweetener.... There just isn't going to be one. There is also less of the associate 1 vs associate 2 stuff.
To add, if you do get in one of the bb or mm in denver (jpm public finance, rbc cme group, bofa o&g, or one of many o&g er groups) you get street pay, and it's fucking sick. It's really just the buy side and boutique ibs that have the comp issue.
So if I understand you correctly, the sweet spot is to go to a big firm in the Denver office? I have to figure that's likely to come with at least a small promotion, given that my current shop is better than the ones you mention and I'm assuming that the jobs here, while more scare, are also probably less competitive, particularly for solidly qualified candidates. Am I thinking about this correctly?
The Denver offices of the bigger firms are tiny. It might work out but don't count on it. The boutiques hire more people in Denver.
Also, don't overvalue your NYC experience. Lots of people with BB experience want to move to Denver. The local pool of qualified candidates is small, but there are more than enough people willing to move to Denver. I know a couple of people with excellent backgrounds that just moved to Denver with no job in hopes of catching on somewhere. Feeling that you are somehow entitled to something won't work out well for you. At most places it is much more about fit and culture than whether or not someone used to work at GS.
You will likely have to take a pay cut to move to Denver, even if you do get a title promotion.
Yes, the sweet spot is larger firms.
There are still some one-off smaller ones that are good, but they can be hard to distinguish. For example, I have a friend who started in PE and was told $150k out of UG. They awarded a bonus, but the firm had "deferred" bonuses and was 1.5 years behind. Subsequently (a year later), they had a sizeable disposition and all bonuses were caught up, and he was promoted to an associate with sizeable carry. Strange and risky; but the upside is there.
I can't confirm that you will be more competitive. Competitive here is really not the issue. How will you find the group of 4 bankers in a building somewhere in Denver? When you find them, how will you get them your resume? That is really the hard part - just finding the groups.
This is not NY where everything is finance. Nobody will care in the slightest that you are at GS vs RBC. You will be considered even with everyone who has NY experience. And if you bring any sort of attitude that implies they should care, you do not have a chance. The prestige issue is divided between firms you have heard of vs firms you have not heard of.
It is very rare or nearly non-existent for an associate IB position at the larger Denver firms to open up. This is because you will start as an analyst and they will just promote you w/o b-school (again, there is less care for that sort of bureaucracy) and only an analyst position will open up. It will be an analyst, and associate, and a group of seniors. They have no intention to bring an another associate no matter what is on your resume.
I also do not know how many people apply to positions in Denver. For example, a couple months ago probably the top PE firm in Denver posted on WSO that they were looking for an associate. How many people from NY BBs actually applied? IDK for sure, but a friend there said they had 100s of resumes. So the competition is still there.
Denver/SLC firms (Originally Posted: 02/26/2016)
Going to school in Texas right now, but interested in ending up in one of these cities eventually. What are some RE firms located in these cities?
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