Hey Everyone,
Long time lurker/poster - but had to create a new profile as my old one gave away a bit too much information related to where I'm at currently. Essentially, I just finished my first year at a MM bank on the west coast in an industry group (firm is split by industry) and am at a complete loss as to what my next move is; I could really use some advice from any of the non-highschool monkeys out there that have been so awesome in the past for me.
I'd love to lay out briefly the apex of my complete and utter confusion, so hopefully this won't be too long:
- Lower MM Tech banker focused primarily on deals in the $50-$300 range (largely M&A and Private Placements); not a prestigious firm by any means, but enough of a brand name to get in the door places
- Currently working on 2 deals (one just died) - a private placement in the $50M range, and a sell-side for a pre-revenue high-tech company (middle market my ass); worked on (and completed) the tail end of a $200M sell-side of an HCM Software company when I first started here; My shop constantly loses pitches (which I know is the name of the game, but still disheartening), and most deals will fall in the $100-200 range. I do really enjoy Tech banking though, and find many verticals that I am in involved in to be fascinating.
- Initially wanted to follow the first year Private Equity/Growth Equity/VC recruiting cycle, but learned quickly that without networking/utilizing the senior guys, I wasn't going to have anything remotely attractive enter my opportunity pipeline - so i decided to push it out a year, and have some time to close some deals, learn more, and be the best candidate I could be
- Recapping point 2, and in relation to the above, I now realize that I am only slightly better off than I was earlier in the year. I can 100% speak more confidently about running a process, sounding intelligent on the deals I have been a part of, etc., but I've worked on one financial model and otherwise my experience has been marketing materials/pitches/ad hoc internal work
- want to end up in (mainly) growth equity, but also interested in good PE shops that vibe with my personality and play in the tech space; also interested in b-school options down the road.
Needless to say, I'm a bit disgruntled at where my career has ended up. Having said that, there are a couple aspects of my job that I really enjoy. The first, is that I work unreal hours (relative to the rest of the IB world). Unless something crazy pops up (which is very possible), I generally can get to the gym by 7-8, workout for an hour or so, and go back to the office/finish working by 10-11. I'm home by 10-11 almost every night......and it's awesome . Additionally, my weekend hours have gone down pretty heavily as well - typically come in for a few hours on Sunday, but otherwise (i.e. if theres not an immediate need like a pitch or deliverable for diligence) I go home by 6ish Friday and try not to think about work until Sunday. Let's say on average my week rounds out to 60-70 hours depending on tasks. The second aspect of my shop that I like, is the people. The bullpen is great, and everyone isn't really out to crush the other analysts for that tier 1 pe gig etc...everyone just wants to do good work and enjoy what time they have. The senior guys are also really cognizant of trying to retain talent, and like to bring us out to drinks/flexible protected weekends/no face-time required and just generally really cool to us. In addition to all the above, I get paid roughly street, and that's not too shabby considering my lifestyle.
So now you know briefly where I'm at professionally, my current dilemma is as follows:
I don't know if I should (1) finish out my second year here, probably close a couple more deals (if that), and try to break into a semi-respectable PE/Growth Equity gig during this next cycle through networking and using the connections that the MDs have (which candidly I don't think is that many, but they have continuously told us that they would help land us interviews)..... or (2) look at lateral options into a shop that will position me more favorable for the better buy-side opps/b-school and be a part of some higher quality deals, but also will require me to work an extra year in banking at likely much worse hours (hopefully some of you can touch on my hours relative to yours). I like certain aspects of banking, but obviously there are other aspects that are just miserable; I'd imagine that being a part of a major deal team would be pretty sweet though, all things considered. But 3 years of banking.....I don't know.
And that's kind of the gist of it everyone! Tldr; MM banker, finished first year in tech group with great co-workers and more of a life than most analysts in the field....but also pushed out buy-side recruiting a year to gain more experience/consider lateral options. I work in a field that I enjoy, but want to position myself for the future as favorably as I can. Analysts from my shop typically have covered most exit opps from corp dev to lower mm buy-side to great buy-side shops (much rarer, but possible) to laterals to no job at all. Feel my experience could be better from a technical standpoint, but am learning more and more as I go...albeit on generally smaller, less complex deals than my BB/EB counterparts.
Honestly, any help or PMs would be so graciously appreciated - this forum hasn't let me down in the past, so look forward to possibly connecting with a few of you (and feel that this post might hit home to a lot of other analysts in my position). I know this is kind of a mix between the Private Equity forum and IB, so hopefully it's fine here. This post was longer than I planned, if you made it all the way here, much appreciated!
Best,
MasterPIBer
