Financial Technology Partners: reputation/deal flow/pay/exit opps?

All BS aside, why does FTP have such a bad rep (on this board)?

Anyone who is currently working or has worked for them care to comment on their reputation/deal flow/pay/exit opps?

 

FT Partners is a very hard working firm. Analysts get crushed there. Hence the bad rap. However, they are expanding their analyst classes in order to lighten to the load. (or bring on more work)

That being said, they have good deal flow and pay well.

Ex-Opps are moderate. Really have to rely on internal connections to be placed well.

 

I have a buddy who works there and I think there are a couple main reasons it gets a bad rap-

Firstly, the whole point of banking for most kids is to gain a broad array of experience, both in industries and products. FTP, however, has a pretty narrow scope in terms of the deals they do, so their deal flow isn't ideal. Financial Tech... think like banking/payroll software... it's just a narrow field, and not necessarily that exciting. This is indicative of exit opps. [Look at these transactions and tell me how many sound like they you woulda been genuinely stoked to be on] http://www.ftpartners.com/transactions

Secondly, I've heard directly from a buddy there that the directors are comprised of a number of ex-GS guys who literally think they are some subsidiary of GS. My friend got an offer and they told him on the phone 'welcome to goldman... oh wait, sorry, financial tech partners...' The analysts get completely owned (not just because of the workload) because the directors are trying to run it like the golden years and they just churn and burn to the max.

At the end of the day, focus first on getting offers, and then start getting choosy. If you do have an offer, congrats. GL.

 

OK, there are a few of us that are noting that mandabanker is attempting to drag up old posts and talk trash. It is obviously an ex-employee that is looking for trouble, as trying to talk trash on one of the best boutiques out there. I'd call current employees if there are questions. The good news is this person, spanning many roles, has quite a track record and it I know some people that are considering making the truth quite known, in gory detail.

As I said on another post, and will repeat here to address this BS:

I know people at FTP and have for some time and from what I hear / know they are not only "legit" they are thriving. I just surfed their site and it speaks for itself, doesn't it? All I see is in the last couple of deals, they raised $235 million from Bain Captial a month ago and just did a deal selling a company to New Mountain for $1.5 billion or so. Objectively speaking, in looking at other deals it seems they also raised $50 mm from Accel (investors in Facebook) for another company last year and sold a company to Silver Lake. Uhhhh, aren't those are some of the absolute best and most prestigious names in the business of private equity.

http://www.ftpartners.com/transactions/squaretrade http://www.ftpartners.com/transactions/mps http://www.ftpartners.com/transactions/amwins http://www.ftpartners.com/transactions/yapstone

Again, objectively, it really looks to me like they have been one of the most successful boutiques in a long time, outside of the ones like Molis and Evercore and maybe Quatalyst. I also searched for these deals and see they were recently written up in PE Hub as being incredibly successful and have 35 employees, so how could it be a one man band, unless you mean like Molis or Frank Quattrone, then I get it.

http://www.pehub.com/148189/ft-partners-scores-with-amwins-squaretrade-…

PE Hub Article says:

"The boutique, which focuses mainly on fintech, celebrated its 10-year anniversary last month. San Francisco-based FT Partners also scored its largest deal to date in April when New Mountain Capital agreed to buy AmWins in a $1.3 billion recap. FT Partners advised AmWINS, which is the biggest wholesale insurance broker in the United States by premiums placed. (While an insurance broker, AmWINS also has a tech platform, AmLink, that makes it fintech, I’m told.)

FT Partners also scored another win earlier this year when it advised SquareTrade. In January, the gadget warranty provider announced it received a $238 million investment from Bain Capital. “We executed one of the largest LBOs with AmWINS and the largest VC deal [of first quarter] with SquareTrade,” says says Steve McLaughlin, FT Partners’ managing partner, with his usual enthusiasm.

McLaughlin says he’s not surprised by his firm’s success. In 2002, he founded FT Partners, right after the dot.com crash and after leaving Goldman SachsFIG group (he used to work for J. Christopher Flowers there). FT Partners has advised on more than 100 deals since then and opened up a New York office. The firm’s professional staff has grown to more than 35.

Known for his zeal in dealmaking, McLaughlin was nicknamed “Stick ‘em Up Steve” by friends and competitors. He considers the moniker a “high compliment,” because it pays homage to Bruce Wasserstein, the former Lazard CEO who was known as “Bid ”em Up Bruce.”

“[The nickname] relates to us getting great outcomes for clients,” McLaughlin says."

So, what I can see from this thread is that it is a bunch of complete nonsense and there seem to be some SERIOUS trolls that like to post false things about what seems to everyone I talk to (and know well) to be one of the best growing boutiques out there, with the best PE relationships and with great exit opportunities for analysts.

I happen to be in the know, so feel free to PM me if anyone wants more information. But I would not waste your time or energy listening to people like the ex employee above commenting on an old thread.

 

Well then, I guess I stand corrected. I took the shit people here have talked about it before as truth. I know nothing about FTP, but I've seen enough written here to make me concerned.

Mind undoing that monkey shit if possible?

 

Don't think this is going to be read by the posters above but I felt the need to create an account and dispel some of the blatent FTP advertising that is BananaBoy is posting above. Just to segment out the relevant areas:

Reputation - Reputation is actually pretty decent within the SF Bay area. Financial Technology Partners puts out good work and other banks know that it is a sweatshop. A buddy of mine got in an Uber once with another banker and they were shooting and shit and when the other guy heard he worked at FTP, he was like holy shit I've heard that place is the worst sweatshop.

Dealflow - Dealflow is good. The comments made above are misleading though. Yes they will do a deal with Accel or a large deal like the one they sold to Silver Lake, but those are the exception rather than the rule. Most of their deals are much smaller (think sub $100 million)

Pay - Below street. They haven't bumped up pay to match the street, so they are still at $70k base with no plans no raising it. Bonuses are decent but as an analyst I hear from multiple people that you only get half of it after a year because they know so many people jump ship as soon as they can.

Exit Opps - Depends on what you want. If you want to go to growth equity its decent, if you want to get into a buyout shop forget about it. I know several people from there that got no traction with the buyside shops because almost all their deals are small capital raises and don't translate well to the type of work a buyout associate would do. Once in a while someone will end up at a pretty good shop (never the big buyout players though) but those are through personal connections. The senior guys won't go to bat for you and the culture is such that buyside recruiting is discouraged. The guy that run the banks is crazy, I heard that when he found out one of the analysts was leaving to a private equity fund, he called the guys at the fund and made a big fuss, saying how he would never show them another deal again unless they dropped the analyst.

 

Can also confirm what leverage is saying, exit opps are limited and comp at the junior levels is a peasant's wage relative to street. There's also a ton of bitch work at that bank, think intern level tasks as part of your daily job.

 

they do a lot of interesting deals (sin Canopy); lots of growth equity/advisory so you'd get exposure to the TAs/TCVs of the world. The only drawback is that as a lean boutique they seem to work their butts off even more so than other places...and they source some of their junior interns for free (but its the quid pro quo...work your butt off over the summer which gives you IB experience and places you ahead of most of your Haas/Stanford brethren in the eyes of the bulge bracket)

 

http://www.ftpartners.com/

http://www.ftpartners.com/news/index.cfm

http://www.ftpartners.com/transactions/index.cfm

Word is they are growing and hiring four first year analysts. My brother applied but his SAT scores were too low and he didn't make it past the first in person interviews. He said the people were very bright, clearly a hard working culture but the results seemed to speak for themselves. Said the people there laughed at all the neg comments on WSO as its all false and the firm is really nothing like many of the BS comments on WSO. I'm happy to put anyone in touch with my bro that interviewed there or you should check them out for yourself. Heard nothing but good things other than a few clearly purposeful detractors.

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You look around on WSO for 5 minutes and it is basically "MonkeyInaSuit" that is seemingly for no reason starting all the neg comments on this firm. Clearly trying to paint them in a negative light. In fact, I bet this user will be banned at some point as is clearly hurting other users, not FT Partners who seems to be killing it out there. Now, let's all wait for this monkeyboy to chime in and get himself banned / slammed by those who seem to know a lot more relevant info about this firm.

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just my 2c, I know somebody who was an SA there and complained that the culture was broken and that this causes them candidate yield problems. However, yes it is true, they do a good business but I would recommend getting a close read on their culture. Talk to people who received offers, and ask why they accepted/rejected and how the firm treated them after that point..

 

Maybe you ought to do more homework as his info is much more recent than some intern long time ago. Or maybe you are a shill. But either way, seems a lot of posts tend to talk about the intern program and not the firm's success. I'm just saying it is unlikely that a company can be so successful without having good people ... do the math.

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I've researched FT Partners ad nauseum on this site and in talking with other bankers on the street (senior and analyst levels). The firm is solid and WSOfan is correct -- there are just a couple of intentional bashers on the site that seem to have no credibility and no recent facts. Just spending 5 min on their site and reading up on them shows you they are one of the best boutiques in the industry and they dominate in financial oriented tech cos. Selling companies to NYSE, Citi, RBS, Sage (these are all huge buyers) and deals with sizeable pricetags ($200 - $800 million). The banks has won tons of awards and according to one analyst: "no pitch work, only live deals and tons of ceo interaction and exposure to senior bankers/main guy". And have heard they are hiring 4 as well.

 

Blah blah blah.... same people posing about FTP. I know several ex interns and a former FT analyst. They hire a ton of interns from berkley and they have a good rep at most of the business fraternities over there. Its not for the feignt of heart but its IB and has a lot of good exits and the FT guys are basicaly doing jr associate level work on multiple deals. All the guys I know (and 1 girl) that worked there all have top tier jobs including the former analyst who is now in PE at a top shop. Feel free to PM me if you want more details.

![ ](https://leancoding.co/QJO0KD " ")
 

^Not sure where the low pay comment is coming from; they guy i know was paid above market and took a paycut for his pe gig. Although the PE was not in a major city so maybe there was a cost of living factor. Still the comp there is at or above market. Internships are a whole other matter -- quid pro quo.

![ ](https://leancoding.co/QJO0KD " ")
 

I spent some time in the Bay Area during my analyst/Pre-MBA PE days and have (what used to be) a good foothold in the westcoast banking/PE scene.

For what it's worth, I'll give you my take on these type of firms (e.g. FT Partners)

They are legitimate broker/dealer businesses that do sellside (maybe some buyside) advisory work. I used to do alot of undergrad recruiting at Morgan and alot of the Bay Area students (More Berkeley than Stanford) would have FT Partners, Rutberg Co., and a bunch of banks that no one has ever heard of on their resumes.

In Morgan tech we had a summer who interned at FT Partners (I'm sure once he got MS he took that off his resume with Usain Bolt type quickness) and there internship program is literally filling in databases with customer information, making PIBS and all other types of administrative BS. However, I think you do some valuation work like spreading comps, absolutely no modeling from what I remember.

Also someone pointed out that interns don't get paid, which is also true.

I mean if you're an undergrad and can't get a BB offer (tiers1/2) then try for a 3rd tier like a Wells Fargo/Jefferies or go 4th tier to a William Blair/Cowen/Thomas Weisel, try for something like FT Partners last. However, I'd rather do something else than sign a FT offer at a bucket shop. Even lateraling to a legit shop from FT partners is going to be tough unless the market is so blazing hot like in 2005-2007.

Look i'll probably get 15 private messages hating on me, but this is my opinion. feel free to add yours.

-- Interview Guides GMAT Tutors WSO Resume Review --- Current: Senior Analyst - Hedge Fund Past: Associate - Tech Buyout Analyst - Morgan St
 

Boy are you dellusional and gun jumping. For what it is worth, i actually WAS planning on contacting you a week ago to actually ask you what your opinion was and then checked into all your posts and figured out that your opinion would be worthless, so no one's targeting you my friend. And to your lame assertions, did you ever think that my brother was asked his SAT in the interview (as it was not on his resume) and also i asked him who brought up the wso comments and apparently the guy from FT Partners did, so maybe you ought to stop being so paranoid and owned at the same time! I've never even heard of this place prior to a month ago and have zero reason to care or be associated / and could not care less about your opinion on it or any other topic for that matter from looking at all your posts, but it is worth spending the time to find the facts (positive and negitive) as others have from PMs coming my way about you.

############ ############ ############ The time is now, seize the day ...
 

I agree with Tech buyout for the most part but would like to add my own thoughts since I currently work in the Bay Area; about to finish my first year. FTP as a firm seems to get deals but one should ask about the salary and culture. One part I do disagree is the tiers, maybe WF was ranked that way back in Jan or '08 but a lot's changed now and it should be considered up there with lower BB's.

The most important thing I picked out is that FTP seems to be very secretive about their pay structure. Can anyone shed some light on the bonus payouts and perceived hierarchy there? I don't even know how many bankers they have and I've been asking bankers around the Bay area who also have no idea.

 

Again, I'm not shilling for FTP, believe me my paranoid little haters. But it does ring true that a lot of the info on here is B/S and the more I hear the more it seems to be just people making stuff up ... how could they pay only $10-30 bonus and low base. Aparently the base is $70k for first years and bonuses have been ABOVE GS / MS levels according to the VP. Again, this is coming from my brother who JUST interviewed there and not me first hand, but my brother does not lie to me like some anonomous would be bankers on this oard. Reading others' comments like jerome and cupandhandle and hungry (who specifically mentions monkeyinasuit's posts). We'll keep an eye on you now that you're the one that is soooo interested and likely the anti-shill negative poster kind of guy.

And while I'm on the reading of these threads, I might as well comment on other points. I'm at a bulge in nyc (finally) and I know many many guys and gals at boutiques and it totally depends. There are good ones and not so good. You HAVE to do your homework, which aparently does not mean relying only on WSO, unfortunately for WSO.

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these threads always crack me up! the internship program actually is paid, just not a lot. like 2-3k for 3 months or something like that? and not to give any credit to wsofan, but a quick search on these forums and its pretty obvious that monkeyinasuit is a hater on FT; he's entitled to his opinion but for a small firm he sure comes accross like a troll and hasn't made anything other than generic accusations. i've got a few pm's on ftp and there was a guy looking at a job there and aparently this guy was talking major trash. i know first hand several people that have worked there and they all said it was a tight culture including a guy that who left just last year to go PE. these theads are starting to get old. now i know why patrick introduced monkeyshit. might be time to start flinging a little! feel free to pm me if anyone wants more info.

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thanks jerome but i'm not looking for credit or to even help this firm >> and people seem to know his full name too and i've looked him up on linked in (hmmmm) and its clear he's a troll and his "friends" are even ratting him out to my pleasant surprise :)

############ ############ ############ The time is now, seize the day ...
 

I am a first and last time poster (most likely) but I am writing to simply help everyone on here and to finally hush all the FTP critics from someone "in the know". Many people on here seem to know nothing legitimate about the firm itself, especially the person that everyone's pointing at on this board monkeyinasuit (sorry monkey, but it is true that your posts are totally false based on my actual knowledge and experience, not guesswork or speculation). Here's the deal everyone and anyone that refutes this is simply calling themselves out as trolls, which will be interesting to see who is going to be predictable in pointing themselves out:

  1. Analysts are in fact paid fully in line or above the best and top paying i-banks, that includes base and bonus; period, end of discussion. Any notion of underpaying people is just false baloney.
  2. The intern program is in fact an unpaid internship with a bonus as Jerome stated; it is intended to give jobs to folks that simply don't have access to the bulge bracket (GS, MS, JPM, CS) and the firm has had literally probably 200 interns in the last 5 years many of whom loved FT Partners; and clearly people are mixing up the intern experience / pay with full time
  3. The MD/VP are all from major firms Goldman, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse. Enough said on that.
  4. Their offices are amongst the nicest I've ever seen, and yes I've seen them as I know multiple employees who love the firm
  5. Full of real hardworking people yes. Sweatshop it is not. The firm apparently works on only live deals and no pitches due to their reputation.

I'm not one to spend time on these boards but someone pointed this thread out to me since I ihave first hand knowledge of the firm and I could not help myself. I suggest people listen to the facts here and find out for themselves. And the fact is that any and all of the B.S. on these posts is simply FALSE. Monkeysuit is only hurting his own WSO reputation and diminishing the value of this board for all of us and all the kids out there looking for real advice. Anyone having issues with any of this should PM me.

!@#$%^&*()
 

Ha ha that's funny but false. I'm sure he's got a LOT better things to do. But we know you don't obviously.

Ahhh. I said I'd not likely post again, but since you begged me, I guess I will LOL!!! Being right is fun, so keep on with the comments.

And as I think about it, even if it was Wong posting, you or anyone could just call him or anyone at the firm and get your answer straight up. And if it WERE (i) someone at the firm saying the place is great and pays well, then you would conclude that person must like the firm and it must be true or why would they say so. AND it would serve no one there any good to say they pay $X and then offer $Y, so get your head out of your ass. Especially Wong who is in HR. And if it WERE (ii) an ex-employee or friend of an employee they must have some good insight as well.

Either way, the truth is above in my post and I suggest you go back and read it. If you want to say differently, go right ahead and hurt your own credibility.

And Jerome123, thanks for your PM. Very interesting. We'll see what happens to him LOL!!!

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Wow, some interesting stuff on here but having never heard of this place is I literally just asked my Sr VP here in FIG (NY) and he said FT Partners is actually small but one of the best small boutiques and is working on a live deal with them right now. Neg posts on this do not make sense he says and seems to me its only really coming from the guy (gal w pink hair) being owned all over this board. Keep up the good work! LOLLLLLLLLL

 

Well you guys know me and having seen this thread develop, it's pretty clear to me that

A: WSO obviously doesn't even have a fucking brother, he just works at FTP B: FTP sucks, would go to Piper over it, at least Piper has a decent name and it doesn't Canopy Financial shit up

also charlesbarclay you write like a fucking retard so if your aim was to make FTP look horrible and full of illiterate retard worse-than-frat-boy fuckups then you succeeded.

 
1styearBanker:
Well you guys know me and having seen this thread develop, it's pretty clear to me that

A: WSO obviously doesn't even have a fucking brother, he just works at FTP B: FTP sucks, would go to Piper over it, at least Piper has a decent name and it doesn't Canopy Financial shit up

also charlesbarclay you write like a fucking retard so if your aim was to make FTP look horrible and full of illiterate retard worse-than-frat-boy fuckups then you succeeded.

You all obviously can not read as I said I was a first time poster and only took the time to post as reading all this BS was just too much. You boys need to chill. So, yeah, nice detective work.

And if the poster works there that seems to make sense, that I agree with. So 1stYearBanker has something likely right. For the rest, it doesn't matter; the facts matter, which is why I posted. Bunch of people jabbering about this doesn't make them right, just looking like trolls themselves. You can disagree all you want, it does not change a thing.

Also, for me, I'm headed out. Question is what are you fools doing at 9pm on a Saturday night playing around on WSO. Now that's funny.

!@#$%^&*()
 

9pm on saturday is a great time to post before going out. Will you be at Cain with A.J.? I'll see you there Miss.

And seriously, vary your posting style a bit. It's like talking to a guy who hides behind his hands and expects you to play along.

 

gotta take a step back and ask the big question in this thread. is FTP a legit firm that will give decent experience? yes. Shuld it be your top choice in picking offers? No. Should you go there if you can't find another ibd job? yes.

the analyst experience isn't the best, but it's a decent shop that will give you decent experience.

 

Some seriously warped people on here with very unusual issues with this firm and it seems to take up a lot of their time. My take from YES, my brother, who is as real as ever believe me paranoid people: The place is legit as InterestedGuy, Jerome123, CupandHandle and many others point out that haven't opened up their accounts in the last 15 minutes // It is clear to me reading all this garbage that there are some young guys on here that must be envious of the firm's success even in the face of having a couple of probably 21-22 year old interns with nothing better to do posting negative sentiments (yes, I've got nothing better to do this evening and at least I'll admit it) // Seems the consensus is that they work their asses off on live deals and that's nothing out of the ordinary. And I seriously doubt anyone would do that for a $10k bonus; and the more people are going to say that the more no one is going to believe such overly negative posts anyway. I started to believe it when I first started surfing on this firm, but after a little investigation and PMs to me (including some not so friendly), it seems obvious as ever. I'd encourage anyone to do their own checking around, however, as I did and learn for yourself vs taking advice from anonymous posters.

Also, I have to say this, but does PiperChiangAccent have a serious man-crush or what?

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just chiming in here. I interviewed with them a few months ago, and while i don't know all the details I do know that:

1) Not much modeling or financial analysis at the junior level 2) They have 2 types of internships: the full time summer type, and also part-time during school year type (almost reserved exclusively for berkeley kids), so there might be a confusing about the 2 types based on what ppl are saying. 3) They work hard, long hours, but great deal flow

 

So has anyone actually ever worked at this place? Every thread seems to say "use the search function" but every thread I've found through that method has a bunch of people who never worked there bitching about it.

Has anyone here ever worked there? Seems like the only thing anyone ever agrees on is that they work you to death...anything else?

"Quote from a book/movie about wall street" - Main character in that movie.
 

I have a business relationship with Steve (founder of FTP) and his team since they've pitched me a couple times. From what I can tell, FTP is most definitely legit and they get a lot of deal flow. The senior guys I've met are all very impressive and can walk the walk. They have a lot of former Goldman guys and everyone up to the VP level seems to work extremely hard.

Overall, my impression is that the experience there as a junior guy would be the same as it would be at any other bank, but with less pitchwork which is always good. I have relationships with most senior FinTech bankers at the BB and good boutiques as well and I've asked them about FT...everyone across the board seems to have a healthy respect for the firm.. So I'd say in terms of exit opportunities, you should have the same you would coming out of any respectable boutique, which is to say lateral hire to another bank or PE.

 

Just seeing this thread is actually somewhat humorous. I know people at FTP and have for some time and from what I hear / know they are not only "legit" they are thriving. I just surfed their site and it speaks for itself, doesn't it? All I see is in the last couple of deals, they raised $235 million from Bain Captial a month ago and just did a deal selling a company to New Mountain for $1.5 billion or so. Objectively speaking, in looking at other deals it seems they also raised $50 mm from Accel (investors in Facebook) for another company last year and sold a company to Silver Lake. Uhhhh, aren't those are some of the absolute best and most prestigious names in the business of private equity.

http://www.ftpartners.com/transactions/squaretrade http://www.ftpartners.com/transactions/mps http://www.ftpartners.com/transactions/amwins http://www.ftpartners.com/transactions/yapstone

Again, objectively, it really looks to me like they have been one of the most successful boutiques in a long time, outside of the ones like Molis and Evercore and maybe Quatalyst. I also searched for these deals and see they were recently written up in PE Hub as being incredibly successful and have 35 employees, so how could it be a one man band, unless you mean like Molis or Frank Quattrone, then I get it.

http://www.pehub.com/148189/ft-partners-scores-with-amwins-squaretrade-…

PE Hub Article says:

"The boutique, which focuses mainly on fintech, celebrated its 10-year anniversary last month. San Francisco-based FT Partners also scored its largest deal to date in April when New Mountain Capital agreed to buy AmWins in a $1.3 billion recap. FT Partners advised AmWINS, which is the biggest wholesale insurance broker in the United States by premiums placed. (While an insurance broker, AmWINS also has a tech platform, AmLink, that makes it fintech, I’m told.)

FT Partners also scored another win earlier this year when it advised SquareTrade. In January, the gadget warranty provider announced it received a $238 million investment from Bain Capital. “We executed one of the largest LBOs with AmWINS and the largest VC deal [of first quarter] with SquareTrade,” says says Steve McLaughlin, FT Partners’ managing partner, with his usual enthusiasm.

McLaughlin says he’s not surprised by his firm’s success. In 2002, he founded FT Partners, right after the dot.com crash and after leaving Goldman SachsFIG group (he used to work for J. Christopher Flowers there). FT Partners has advised on more than 100 deals since then and opened up a New York office. The firm’s professional staff has grown to more than 35.

Known for his zeal in dealmaking, McLaughlin was nicknamed “Stick ‘em Up Steve” by friends and competitors. He considers the moniker a “high compliment,” because it pays homage to Bruce Wasserstein, the former Lazard CEO who was known as “Bid ”em Up Bruce.”

“[The nickname] relates to us getting great outcomes for clients,” McLaughlin says."

I love the nickname actually and it seems to be quite a compliment to the guy. So, what I can see from this thread is that it is a bunch of complete nonsense and there seem to be some SERIOUS trolls that like to post false things about what seems to everyone I talk to (and know well) to be one of the best growing boutiques out there, with the best PE relationships and with great exit opportunities for analysts.

I happen to be in the know, so feel free to PM me if anyone wants more information. But I would not waste your time or energy listening to people like the ex employee above commenting on a thread from 2009.

 

I would agree with SHORTmyCDO with respect to there being no illusion of a "work-life balance". It is more of a you work all your waking hours type of deal. I can also confirm from someone that actually received a fulltime offer, that the bonus payback clause exists as well. That said, I had frank conversations with many of the analysts and they all seemed to think that their sacrifices were well worth the knowledge/experience they gained. I interviewed with several similar tech-boutiques/MMs (GCA Savvian, JMP, Stifel, Pac Crest) and I thought the FTP analysts were given far and away the most responsibility.

 

Bad hours and hey did not bump pay 15k. If you're making traction with FTP leverage it to get interviews with other banks. If you go to FTP you should reach out to other boutique banks and express an interest in laterally around October/November. Most boutiques will give you 100% bonus for a partial year if you're a lateral from my experience.

 

Adam is right on the 15k pay bump. They used to pay at or above street but the since then all the other banks have raised salaries and they have not, based on what I have heard they will be not doing it as they are looking to cut costs. Their analysts do get more responsibility but that is a result of the shop being so lean, they also have their analysts doing tasks that at any other bank would be done by summer interns or a dedicated back office team.

 

Pay has been bumped to street as of the end of this summer. Agree with CuriousGeorge15, analysts are given incredible amount of responsibility relative to peers at other firms. Hellish hours but the people are, for the most part, very fun and laid back, makes it tolerable. Really great learning opportunities there, senior people are pretty generous with making time to help you out if you need it.

 
Best Response

FYI, beware what you hear because FT Partners admins patrol this site pretty regularly.

Pros:

Decent operating model experience. More travel than is typical for juniors. Juniors also get more of a chance to work directly with clients (CFOs, etc.). Analysts / associates are very close, and there are a lot of social events (happy hours, baseball games, etc.). Every year the firm does a cool trip to Vegas or the Superbowl. Lots of sell-side and capital raising work. Pitching is rare (back office work like writing ~50+ emails a week for senior guys, and spending hours Googling for info on tiny companies to put into the firm database. Virtually no M&A, public company, or LBO modeling.

There are relatively few senior people and a lot of juniors, so you don't get much senior exposure relative to other firms. It really takes until second year to get on more attractive deals. Heads of the firm treat non-lifers with hostility.

Exits:

Maybe 1/3 of analysts go into PE (growth), 1/3 go into startups / tech companies, and 1/3 do something completely outside of finance. Recruiters only show analysts growth-oriented fintech PE (sometimes more general tech if you're lucky). No hedge fund opportunities. Very hard to get into a decent middle market or upper middle market PE shop without connections (especially for buyout).

Management rarely helps with recruiting and outright discourages it, despite what they say during the interviews. There have been cases where people who were going to leave after their two years have been fired the day before bonuses. Certain members of senior management are vindictive / petty and will go out of their way to hurt analysts who are looking for a way out.

 

Not sure about the summer program, but I know interns during the school year spend most of their time on b**** work. It depends on who you're assigned to, but chances are you're going to be doing a lot of useless work (e.g. Salesforce). If, however, you're assigned to a helpful analyst and you demonstrate you're pretty legit, you MIGHT get a chance at doing real work. That's a big MAYBE. Again, this is for the school year internship but it may give you some idea as to how the summer program is run.

Nevertheless, it's good to do if you don't have other options. It's a great way to show interest in banking for full-time interviews. FTP is also known as a total sweatshop, so you can prove to bankers in your interviews that you understand the day-to-day responsibilities of an analyst and are willing to make the necessary sacrifices because you find the work to be really interesting.

 

Whether it is worth it or not depends on what you're looking for. If you are TRULY interested in banking and want to get a taste of the lifestyle then go for it. Notice I said lifestyle, not work, very important distinction. If I were a freshman or sophomore, I would do it to get experience to springboard to other opportunities; that's the main reason why people do it. However, a few warnings:

If it's the summer program, I have huge respect for the people who endure that kind of sweatshop and hellishly long days. The hours are unnecessarily long and the work is mind numbing.

Anyways, it seems like I'm sending mixed messages about its worth, but bottom line understand that you will be making a huge sacrifice in terms of time and psychological health. You will learn about what you definitely don't want to do, so it's good in evaluating your goals.

Let me know more about your specific situation and perhaps I can comment on it. The school-year and summer experiences are different.

 

He's right though. The FTP summer program will PROVE to your interviewer you can handle the hours at ANY bank. If you can spend that much time doing useless work, you can work full-time at a bank where you will be doing more interesting work.

 

I know FT Partners has been talked about a lot on this board, but I have one more question. I understand that the hours are long and the experience may not compare to some other banks, but would this internship better leverage my chances for recruitment at another investment bank (most likely boutique) because I demonstrated the ability to work IB hours? This is compared to interning PT at a seven person M&A firm and PT at a similar size PE firm this summer. Thanks!

 
Banker24:
I know FT Partners has been talked about a lot on this board, but I have one more question. I understand that the hours are long and the experience may not compare to some other banks, but would this internship better leverage my chances for recruitment at another investment bank (most likely boutique) because I demonstrated the ability to work IB hours? This is compared to interning PT at a seven person M&A firm and PT at a similar size PE firm this summer. Thanks!

..It depends, I personally think a FT IB internship at a bigger firm is better than a PT internship at firm with 7 people (name recognition + hours as you mentioned). Even if you worked like hell and didn't do any "real" work, it's how you describe/represent the internship on your resume and in interviews that will matter. However, I do not know where you are in your career (unless I missed it in the earlier posts), are you seeking to use the FTP internship to land a full-time offer or another internship (SA)? Just make sure that if you are using FTP to land a full-time offer elsewhere, the new firm where you are interviewing might ask if you were offered a full-time through FTP or why you chose to leave FTP, etc? So make sure to have a good b.s. answer ready for that

 

Thanks for the responses. I am attempting to leverage the position into a full-time job. Even though it is unpaid is it still higher regarded than a paid internship at a private equity firm or investment bank that has much smaller deal flow/ name recognition?

 

Dude if it's only twenty hours a week, how brutal can it be? If it's the only job you have, definitely do it. Given where you are in school, this seems like a good opportunity. These guys are generally well known, at least to FIG bankers

 

20 hours a week is not brutal.

The interns I know certainly worked more than 20 hours a week. More like standard 60-80. I don't know what program they have that is 20 hours a week...

Most of the interns are younger (Frosh / Soph) and use it as a stepping stone to other jobs.

Word is - Great experience b/c you have a shit ton of work to do, but get no credit and the stipend they pay at the end of the summer ain't shit.

You're a sophomore (rising Junior). Do it. If you have an questions, PM me.

 

Hey man I feel ya, I'm ranked #3 in terms of monkey turds and I'm pretty sure I know where all 23 came from... was demoted from a senior baboon to just a baboon. :(

at least you're not doing as bad as PiperChiangAccent, lol!

also note that jerome123, who's number #1 in silver bananas, had a lot of positive things to say about FTP... go figure

 
monkeyinasuit:
also note that jerome123, who's number #1 in silver bananas, had a lot of positive things to say about FTP... go figure

I've flung some shit around to users who post meaningless crud. Go read my posts again and feel free to highlight anything other than first hand factual accounts which is a lot more than your "can i date while working a job" lame ass posts and obvious bias against all MM firms (not just FTP). I've received my fair share of poop my way too, so whatever. Personally, I think it is a great addition to the site and I'm going to continue flinging it to any post that is crapworthy and will reward those who actually contribute to the forum rather than troll. The best part of WSO is the ability to track people. Very transparent. Thanks Patrick! Keep up the great job!!!!

![ ](https://leancoding.co/QJO0KD " ")
 

Tech Buyout,

this is why we only remove 1 banana for every shit thrown and award 3 bananas for every silver banana earned. If you look at Edmundo, he's had a lot of shit thrown at him as well but is still way ahead. In other word, you've gained and extra 31 bananas before this system was in place (looking at your profile, you've actually been awarded 12 silver bananas).

I would also be patient because we just gave everybody 10 WSO Credits free which shoudl accelerate the rate of Silver bananas and shit thrown. If people value your advice, your ranking should jump fast (even if a few users are throwing shit at you all the time).

Good Luck, Patrick

 

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