West Coast Investment Banking

that harsh reality is probably next to none; however give it a shot, can't hurt to try

CAn you try getting your MBA from Somewhere else?

Fuck yourself asshole.

Only if you stick your fingers up his ass, dick munch fucker.

Maybe at a very small boutique, but even then it might be difficult b/c your of your lack of experience with corporate finance. You might want to try to get an internship at the analyst level first. Good luck, nonetheless.

I AM APPLYING TO UC BERKELEY, MAYBE THAT WILL OPEN THE DOOR A LIL BIT. IF ALL ELSE FAILS ESTIMATING PAYS BIG IF YOUR IN WITH A LARGE DEVELOPER.HOWEVER,IF YOUR RELENTLESS YOU CAN GO ANYWHERE. ANYWAYS GOODLUCK GUYS HOPE YOU GET THE BIG BONUSES AND FLY BITCHES! ( EXCEPT FOR DAN BUSH - HOPE YOU SEE D-BO IN THE PARKING LOT)

I agree with LB Banker. Internships are priceless on the resume. Do whatever you can to secure one if you still have time.

There are a fair amount of Canadians in the West Coast finance community and from what I understand they're pretty good about helping out their Canadian compatriots. Used LinkedIn to get in touch with them prior to full time recruiting, and when interviews roll around ask them to throw you in the running. Assuming your resume is pretty tight, you should be able to at least get first rounds this way.

Are you at Ivey? I'm sure you know their track record of sending kids to the West Cost is pretty damn good and will make your goal a LOT easier.

If not, it's going to be pretty difficult, as no other Canadian school has the West coast network that Ivey does. However, laterals do happen from Canadian banks (unfortunately they were all Ivey grads anyways). I've seen a guy make the jump to CS LA from TD Securities and CS SF has actually taken two laterals in two years (one from CIBC Mining last year and the other from RBC Lev fin this year - both Ivey guys)

I know an Ivey kid from my class who worked at my BB bank's West Coast office, and is going to a MF this summer. I had no idea until he told me how strong the Ivey network was on the West Coast, but it definitely is. Leverage it if you go to Ivey. He summered at a different BB in New York before landing a FT position at my firm.

Damn wish I had gone to Ivey... What scares me the most though is the possibility of giving up a full-time offer and ending up empty handed at the end of the process...

if you're referring to GS TMT SF, MS Tech Menlo, or Moelis LA you will have incredible access to top megafunds and will likely end up at one of them or a very upper tier MM if you are interested in PE.

I'm also interested in this and specifically how difficult it is to transition back to nyc considering it may be nigh impossible to fly out for interviews

Not hard at all. Get a job at TPG/KKR/Silver Lake, go to HBS and then go work on the east coast.

right, easy peasy... i actually meant if one of these guys wanted to get back to the east coast right after their analyst stint. does anyone have insight to offer regarding that? it would be greatly appreciated

where do other top MM firms in LA place? ex- Jefferies M&A/Gaming, HLHZ M&A group, Guggenheim M&A/consumer, Imperial M&A Generalist etc...

Questions 1 2 & 3 are all the wrong questions to be asking if you want to get into banking

ur also kind of late to just start thinking about getting into IB, for internships anyway.

q1. long - in this market who knows q2. long - usually a slightly better lifestyle at smaller shops, since business comes from more referrals than aggressive 6-7 pitches a week q3. depends on a million factors. ive never been able to do so successfully. q4. depends

We're about to enter a Great Depression. Don't you want a president who's already dressed for it?

Do a search on the forums. Also why the hell are you asking about ML; when the summer starts they will no longer exist.

1) Hours are generally less brutal than in NYC, but not by much. I'd say 80 or so is the norm, but I've had plenty of 100+ hour weeks. I'd say UBS and JPM work their analysts hardest out here, with CS being relatively analyst-friendly.

2) Some boutiques are taking advantage of the situation (ie - smaller deals) like Savvian. Others like USA and FT Partners have been dead quiet, despite pretty big headcounts.

3) Define 'normal.' The majority of the analysts in my class have girlfriends, but almost all of them are long term that started well before banking. I'd say your chances of keeping a girlfriend are astronomically higher if you have a steady, healthy relationship going in. Don't even try finding a stable girlfriend once you start working.

4) Depends on what you want. Traditionally, GS/MS/CS have been tops. DB poached a ton of CS bankers after Quattrone left, and some more left to start up USA, so they have fallen back a bit from GS/MS this year. They also focus on more of the $500mm - $5bn companies, while GS/MS go for the large caps. CS just got rid of its M&A/Corp Fin split, so all analysts are tech generalists. GS is also this format- no M&A teams, just TMT. After the top 3 there's a pretty precipitous drop-off in terms of cred in the tech banking circles, but I'd say JPM and DB are doing a good job at trying to close the gap.

1) hours: depends on whether you're on a live deal, or just pitching; and in this market, depends on how aggressive your MDs are in trying to ramp up market share. there is virtually no real difference in a positive way, with hours out there compared to here in NYC

2) boutique hours are just as bad if not worse depending on the boutique; but again, and as someone pointed out, this question is fundamentally flawed. it's not about where you are, it's about what group, types of MDs, etc etc; it's just so hard to say

3) sure; it's tough, but definitely doable. it's up to you to figure out what sense this makes with respect to your situation; tough to give general advice about this, other than to make an active effort to keep in touch with others, via email, etc etc, any way you can

4) JPM, CS, MS, UBS was good for awhile, but now things are changing

Drop us a line if you'd like more info.

http://www.qonnect.me Qonnect.me - a simple resume consultation service for entry-level jobs in finance and technology

qonnect- how can you possibly miss GS? Their TMT group has been tops for years, including 2008 YTD.

GS TMT in nyc is far better regarded, and most deal work is executed out of nyc; but this may have changed

http://www.qonnect.me Qonnect.me - a simple resume consultation service for entry-level jobs in finance and technology

2 current GS TMT analysts out of nyc

http://www.qonnect.me Qonnect.me - a simple resume consultation service for entry-level jobs in finance and technology

Q.4 Thomas Weisel Partners

very much true

pm me for more details

The TMT office in SF runs any tech deal involving a company west of the Mississippi. Most M&T goes to the NYC office, but as far as tech goes, the SF office runs show. For example, the SF office ran advisory for BEA in the acquisition by Oracle. They also were on the SanDisk/Samsung deal that never came to fruition, as well as RiskMetric and Rackspace (the only two tech IPOs they were bookrunners on this year).

Interesting information

Just wondering how big is Citi's presence/cred/deal flow in tech M&A? I know they have an office in Palo Alto, but do they get exposure to any large caps at all?

Just wondering how big is Citi's presence/cred/deal flow in tech M&A? I know they have an office in Palo Alto, but do they get exposure to any large caps at all?

based on the info you've posted, i'd also make sure that you'd be ok w being a 24 year old first year analyst, and presumably 26 by the time you finish the stint.

You gotta network for these spots. Too many stanford/berkeley/usc/ucla kids killing each other to get a banking analyst position that you're not going to get in without an inside man pushing for you.

^ exactly. Don't forget the BYU kids are pushing hard now for those positions as well.

I did it... I got lucky though. West coast firms are willing to hire from the east coast because, according to them, west coast kids are too laid back and do not pay enough attention to detail.

How hard is it to transfer from a firms NYC office to the West Coast? I'd imagine it's a lot easier than vice versa

As if HLHZ would even consider hiring you

MoCo and HLHZ Rx

Moelis, HLHZ, Qatalyst, CSLA