IB case study vs. PE case study

Daniel Ocean — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:10:34 -0400

I know that in PE case studies that formatting isn't all that important (just making it look presentable is fine) but how much emphasis will bankers at a boutique put on it?

If anyone has had experience with a banking case study...

Let's see..to bank or not to bank, that is the question (discussion regarding boutiques vs. corp dev)

Daniel Ocean — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:54:55 -0400

Here's something I'm wondering..

Assume we have a boutique that has middle market deal flow..M&A and everything else. We also have a corp dev/strategy analyst program where u can work on M&A, internal operations, planning for the future, etc.

In the boutique, u don't have these presentation centers or research assistants that can help u look up facts/edit pitchbooks. You probably won't get the large bonuses that top banks pay, u get about half of the bonus. Chances are you won't get into a notable mm pe shop or even have a shot for a decent hedge fund against the kids from bb's.

Also, if one or two of the top MD's decide to leave/retire, the bank/partnership would have to dissolve. You may be left with no job and have to start the networking process all over again except this time around ur not coming from working on billion dollar deals.

But you will be in banking, and over time you can probably get into a good mm bank or fund and be banking in 200,000 around 26.

Banking and Industry Finance: Not Must I Bank? Can I Bank?

Daniel Ocean — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 22:44:38 -0400

Here's the situation on my end..

I did banking for a year at a big name firm (ML/JPM/LEH), worked on a few deals, but none closed. Got plenty of modeling in. Layoffs happened.

Now I have a job offer to work in financial planning and strategy for a corporate. My bosses are all former McKinsey consultants. I'm not sure what I'll be doing but I'm pretty sure that I'm not doing budgeting and auditing, etc.

I want to do banking, and am targeting boutiques in NY/MA/CT (not at the level of Evercore, Allen or even Moelis). But they all have decent M&A dealflow, private placements, etc.

Being the saturated market that it is with so many laid off analysts and the bulges/mm's in a hiring freeze for laterals, I'm inclined to take the offer and interview with boutiques on certain days which I know will be difficult to do since I'll be working (start in beginning of July).