Founders Investment Banking Interview Questions

3 total interview insight submissions
Interview Experience (72%)

The Interview Experience is a score from 1 star (very negative) to 5 stars (very positive) generated based on the Interview Insights at this company.

The number you see in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the simple average of these scores. If you hover over the various sections of the donut, you will see the % breakdown of each score given.

The percentile score in the title is calculated across the entire Company Database and uses an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates (to account for companies that have few interview insights). Simply put, as a company gets more reviews, the confidence of a "true score" increases so it is pulled closer to its simple average and away from the average of the entire dataset.

4
  • Very Negative
  • Negative
  • Neutral
  • Positive
  • Very Positive
Interview Difficulty (74%)

The Interview Difficulty is a score ranging from very difficult (red) to very easy (green) generated based on the Interview Insights at this company.

The number you see in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the simple average of these scores. The higher the number, the more difficult the interviews on average. If you hover over the various sections of the doughnut, you will see the % breakdown of each score given.

The percentile score in the title is calculated across the entire Company Database and uses an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates (to account for companies that have few interview insights). Simply put, as a company gets more insights, the confidence of a "true score" increases so it is pulled closer to its simple average and away from the average of the entire data set.

3
  • Very Easy
  • Easy
  • Average
  • Difficult
  • Very Difficult
% Interns - FT Offers (2%)

The % of Interns Getting a Full Time Offer chart is meant to provide a realistic estimate of the hiring practices of the company based on the reviews at this company.

The number you see in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the simple average of these scores. If you hover over the various sections of the doughnut, you will see the % breakdown of each score given.

The percentile score in the title is calculated across the entire Company Database and uses an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates (to account for companies that have few reviews). Simply put, as a company gets more reviews, the confidence of a "true score" increases so it is pulled closer to the simple company average and away from the average of the entire data set.

7%
  • 0%
  • 10%
  • 20%
  • 30%
  • 40%
  • 50%
  • 60%
  • 70%
  • 80%
  • 90%
  • 100%

Interviews at Founders Investment Banking

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Year
Job Title
Group/Division
Location
Experience
Difficulty
Intern
Year 2014
Job Title Intern
Group/Division Investment Banking
Location Birmingham
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Average
Intern
Year 2013
Job Title Intern
Group/Division Oil and Gas
Location Birmingham
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Average
COO
Year 2013
Job Title COO
Group/Division Investment Banking
Location Birmingham
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Average

Interview Questions & Answers - Founders Investment Banking Examples

Summer Analyst Interview - Investment Banking

Anonymous interview candidate in Birmingham
Interviewed: March 2014
Date Submitted: Mar 19, 2014
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
Interview
It was a phone interview with an associate at the bank. The format of the interview was following:
- Walk me through your resume
- He mentioned that coming out-of-state I'm put at disadvantage compared to other candidates. Local candidates are preferred. I also didn't have a clear reason why I wanted to work at that location.
Fit questions:
- Why investment banking?
- Why should we hire you?
- Why this location?
- What makes you a perfect candidate for IB?

Technical questions:
- How does $100 increase in inventory affect 3 financial statements?
- If you had to choose one financial statement to evaluate a company, what would it be and why?
- What valuations methods do you know of?
- Which company would be a good candidate for a leverage buyout analysis?
- Walk me though LBO
Interview Questions
- Which company would be a good candidate for a leverage buyout analysis?

Characteristics of a good LBO target include steady cash flows, limited business risk, limited need for ongoing investment (e.g. capital expenditures or working capital), strong management, opportunity for cost reductions and a high asset base (to use as debt collateral). The most important trait is steady cash flows, as the company must have the ability to generate the cash flow required to support relatively high interest expense.
Sample Answer

Summer Analyst Interview - Oil and Gas

Anonymous employee in Birmingham
Interviewed: February 2013
Date Submitted: Feb 19, 2014
Outcome
Accepted Offer
Interview Source
College / University / On Campus Recruiting
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Interview
I applied for the Summer Analyst position with Founders Investment Banking online through my university's career center. Initially I had a phone interview with an associate that consisted of mostly behavioral and fit questions, as well as a few questions regarding the general sell-side M&A process. About a week later I was invited to come to the company to interview in person. I had one on one interviews with an analyst, an associate, a vice president, and the head of business development. For the most part the interviews were behavioral/fit. I did not encounter many intensive finance questions, though I was asked a few technical questions and some pertaining to Oil and Gas. Everyone that I interviewed with was very welcoming and friendly and it was apparent that the primary objective was to test my fit with the group.
Interview Questions
Walk me through the general sell-side M&A process, including what type of information you would include in a pitch book.
Tell me about the current state of the oil and gas market in the US, with a particular focus on the shale gas boom.
Sample Answer

COO/CFO Interview - Investment Banking

Anonymous employee in Birmingham
Interviewed: March 2013
Date Submitted: Feb 19, 2014
Outcome
Accepted Offer
Interview Source
Other
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Group Interview
Presentation
Personality Test
Other
Interview
The interview process consisted of a couple phone interviews with the Managing Partner, followed by a personality test (DISC test), and in person interview with the Managing Partner and the other Managing Director and Partner. The last interview was a group dinner.
Interview Questions
Specific questions about the position; How would I go about restructuring the organization and implementing a training program? Only difficult to answer without know the current structure and what training or tools were already in place.
Sample Answer