I have some downtime after finishing a couple of deals so I figured I might as well answer some questions on Corp Dev while I'm available.
Profile:
5 years in BD roles at tech startups -> Top 10 MBA -> 2 years as an Assoc. at an EB in tech group (e.g., Lazard, Moelis, Evercore) -> Large-cap tech Corp Dev group.
Ultimately I might have a different perspective on Corp Dev than what I've seen frequently written here. Especially if you are going to a large-cap tech company of any kind. The pay is good, the work is super interesting, you get great exposure (especially in smaller groups) and ultimately you just work way less than your IB/PE counterparts.
Happy to answer any questions on the following:
- Non-technical background recruiting IB
- IB -> Corp Dev transition
- Any questions on corp dev work vs. Banking (hint: It's way more interesting on a day-to-day than what I did as a junior banker)
- Corp Dev hierarchy & career progression
1) First, congrats on getting that far with the three companies, that's great. I would probably consider (a) What kind of experience you really want out of your next role and (b) What your long-term career objectives are. Do you like transactional work? Do you want to be a VP of Corp Dev? If that's the case, I would just go where you can get the most transaction volume, you can always reassess later. If you prefer strategy work or have more interest in being in a more operational or GM role at the company later on, you may want to go somewhere that is scaling rapidly where those opportunities come up more often. You'll end up doing fewer deals, but you will get more exposure to senior management and spend more time providing input on company strategy.
2) Comp across corp dev, whether it's big tech or high growth SaaS, tends to be pretty similar. Assuming you'd be coming in at the Manager/Senior Manager level. These data points come from a number of companies across Internet and SaaS that I collected when I was going through the interview process and from friends who recently transitioned from banking to Finance/CD.
One thing to consider when making your pick: are you expecting the RSUs to grow slowly in value or is there big upside? I fought hard for extra RSUs and it paid off with share price appreciation. I still make less than I would have in banking, but it's not very much. With the high-growth SaaS companies, your starting point on the RSUs will probably be similar, but you may end up making a lot more down the line. I know a few VP-level guys from BB banks who went to work at pre-IPO consumer companies who now have RSUs worth multiples of what they would have made in banking when the company 20xed in 3 1/2 years. (well into the 7-figures).
Career progression in Corp Dev is pretty variable depending on your company. I would go through Linkedin and look at the team - did they move up quickly? Slowly? Did a lot of people lateral in from banking or did they come from other corp dev teams? The hierarchy is pretty fixed, but the time to move up it is not. You could move from Associate to director in 5 years or 10. A lot of it will also have to do with transaction experience. If you do a ton of deals, it is easier to justify moving you up the ladder. That being said, if you go to the smaller companies and get more "jack of all trades" experience you can move around within the org and can level up that way.
3) It's honestly a great transition. I have been extremely happy with the decision. I would just try to go in with a learning mindset similar to what you did in your first year in banking. The biggest difference for me was managing internal politics and working cross-functionally within the company. Just being an agreeable person, building great relationships with the finance, legal, product, engineering, HR etc people that you work with all the time goes a really long way. Unless you are at a really mature corp dev group, these people don't do M&A as their day job and having them on your side is invaluable. And enjoy all that extra free time!