Non-target school (Econ+science) to middle-market banking, to corporate banking, to FAANG Corporate Development. 26 yo F, ask away about getting to top tier CD from non-traditional path
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Hi there. I had all of my leads on LinkedIn, either from direct applications or from recruiters of the companies. I had my career preferences set to CD so recruiters would more easily find me.
After you get your foot in the door, the actual interview process is very similar across tech companies (at least in my experience).
Overall it took me a few practice runs to get good at it. The key is to prep. The more you know about the Company, its competitors, industry trends, market opportunities, historical acquisition strategy, product offerings, etc. the better you will do. Hope this helps!
Hi,
Thanks for doing this AMA.
Few questions:
1) How was the switch from mid market to corporate banking for you, what did you like/dislike in that role?
2) What do you do in CD on a daily basis? Are you always evaluating/re-evaluating strategic alternatives?
3) Do you get any sort of P&L/operational experience in CD?
4) what’s internal competition like within your CD team to rise up the ranks? How does it compare to banking where you have targets you need to hit?
5) any unique perspective to share from a female standpoint across your work experience surrounding current trends like metoo, glass ceiling, feedback from seniors, pay, etc?
6) Any advice to men who want to be able to help and support women in their career growth?
No problem! See answers below:
MM to CB was challenging in a good way, but also frustrating. Switching roles within the same bank is still very similar to switching to a different company. A lot of the knowledge and skills were still applicable from MM but I had to prove myself and regain trust among seniors. The biggest learning curve for me was figuring out how to digest an immense amount of information on public companies/industry trends and develop an opinion. Also the modeling was a lot more advanced, and attention to detail became insanely important given we were working with >$10B. Nonetheless I liked the challenge and I think it gave me a lot of transferrable skills.
I haven't started yet (I start Monday) so I can't give you a whole lot on the first part. To your second question, I always reevaluate when any of these pillars are lacking (i) challenging work environment, (ii) constantly learning, (iii) rewarded for hard work, (iv) good culture/team environment.
FP&A is typically in charge of P&L work. However CD definitely tracks how M&A impact to the P&L
I have a 10 person team. There isn't ranking like there is in banking which I love. You move up in rank and pay based on very specific criteria but it actually isn't public or announced. This results in very limited internal competition.
I haven't really approached my career as us vs. them (i.e. F vs. M). I have worked in a male dominated environment since my first job but it honestly hasn't phased me. I always try to make good relationships with seniors and juniors and that has served me well. Just be authentic and you will be where you are meant to be.
I have had many male advocates and they all treated me the same as they would any other hard working person. To me that's very important.
Hope this helps!
Thanks for doing this!
Can you talk a little more about case studies that could be expected. I have an interview with a BB bank doing corp dev, they mentioned there would be strategy and corporate finance case studies.
thanks in advance!!
No problem! I have seen the case studies done in 2 different ways, (1) timed at-home assignment case study, and (2) in-person 3 to 4-hour case with presentation. Usually the first one is just to check your modeling capability and speed. The second one is more comprehensive which I will explain below.
(2) Typically they will give a target company to look at and ask you to figure out purchase price. Depending on time constraints you would build out a projection model, complete a DCF, and do comps. Key to this part is making sure you can clearly articulate your assumptions. Then they will ask you 'Should we acquire this company? Why or why not?'. This is where your studying comes into play. Make sure you have studied up on their past acquisitions, what the strategic rationale has been, overarching acquisition/capital allocation strategy, growth opportunities, industry trends etc. Lastly, make sure you include key risks/considerations. Think about integration challenges, dis-synergies/revenue cannibalization, market/industry risk, employee/management turnover risk, and other legal considerations within a PA. I had to present during several of my interviews so just be prepared for questions. In the end, they want to see your critical thinking skills, quantitative and qualitative ability, attention to detail, and creativity. Hope this helps and let me know if you have any other questions!
Luckily for me I covered tech companies at a bank for ~5 years and part of the job was tracking industry trends - I didn't have to do a lot of outside studying for that. I would typically read equity reports of companies in the space, read industry primers, watch youtube videos (surprisingly a lot of great content), and analyze research from IHS, IDC, Gartner, and SNL Kagan.
There was a leaked Salesforce deck that may be of interest to you. It's a bit dated but it was presented to the Board and does a good job outlining some of the work Corp Dev does (market mapping, target analysis etc). If you haven't had experience negotiating Purchase Agreements, I would also take some time to study the various sections of a Term Sheet/PA and what legal protections there are. Click here for the link. Apologies I wasn't specific on courses/books but there is so much content out there I can't choose just one thing!
In terms of technicals, that was all on the job for me as well. If you need extra practice you could take a TTS course or look at buying a Breaking into Wall St guide depending on how much experience you have. Let me know if you have any other questions!
FAANG comp is higher than in CB and in line with associate level in IB. RSUs are typically ~5-10% depending on how experienced you are. RSU% increases the longer you stay because they refresh your plan. The biggest difference in comp is the salary bonus mix. In CB/IB bonuses can comprise anywhere from 50% to 100% of your salary. Now my salary is much, much higher but smaller bonus target (but still pretty variable because they want to reward high performers).
I am not really one to set a strict 5/10-year plan. I always work as hard as I can in every position and make sure that I am constantly challenged and am being rewarded for the work. Otherwise I will leave and find something else that fulfills me in those ways. I can see myself moving into management in the long run because I really enjoy training/helping people move up in their careers and having higher-level strategic responsibility. Doors have opened up for me with this mentality, and I feel pretty happy with all the career decisions I have made thus far!
Thanks for the questions!
Hi TMT Lady, awesome experience and awesome mindset.
1 simple question to touch on, if you were to sum up 5 most important things that you have learnt in your career life other than the one you've mentioned on no hard & fast rules for your 5/10 year plans, what are the 5 most important (hard & soft skills) that you would give an advice to someone who would want to be involved in doing these type of work (comps, DCF, LBOs) corporate development work.
Hey! Great question, had to give this one some thought. Below is a list in no order of importance:
The more you see the more you learn. Every deal you work on will be incremental to your skillset and knowledge since every deal has its nuances. To the extent you can, volunteer to be on a wide variety of transactions early on
Be thoughtful to everyone you work with (colleagues, leaders, admins, partners). You would be surprised how much your reputation correlated to your success
If you don’t understand something, do what you can to research and figure it out yourself. I’ve found that you will remember so much more and it shows initiative
Bring ideas. Don’t be afraid to speak up if you have an interesting idea. I was afraid to do this when I was an analyst, but once I did I realized how much people valued my opinion
Be a quarterback of your deal team. Create good relationships with cross functional partners and manage the process so the the people above you don’t have to