Small Direct Lender vs. Regional Bank Graduate Program

Hey everyone,

First of all, I'm not from the US. I'm 25 years old, recently graduated with a master's degree, and just received an offer for an internship as a credit analyst at a very small and young company (currently six people, founded in 2022). They primarily focus on direct lending for SMEs (deals ranging from $50K to $500K) and have recently started expanding into leveraged finance and debt structuring (deals over $10M, some close to 100M). They have their own fund and are approved by the financial regulator, so it's not a startup, just a very small company.

At the same time, I had an interview for a graduate program in SME credit analysis at a regional bank (handling deals around $5M, with $40B in SME loans). I’m fairly confident that I’m a top candidate, so I expect to receive an offer early next week.

My question is: if I receive an offer from the regional bank, which opportunity should I choose?

To help you get a clearer picture, here are the pros and cons of both offers as I see them:

Small Direct Lending Company (6-month internship)

Pros:

• Exposure to highly skilled professionals in leveraged finance and credit analysis. The person handling the larger deals has one of the most impressive careers I’ve ever seen—he’s semi-retired from big corporate roles but actively supports the company and has equity in it.
• Potential long-term opportunity: The goal is for me (and for the company) to stay on after the internship. The leveraged finance guy in the team even mentioned the possibility of "participating in the upside".
• Strong growth potential: The company is currently turning down deals due to its small size, which signals growth to me.
• Great team and strong personal connection with them.

Cons:

• Very low compensation (minimum wage in my country). This would cover rent, food, a few beers here and there with friends, but not much else.
• The company is relatively unknown outside the SME lending space.
• It's a risky bet—if the company succeeds, I could be in a strong leadership position within a few years, but if things go south, the whole venture could collapse.

Regional Bank (12-month graduate program)

Pros:

• Compensation is pretty high and should be above the median salary after the program.
• Opportunity to rotate into a team that handles LBOs and MBOs.
• Excellent work-life balance, and the office is just a 15-minute walk from my home (compared to a 25-minute bus ride for the small company).
• Larger deals and a well-known, reputable institution with a strong graduate program.

Cons:

• More rigid structure compared to the small company; the work may be less engaging.
• Potential difficulty in transitioning to more exciting roles, such as leveraged finance, in the long run.
• The bank has a reputation for being very traditional and slow to change, which might make the work environment less dynamic compared to the small company.

From my perspective, the regional bank offers stability, but the work might not be as interesting, and I could end up stuck in the role for a long time. On the other end, the small company is pretty interesting and I might end up in a very strong position in a few years down the line, but it requires a lot of things to go well for it to happen.

What would you choose in my situation? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for your help!