Analyst Class 10 Years Out? (Calling all WSO vets)
I often hear that most IB analysts go on to be relatively successful, but I'd love to hear about your class and what the analysts in your class have gone on to.
(Would also be great to get a complete view, like how long ago it was and what percent of the class went on to a certain position. Ex. 10% continued in IB and made MD, 20% to startups, 10% retired, etc.)
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Bump
I’m a few years out (not 10, but most of us have left the bank and gone on to at least one role since) from a non-IB, but still very selective/niche analyst program at a BB (strategy & “internal consulting” type team to ELI5) where most people were from ivy+ schools or top publics. We had an analytics slant since our MD was an ex-Gamma guy, so that colored exits ever so slightly but still lots of generalist roles since we interfaced with the corp dev/corp banking/strategy teams very often.
Off the top of my head, some exits from my class and the one above (~30-35 total analysts):
1 to REPE
2 to MBB (one BCG Gamma one generalist at B)
2 to T2’s
1 to Amazon
1 to vanguard
5-10 to large (but not FAANG) tech companies
1 to vanguard
~5 or so to fintechs
3-5 at small software startups
One of our directors left to head up the data & analytics org at a MF.
There’s a few more that have ended up at lower end roles (know of 2 that were CTL’d) or haven’t left the BB yet, but the median outcome has still been very very strong.
Thanks so much!
My analyst class was 22.
18 of them (men and women) have severe, unsightly balding from the stress.
the other 4? Joined peace corps.
where did they end up in jobs tho
behind the dumpster at Wendy's
Start Class of 2012, MM bank - 24 analysts, could only find 23 on linkedin
PE principals - 5 (lmm, mm, and mf)
PE VP's - 9 (lmm, mm, and umm) -- expect some of these to get promoted to principal this upcoming cycle
2 C-suite (portco and private co)
3 head of corp dev (portco and public company)
1 vp mm bank
1 pe ops
1 small business owner
1 software engineer
Someone is still VP after 12 years in IB? God damn lol
I know someone who is still an associate after 12 years
2012 start class so 10 years of experience, and the individual left banking and then came back as an associate years later
2012 was 10 years ago bro
I'm 4.5 years out of college and had 9 bodies (not counting me) in my Analyst class at a LMM IB, that has picked up substantial market share in recent years (too bad almost all of us left already lol)
My main takeaway from this is that honestly, the kids who got great PE offers and felt on top of the world when they were leaving IB, have largely all sputtered out in PE and went back to school or bailed to Corp Dev. The guys who stayed in banking all were able to up-tier to better banks and I assume have a higher probability of keeping their jobs and moving up the ladder.
Being a Principal at a PE Megafund beats the absolute hell out of being an MD at a Bulge-Bracket bank, no doubt. But I'll tell ya, I'm not so sure that being an Associate at a MM PE fund that only promotes like 1 out of every 5 Associates is as cushy of a gig as it's made out to be. Seems to me the dudes that stuck with name brand IBs have the better risk adjusted upside than those that jumped to PE just because it's PE.
I 100% agree on your PE point and analysts sputtering out.
I am only an analyst myself but it seriously boggles my mind how people smart enough to go to top schools and study hard courses can't see the risk/reward of blindly jumping to the buyside just because its the buy side.
Every single analyst on my team is currently fighting tooth and nail to go to the buyside, 2 have left so far. Both are out of PE within the past 2 years. 1 went to do FP&A at a hospital and the other is also in FP&A, both have reached out to see if theres slots available at my bank.
These guys were top performers and made the jump fast and couldn’t take the heat, yet every junior at my company thinks they would be the one make it to principal when they exit. Mind you my bank is not the most prestigious to put it lightly so its not like they had stellar backgrounds before.
Our hours are great and we get paid incredibly well yet these smart people can't see how much of an anomaly this is and think they will be happier in industries where you work 3 times as hard for a 25% increase in pay at a junior level at best (where 99.99% wouldn't even progress past).
I think it's incredibly important to not work until midnight throughout your entire 20s - I'm totally okay with working hard, but making the jump from IB to PE for the lifestyle alone (which does moderately get better) is absolutely worth it by itself.... IB really is crazy and if you've worked in it you know that.
Definitely a valid take. I totally understand that some people are just so done with IB after two years that they're completely willing to take their chances on whatever comes next, even if it means a 2 and out at a LMM PE firm followed by an exit to Corporate. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.
There are definitely also people in the other camp who really do think they're going to exit to PE, take over the world and be the next Steve Schwarzman; who end up sputtering out.
Also plenty of people in the third camp who exit to PE and truly do make VP/Partner one day and crush it. From my LMM experience though, there aren't many people (if any) that I know of in this third camp. I'm sure the killers from Goldman TMT or Evercore PCA fair a bit better though.
You had me until you compared Evercore’s secondaries group with GS TMT.
Following
Following
Good question. 9 years out. To be clear this is just my group but >20 analysts:
- 60% went into PE/VC and today half (30%) are still in (VPs / SVPs)
- 15% went into HF and today that number is double (many of the PE went into HF) so 30%
- 25% stayed in banking (VPs)
- That leaves 15% who left PE but are unaccounted for and they have their own startups (none have "made it" yet from what I can tell, but have been at it ~2-3 years so fingers crossed for them)
So almost everyone who wanted to make VP in PE/VC was able to? I thought 9 years out a lot of people would've exited to corpdev by then
Edit: misread the comment at first but def sounds like an EB
I mean people have had to switch funds. Id say a couple of the HF exits were "forced" and there is a mix shift that's a general downgrade (lower AUM / less well known or ok track record). And I suspect 1-2 of the startups were also quasi forced. So I think if I had to triangulate adj for all that maybe 75% of those who wanted to stay in PE were able to with a small to medium downgrade. I think this is a highly self selected group. Very technical place, known for top tier exits etc.
I know I already posted above, but I would caution any prospects or interns reading this thread from taking it to heart. There is going to be selection bias in this thread, especially since we are already on a finance forum. The vast majority of IB analysts and MBB associates do not end up in PE/HF long term.
I have seen it thrown around that ~50% of IB analysts (inclusive of LMM all the way up to EB’s) end up in corpdev or strategic finance eventually. I would say that is a more representative outcome of what your Analyst class will be than the ex-GS guys saying that 50% of their class are senior guys in PE/HF/AM nowadays.
why would there be selection bias? People here are quoting the solid figures of what their old analyst class ended up in. Unless you mean people cherry-picking the ones who ended up in senior roles, but then that would be resolved by saying how many people in total in the class, and how many people who left finance altogether/ unknown.
It's the same reason why salary/net worth threads tend to skew high. people are more likely to respond when they have something good to say. Also, the guy who left a MM bank 10 years ago and now works in CD along with half of his analyst class doing the same isn't going to still be on WSO. The older guys still on WSO will be the ones still in the industry and passionate enough to browse here. That's going to lean towards guys from good BB/EB's that ended up in IB/PE/HF long term.
Same reason it feels like "everyone" you graduated with from an HYPSM is making >120k right out of college, when the actual number for median compensation out of those schools is in the 80-90k range at most. The guy making 70k in an LDP out of Harvard isn't going to talk about salary with his IB friends
My class of analysts in the group I was in, 10 years out:
Would be tough to list the rest as class was probably near 100 people. Most or all very successful. Many in PE, not as many in HFs, many stayed in banking, others built their own companies (varying levels of success), some left finance to do another industry altogether e.g. media, non profit, art, etc.
For what it’s worth, my current recollection of the Moelis nyc analyst start class of 2015 out of the ones I still am in touch with somewhat / have heard about and/or seen their latest updates on LinkedIn:
maybe like 6-8 or so in mid-level partner-track roles at PE firms (ranging from MF/APO to UMM/MMs and even maybe one in FOF potentially or the like)
maybe another 5 in HF stuff ranging from regular HY credit, distressed, crypto, cannabis, biotech, etc whatever is a hot bull market (or a shorting bear market) these days for the more equity / high-risk tolerance ones
Maybe another 5 or so in like senior / CEO level or co-founders of tech cos and/or in VC or the like in terms of starting their own / leading their own businesses
maybe another 1 or 2 doing Corp Dev for large / mega cap type companies that are either big hot tech companies or like publicly-traded household name type places
Maybe 1 or 2 still in banking or on the sell-side doing work for banks directly in-house.
As a disclaimer, I think there may have been like 30 of us when we started so I might not be remembering everyone. Beyond that, there were plenty of other analysts (and associates) in other offices. I think one of the years I was there, Ken announced that we/he had like 100 interns with the firm for the summer, so this may be just a small snapshot of what I remember from the analysts who started with me in NYC in the summer of 2015. Data may be incomplete and/or misleading due to incompleteness. Nevertheless, I hope this helps for something.
How many exited to make YouTube videos on why not to do IB, how to get into IB?
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