Charlotte Boutiques

I have very close friends that have worked at all 3. Edgeview and McColl are a bit above Fidus in terms of prestige - they're larger (both in number of bankers and deal size) and have more deal flow.

Pay is probably best at Edgeview and McColl as well. Both were paying street or better pre-crisis, which is especially sweet since you're in Charlotte. Fidus is a bit lower, but I'm not sure exactly where their bonuses came in.

Here are some cultural takeaways and general notes:

McColl - the closest you're going to get to that "New York feel" in Charlotte. If you like your MDs to throw chairs at you when you forgot to include a dollar sign in a chart, look no further. That said, their deal flow is very strong and their senior bankers come from a lot of BB firms. You've also got Hugh McColl pulling in dealflow, which helps. Pretty nice offices on the 53rd story of the BofA HQ tower.

Edgeview - Traditionally a great place, but they've had some turmoil recently. They were acquired by CIT in 2007 and spun back out to the original partnership in 2010 after CIT went bankrupt during the crisis. They're a little smaller than they were pre-crisis, but still strong. Analysts there have a lot of responsibility in the deal process. It's a double edged sword because while you can end up running the whole deal process, sometimes the associates just bail and leave you drowning. Post-spin out, all the partners are young, tenured, and around for the long haul.

Fidus Partners - Another Bowles Hollowell descendent. They've got an office in NYC as well, and a small captive PE fund. I don't believe they lead any investments, just throw in some mezz or equity to support deals the bankers work on. Much smaller than McColl or Edgeview (probably 25% the size).