CorpDev with $15k paycut or CB
First job out of college (non-target). Commercial banking (CB) offer is for a regional bank located in the DFW area. CorpDev (CD) offer is located in one of (Houston/Dallas/Austin), but with a ~15k paycut relative to the CB offer.
CD offer is for a sponsor backed roll up. Transaction sizes are small, generally under $5mm EV. No opportunity to climb up to the sponsor - they’re a very reputable MM firm and only take associates from top IB and MBB.
End goal is to make my way over to NYC. Would like to do corporate banking in the future or potentially try to find a relatively chill MM IB seat to see if I'd enjoy the work (the breadth of potential exit opps doesn't hurt either). If MM IB doesn't work out, I'd like to do coverage corporate banking.
Which offer should I take, and what factors should I be weighing more heavily given my goals?
EDIT: I didn't make this clear in the OP - by CB I mean commercial banking. Corporate banking is fully written out each time.
Corp Dev if you're trying to pivot into IB
Corp banking gives you much better shot for NYC
Are you talking about the commercial banking -> corporate banking route to NYC? Would you happen to know how receptive corporate banks are to a regional banks (~$50b in assets)? Do you think an intermediate step to lateral to BB commercial banking would be necessary?
Bigger the better but frost is a good regional bank - may have to move intermediate step to a regions / Truist level before BB
As someone who worked in corp dev, your corp dev offer is not interesting and unlikely to have good training that you’ll find at a bank - CB is much better and pays better
Corp Dev if you want to pivot, but it probably won’t be directly out of roll ups seeing as they tend to be pretty simple 5x-7x Adjusted EBITDA versus in depth modeling.
Would it be a two-step move? What would be the next logical intermediate role between roll-up CD and MM IB?
It’d probably have to be yeah, a year or so in roll up, a year or two in traditional Corp Dev with an acquisition heavy (but size-able) group and then an analyst at MM or LMM shop.
Understood, thank you. Do you know how receptive traditional CorpDev is to roll-up backgrounds? My understanding was that CorpDev traditionally recruits out of IB for the most part. I assume F500 is mostly out of the picture for me given my background.
I had quite a few offers when I went to move ~2 years ago after coming out of a roll up so I would say they are pretty receptive. Its just important to make sure you sell yourself as more than an M&A guy, like know how to talk through the strategy of your company operationally as that is what separates an M&A grunt from a value-add team member. AS for F500, that would be hard but the IB firms you would be looking at (LMM and MM shops) likely aren't targeting those guys anyway.
I really appreciate the advice. Did you stay in the same industry vertical when you made your move? How did you go about finding traditional CorpDev opportunities? Did your past roll-up experience factor into what level you came on as?
Also, would you mind if I DM you later down the road if I have any more specific questions? I'll try to keep more general/non-personal questions here for the benefit of others who may be planning to make a similar move.
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