EBs are crazy

I feel as if an EB like Centerview/Evercore is 100x better than an EB like PWP/Moelis. How are they in the same "conversation" ? There are a variety of reasons to choose one BB over the other such as BofA over Goldman, but never is someone choosing PWP/Moelis over Centerview/Evercore

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Easier decision if you start at a mid/low tier BB. I stayed at my mid-tier BB rather than lateral to one of the big three, all of which offered solid comp packages to lateral. I stayed for several reasons

1. Didn't want to go to a place where I would have to learn a new bureacracy, office politics,  be at the bottom of the totem pole at my level

2. Start covering a bunch of companies that no one else wants to cover / busy work accounts - new guys always start with bad stuff unless they are very specialized in  a sub vertical

3. Lose my standing within my group - I largely only work on stuff that I actually enjoy working on and can easily avoid senior people that I dislike / suck to work with. Results in significantly less hours worked on average (outside of intense stretches of deal processes)

4. I probably only work 55-65 hours max most of the time (less right now, given the market) - I know i'd have to work more at any of those firms for my vertical

5. My vertical is very competitive with the big 3 and is usually 2nd or 3rd in M&A league tables - less competitive with ECM/IPOs but I'm not a fan of being an active book runner on those anyways, lots of process and uninteresting work most of time  

6. I have very little compitition at my level and good senior relationships so have less need to act like a hardo, which I'd probably have to do at a new place 

7. Efficiencies - I generally know what the seniros I work with want and good past materials to leverage to make my life and the A&As life easier. I would lose all that and have to start over at a new place. 

The math is a bit different if you are coming out of undergrad and deciding between offers

 
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Feel free to not believe me but I took Moelis over Evercore and I did it for two reasons: 1) comp and most importantly 2) generalist

“BuT EvErCoRe hAs hIgHeR BaSe” yeah but from everyone I have seen and heard/talked to Moelis all-in comp is better for most groups (CVP obviously on a different level here, but I’m not trying to be a career banker)

Best of all, Moelis has (most) juniors be fairly generalist across products so you get to play in M&A and RX. Moelis RX kicks the shit out of Evercore RX and it isn’t close, Moelis is a top 3 RX shop these days and that matters when you’re in a recession and still want a job + nice bonus

 

Another important note is that Moelis’ class is about 40 nationwide and PWP’s is at 20-30 while Evercore’s SA 2023 latest class is about 90 nationwide (about 70 M&A, 10 RX, 10 SF/CHI). People love to hype of Evercore’s exits, but forget that Evercore’s class was only 20-30 people a few years ago. There will have to be severe dilution in exits in incoming classes.

 

Centerview and Lazard are not 70 each. Their NY offices are 25-30 and regional offices have way smaller classes.

 

A few banks have it listed separately. In some its capital/global markets.

 

Yeah during recruiting it was Evr/CVP or go to a top BB for me.

Don't really see the argument for Moelis given sweatshop reputation and the announcement that they’re moving away from the generalist analyst program. 

 

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