Financial Sponsor Coverage VS Investor Relations - exit opps

spot on, IR would be BD/capital formation, often on roadshows and planning those as well. Flat organization due to size and young age (4 years). 

However, conscious that the IB role with sponsor coverage would provide deal exposure while the IR role would not.

Can you tell me more about BD vs. Capital Introductions? How are the fees different? Are the roles pretty interchangeable?

Analyst 1 in IB - Cov

Work in PC sponsor coverage / origination but have looked at capital formation roles in the past. Would need more info on each role (will expand below) but at a high level for max exit opps I would say the IB sponsor coverage role would help you with your goals.

Sponsor Coverage:  Can you define 'institutional clients'? If these are well known private equity firms then working across the table is helpful especially if your group handles the entire deal process. When I say handle the deal process what I am really asking is how technical is this role? Do you hold the pen on all models or are these created by the Lev Fin/Coverage teams? Or is it more of a relationship based role? While it's not a bad thing If its more relationship based and you are mostly putting together a few slides, providing market color, and MD's are hunting for deals. You will have to beef up your technical skills if you really want a seat on the investment side. Regardless, it is a good seat and if you have an D/MD willing to introduce you to clients you are in a good spot to network and foster those relationships longer term rather if you want to move to the buy side or be a career banker.

(IR) Capital Introduction/Formation: I actually like these roles and you can make a really great career out of them. Recently saw a role posted by Korn Ferry (recruiting firm) for one of these roles but someone running the entire department. Salary was like $600k-$900k + Bonus. Very lucrative if you get into fund that shares carry with their BD/Capital intro folks. Like above, being in front of clients is key because those are the relationships that really get you paid and allow you to be marketable to other firms should you ever leave. 

TL:DR - Sponsor coverage would give you a leg up on the buy side if its an investing seat you really want. Both are great options for starting off your career and getting you into a MSF program. Good luck!

Institutional clients for the IB / coverage role would only be sovereign wealth funds and pension funds. Role would not be technical, no modeling as it would be done by another team. 

Possibly, the IR role might be more technical with analysis of fund performance. Would this be a good starting point for a future secondaries investing seat? 

Which of the two would position me better for masters in finance? 

Analyst 3+ in IB - Cov

IR is useless for investing roles, take the IB role. Worst case once you’re in IB (even if sponsor coverage) you can lateral to a different bank/group to get the technical reps if you find recruiting tough.

Why is IR useless? I would argue you get to learn how LPs want to invest