Getting to Director/MD
The more I think of potentially staying in banking the more I wonder how VPs are able to make that jump to Director to MD. I understand that in that position the job is really being able to build connections with clients, manage the juniors, and even potentially start getting leads. There have been a number of threads about what you need to do to get to Director and then MD but not much about the execution and how to actually do it.
Now obviously over your time in banking, you'll have co-workers who go to firms, you may have college friends, prior relationships with current clients who have gone elsewhere to a firm your bank doesn't cover, and obviously bank history and buy-side relationships etc. However, most other VPs and Directors are already using those company-related networks so how do you differentiate? Now I've probably already answered a part of my question from above but what else can VPs/Directors and even MDs do to start sourcing deals outside of that? Conferences? Cold Emailing?
Thanks in Advance!
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You are absolutely right that people tend to share the company network and try to cover the same accounts, especially at larger banks, so it could get hard to differentiate at the mid level.
Just a junior BB associate here so don’t have the best view, but have been fortunate to have good mentors who have given me a lot of autonomy to grow my career and network. One good advice I received is to build relationships at the associate level. Say you’re on a buyside file with a long standing account, yes your senior bankers may own that relationship with their CEO, CFO, Corp Dev / IR Head, but who’s covering the corp dev manager, the treasurer, the fp&a director? If you stay at your bank long enough, chances are you will rise through the ranks with them and they will likely become decision makers one day. For example, a director in my group used to cover this FP&A manager at this large public company and grabbed occasional coffee as an associate, and eventually this person rose through the ranks and became CFO, and this director became primary contact for this account.
Also, I find that it’s been helpful for senior bankers in my group to cover financial sponsor clients because they can refer you to contacts at their portfolio companies, and the network can grow exponentially.
Makes a lot of sense, thank you for the insights!
This is really different between Coverage and Product.
Product: it's simply a case of serving your time and being good.
Coverage is about showing you can originate and where your personal "niche" lies in the bank. The biggest challenge I faced when becoming a D (after moving mid VP from M&A to coverage) was finding a niche that wasn't jealously guarded by the 3/4 MDs in my group.
The other thing that's essential is building "business partners" across the firm that you do deals with and originate alongside. Often these can be mentors but often these are also people at your level or Directors etc also pushing up.
Finally it's about senior sponsorship across the bank by people who actually have clout. As you go up in banking you realize that some MDs have zero clout and nobody cares about what they have to say.
This helps a lot, really appreciate it!
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