HELP --- Lehman Tech????

I've heard the Menlo office pitches whereas the NY office executes the transactions. Any validity to this? I'm interested in knowing this as well.

It'd be weird if that were the case since the Tech M&A team is there and that is pure execution. What do other people think?

Almost all of the Palo Alto / Menlo Park / SF offices execute their own deals. In fact, I don't know any that don't. It's a huge market and most banks have the majority of their tech business in the area.

nystateofmind, do you know any details specifically on Lehman?

Thanks for that. Do you know anything about exit opps from WC offices? Are they limited to the WC?

Well, yes and no. Yes in the sense that you're going to be working Tech deals and most of the relevant top PE / HF(?) / Corp Dev exit opps will be on the West Coast, especially if you want to stay in the Tech space. Most of the verticals are covered on the WC, although there are still Tech groups / verticals covered on the EC like electronics and some semiconductors.

That being said, moving to a fund on the EC is definitely doable. The difficulty then becomes purely an issue of logistics. Flying out to the East Coast for in-person interviews probably won't happen. Phone interviews are commonplace and are easily done.

Also, keep in mind that along with Technology, most banks have Real Estate and/or Healthcare teams on the WC so that's also an option.

how can you switch industry coverage once you're in banking? is it possible at all?

What kind of exits to startups would be possible, coming out of a tech group on the west coast?

As someone who lives in the bay area and has worked at several startups, the qualifications required to "exit" to a startup are basically zero.

At the early stages (10 employees), it is all about networking/friendship. Typical scenario: someone you know is founding a startup. They know you are a hard worker and have some vaguely relevant experience (e.g. you know what a balance statement is, or you once did marketing of something, etc.). You become the de facto "Marketing guy" or "Finance Guy". As the company grows, you are now the VP of whatever or CFO. Eventually it may grow big enough that they bring in "Adult Supervision" and hire an experienced CEO who brings in all of his buddies to be the experienced E-Staff, then you get demoted/diluted a little, but you will still have a good chunk of stock/options. Sell the company to Google and retire.

At later stages (>30 Employees), you can pretty well find jobs through monster, craigslist, etc. You won't be the CFO, but you could probably interview well for a mid-level finance position with banking experience. As people come and go within the company, you might be able to move upwards a bit, but you are not going to get the fat payout unless your company is the next Google. Nonetheless, network, prove yourself, etc. and when this company fails/exits, then you try and find the next early stage startup (see above).

Thank you very much for your response, that was exactly what I was looking for. As I did not go to school on the West Coast, where would be a good place I could meet some of those startup types? Also, if I would join a startup at a later stage, what would my compensation look like (rough estimate)? I figure that maybe I could join a later stage out of my banking stint, then parlay that into a true startup gig once my network expands.