Trying to decide between the two. Same location. Want to optimize for deal experience, exit opportunities, and work/life balance (understanding the first and third criteria might not be the most compatible lol)
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Hmmm prolly Cowen
Assuming SF but TD Cowen tech gives solid deal experience and WLB from what I've heard
Former Cowen tech banker currently on the buyside but will comment my thoughts. Cowen has an extremely strong tech group in the MM space from the deal flow that I've observed and the deals that I've been on - rivaled by banks like Jefferies, RJ (in security tech especially), WB (have heard they're a sinking ship). All subverticals from a culture standpoint are amazing and I will comment that each of them are very tight knit and really care about making sure that you learn the most that you can from your analyst stint.
VSDA and FinTech have by far the sharpest people with VSDA closing a good amount of deals each year with a super lean team (~20 people + best in the auto tech space) and FinTech bringing in a ton of fees and working on interesting deals (i.e. GameStop). Will say that your WLB cannot be beat at this bank - 2 days WFH and people actually care about your weekends. As for exit opportunities, it's what you make of it - no MF opportunities (although we have a Cowen alum that was at Blackstone Growth) but MM is definitely attainable if you decide to go for it (recent exits include THL, HIG, Millenium, some other MMs and past exits include a lot of great growth shops + cool startups)
HL Tech is great but have heard weird things about culture and also sweatiness - great deal experience if that's what you're looking for I'm sure they do a ton of deals since that's the HL model.
It's what you make of it at the end of the day - obviously as a Cowen alum I would go with Cowen but hope this gave some color.
Sorry for being a noob, but what is VSDA?
Vertical software, data analytics
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