IB Experience Helpful for Raising Funding?
Hi all,
I've currently got an offer for an EB SA position (NYC) but my plan post-college is not to go into IB, it's to continue growing my business that currently roughly profits around what my all-in comp would be as an A1.
I've been advised by some ex-bankers that doing the SA would still be a smart move as, if I intend to raise financing for another startup in the future (feasible situation as I aim to sell my business in the coming years and will then want to start something more ambitious but in a similar sector), having even a summer IB stint will help me out in gaining potential investors' attention, regardless of my business experience. Apparently it's a kind of perception thing that 'if they were happy to take him on, our investment might be slightly less risky with him than with the equivalent guy with only entrepreneurship experience'.
Whether I take the SA is completely dependent on whether or not the above is true so I'd greatly appreciate your guys' opinions on this matter.
Many thanks!
Hey, also an entrepreneur here to give my 2 cents. I have a successful exit under my belt and was able to raise funding (100k at 2.5m eval) for my second startup but am currently looking to transition to a career in banking. The way I see it is, being a founder without any technical background such as coding, I need to develop a technical skillset and going into banking for 2 years would give me a really solid fundamental finance skillset that I could apply to entrepreneurship.
In terms of using it raise funding, I don't think VC's or anyone would care that you did an internship. If you truly want to pursue your company, I would stick with it and use this summer to scale it rather than wasting your time. However, if you wanted to pursue banking post-college and finish as an analyst, I believe those skillsets would be very attractive for VC's. Just my thoughts.
Thanks for your response, and congrats on the exit!
It sounds to me like we'd be going into IB for different reasons. At least in the industry my business is in, I don't think the technicals learned would actually be that transferrable, and I'm sure excel fundamentals could be learned more quickly using online courses.
Interesting re: your opinions on VCs not caring, I think I need to speak to a couple of people working in it to get their take on it, it makes sense to me though that an entrepreneur having some kind of corporate experience would make investors feel slightly more at ease.
Once again, thanks for the input!
Absolutely take the SA stint unless it would be highly detrimental to your business.
The skills learned aren't what's important, but having a known name + investment banking on your resume legitimizes you to investors. Being able to say you chose to grow your business over returning to banking is a good story, and different from a lot of entrepreneurs who didn't have other offers coming out of college.
Thanks a lot for your input, this is exactly in line with what I was thinking.
Would even spending as little time as one summer be enough to garner that perception that IB tends to provide?
I'd understand it if I had a couple years experience as an analyst, but just an internship, would I still benefit in the same way?
Many thanks!
bump
Investors wouldn’t care about SA, however having worked Worked 2-3 years at (and been selected by) a good EB does give a stamp of approval that you’re a serious, smart and driven professional. Especially for the most established ones with higher visibility like Lazard. Also means that if you walked away from IB to launch your startup you’ve done the work and expect financial reward, which should translate into higher expected returns for investors.
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