9 Comments
 

It's an entrepreneurial shop, great boutique environment, lots of interesting deals. Strong retail, with institutional trading/research. That being said, it's very cyclical, hard for certain teams when the market is off. Very much eat what you kill mentality, internally a lot of people do not get along. The job is really easy and unchanging if you like that consistency. It's still below average pay for IB sector even with bonuses. If you're not an IA or a manager then they don't care about your needs and conditions. They have outdated offices and tech, but not a big deal if you'll be remote.

 

Would you say it's good for a sophomore summer if you're tryna do b5 for junior summer?

 

Yes, considering the market right now and the fact that it's only your sophomore summer, I recommend you'd take the opportunity. It's not perfect, but a pretty darn good opportunity.

 

Generally typical MM / LMM Canadian boutique where the bread and butter is small to mid cap equity deals. More RTOs than IPOs and mostly as syndicate, not lead. More process / execution than modeling. M&A work would generally be fairness opinions. 

To position for big 5, you could do better but if that's your only option, it's not bad experience. Will likely see more mining equity deals, tech and others in the small caps are pretty dead right now. 

 

From a transaction perspective, I would say anyone who does bigger deals that are more institutional and less retail, and do more M&A / advisory. The M&A / advisory business of a lot of boutiques are either small-cap execution only sell sides but generally almost all fairness opinions and some 61-101s.

The other important piece is the background of the bankers. I would never go to an investment bank that's run by an equity sales person, which is a lot of Canadian boutiques. There are others where the bankers are former big 5 or BB.

Probably easiest from a Canaccord, RayJ, Stifel type. There are a ton of shops a tier below or at the bottom end of that rung, and some of them do a few big mid-cap financings or real advisory work a few times a year. Bit disconnected from that tier tbh, but I've run across a few alum from INFOR and Paradigm at the big 5, BBs and Canadian pensions.

 
Most Helpful

Nulla ut aut quasi doloribus iure autem aut. Aut animi consequuntur fugit iusto inventore. Omnis placeat dolor dolores nihil.

Sit enim qui incidunt et est doloremque esse sint. Quaerat non nam ipsum ipsa et. Nisi quas quis voluptas aut mollitia aut occaecati voluptatem. Libero debitis impedit et illum voluptates.

Aut repudiandae nobis dolor quis incidunt. Iure consequuntur necessitatibus non aliquid commodi ut adipisci. Nihil et voluptatem atque nostrum asperiores cum rem eos. Fugit harum molestias hic atque debitis nihil.

Career Advancement Opportunities

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Guggenheim Partners 02 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 99.0%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 13 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (57) $264
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (29) $183
  • Intern/Summer Associate (16) $161
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (77) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”