Is a (3-person) Micro-Boutique M&A Internship Worth It? Need Advice
Background on me:
-I'm starting an MSc in Corporate Finance (M&A track) at Bayes Business School in London in Sept ’26.
-28 years old, with 2 years FP&A exp at JNJ that I left. I have 9 months to gain experience in IB/M&A.
-My goal is to break into London IB/M&A upon graduation. So I will need exp. I'm mostly self-taught on M&A/IB/Valuations, and my MSc includes these courses anyways.
Here are my options:
Option 1: A 3-person micro-boutique unpaid internship. It's director + 1 analyst.
No idea how this will be. Is this legit experience or basically cold calling with unknown boutique name? If its the latter, will it move th needle?
Option 2: Keep cold-emailing and try to find a bigger team/boutique.
Option 3:Try to land full-time analyst Project Finance role. Not directly relevant to try goals, but could be transferable and its a regular salary.
Basically Im wondering: Do I lock in the micro-boutique internship now, or keep searching for something stronger?
What’s the highest-ROI move for the next 9 months if the only goal is breaking into M&A after my masters?
Looking for blunt advice from anyone who moved into IB from boutiques or worked at 2–5 person shops.
Disclaimer, I do not know the European market, so take the advice with a grain of salt.
In my opinion it is always worth it. Is there a chance that you pigeon yourself into the LMM, but I truly believe that if you are at a bank gaining exposure to the M&A process, that is always better than nothing. Also, I hate to say it, but careers don't always work out the way we want and if you do end up at a smaller bank then hopefully this experience will give you a leg up over the competition.
right- any experience at a real shop is better than none. But a 2/3 person group, director and analyst, not knowing if they closed deals or if it's simply free origination labor at a tiny shop no one takes seriously - thats what I'm wondering if its worth it or not.
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