Lateral Recruiting from a Small/Unknown Boutique

Currently 2 years into IB at a very small boutique (sub 10 people) and looking to lateral. I'm increasingly concerned about my growth because the team is fully remote and fairly unstructured.

I've gotten exposure to live M&A processes, with my responsibilities have generally been things like pitch/coffee decks (which has been fairly short/basic), coordinating management meetings, preparing buyer briefing materials for ahead of these meetings, working on smaller models, and relaying post-meeting diligence questions from potential buyers and answers from clients. The vast majority of my time, I feel, is spent on responding to emails.

At the same time, there are things we don't do as a team that I expected us to do — for example, we don't manage the data room directly and instead work off what the client already has while maintaining our own internal SharePoint. The bidding process feels a bit muddled a lot of meetings but without a particularly structured process with a strict IOI/LOI timeline. We also haven't put together a traditional 50+ page CIM or closed a deal during my time here.

So overall, I feel like I'm getting a taste of the M&A process, but I'm not sure how complete that experience is or what core execution experience I may be missing compared with someone at a more established bank. That's the main reason I'm looking to lateral.

I'm considering lateraling to a more established platform and would appreciate candid advice (and definitely open to lateraling as an analyst):

• How important is networking for lateral recruiting?
• How should I position my experience without overselling it?
• How difficult is it to lateral from a small/unknown boutique?
• What does the process typically look like and how should I prepare (I expect I'll be held to a higher standard versus for an SA role)?
• Should I focus on other smaller boutiques or MM, or also target EB/BB?

Would especially appreciate input from people who have lateraled or hired laterals.