Life After Director in IB

If you love talking to people and sales, IB is where you want to be.

The higher you climb, the more it’s all about sales and winning deals, and less about models or legal diligence, etc.

It’s funny, because this is the exact reason I’m trying to leave investment banking. I hate traveling and talking to new people. Like I fucking hate it.

I obviously present well or I wouldn’t have been able to survive in IB this long, but I still always get this awful anxiety before I present.

If you find a high paying job, where I never have to interact with anyone, please PM me.

Sorry but I am  having a chuckle imagining my 33 year old director typing this post… grown man with a house and kids 

If you’ve coasted to D for 10 years and still haven’t worked it out then there’s truly no hope for me I’m realising 

You could always work at best buy 

I

Take things a lot of people say here with a grain of salt. Gotta remember, like half of the people on this site haven't even graduated yet, let alone got as far as director in their careers yet.

With that said, I think it's worth recognizing that maybe you're using your professional life to make up for things lacking elsewhere. I know I've done this, where I've tried to maximize all my career opportunities and push myself to avoid tough decisions in my personal life. 

It's worth doing a retrospective on what it is you really want out of life. To many here, you're old, but in the grander scheme of things you're still fairly young and have a lot of life left. You've likely still got 20-30 years left in the tank, so if you can imagine staying in banking that long then I don't see any reason to leave unless you get some opportunity you really must take. If there's something else you want out of life, like traveling, a family, house, etc. then chase after that and keep your professional life secondary(don't neglect it, just don't make it the focus of your life). 

You're more successful in your 30s than most people will be through their entire life. Whatever venture you chose next, it's likely you'll continue being successful. If you absolutely want to move on, if you love sales and talking to people you might enjoy IR roles or sales/exec roles at a fintech. Lots of interesting roles in the corporate world, and you might even make more money there if you join the right place at the right time. Good luck

F 

Normally the path for a Director is to find an MD seat or move to a client, and at 31, you should probably have a plan but then again I didn’t. I was good at what I did l, wasn’t particularly taxed and just kept moving up. It was only when I briefly left banking that I decided I really liked it.

That said, the obvious thing for you to look at is institutional securities sales. I’ve seen a few bankers with the gift of the gab make the move, and while the comp / upside isn’t the same as an MD in banking on average, it’s nothing to sneeze at. I’ve also seen a few move to the PWM side of the business where they are essentially corporate finance for HNWs. Some at GS and Citi have done very well. The good part is depending on which firm you work at, these are lateral moves and often welcomed internally. 

bus dev / corp dev at fintech or tech start up. reality is every job has aspects you won't like. hopefully you find something that's enjoyable. 

You could also explore mid-market PE or a role on the buy-side. I had a young director make the move a long time ago. Same with a friend of mine just recently, joined a merchant bank that was just starting up. 

To add to what others have said, you're already in sales. You're at the director level and you're expected to make it rain sooner or later if not now already.

That being said, I would advise against joining a tech company or start up and working in sales there. Tech industry is a whole other animal, and no one cares what you sold in finance. It's not applicable to tech at all. There are no models in tech. Only product, engineering, and marketing & sales. 

The sales is also not sell this company to investors or advise on a merger, it's do you have a tedious incredibly expensive and painful business problem that my software solution can come and solve. 

Tech sales is also a grind unlike IB because you will have people straight up tell you to fuck off. In trying to sell my own MVP to potential users, I've had people hang up the phone on me, ignore my emails, straight up ghost me, and politely told me to fuck off. Idk any MD who's had to deal with that kind of rejection or perhaps the rejection is different in finance in the sense that it is more polished. 

Also to any analysts or associates that think all MDs do is schmooze with clients, you are dead wrong. MDs are constantly selling, themselves, their firm, their services, their reputation, and their value to potential clients by constantly providing them with information or services for free ("freemium") in the hopes that they can convert them to a customer months or years down the road. The sales cycle and pipeline is incredibly stressful and brutal in finance and I don't think juniors truly have a grasp or appreciation for that. 

The D / MD is a sales role, particularly in coverage, and you like sales….so why would you leave? I feel like I’m missing something.