MM vs Boutique?
Alright, so I am in an interesting but not bad situation:
I currently have an offer from a solid boutique firm (ATL/CHA/MIA), but I also have a MM offer think Truist/Citizens/Keybanc.
The boutique would pay less but the WLB would be better and I also think the culture would be a little more relaxed. Is getting the name brand of a firm listed above and the extra $10-$15 an hour really worth it in this situation?
For some background, I go to a non-target and have one finance internship. So I am happy with these offers, BB's were never in the picture for me.
I'm obviously not making a decision based on these responses but any insights and opinions would be helpful.
My mildly qualified take: if you want a chance to be a career banker, take the boutique in a LCOL spot, if you want buyside ops, take MM and give the grinder a try. Good luck and try to have fun
If Eb, take it. If it’s not, do the MM
As long as you have good deal experience it doesn't matter. I've been at a boutique and I get interest from large firms (i also went to a target and am a military veteran so YMMV). I've also seen non-targets who have blown it out of the water on the job at a boutique and leveraged that to a better offer. During my first job at NoNameShitShopCapital I saw someone lateral to a BB (one of the good ones too) and saw another non-target lateral to a non-BB but brand-name shop. I always do a very good job of articulating my deal experience and making things I've done sound impressive, as well as emphasizing the fact that I take on bigger roles during deals since we are a smaller firm. Having WLB is awesome, I recently turned down a job that would've had me at double my comp but I'd be working *all the time* and living in a HCOL city (SF/NY) as opposed to where I'm at now (TX/FL/NC). Personally, I appreciate the opportunity to have enough free time to study for the CFA, have a girlfriend, workout, see friends and have hobbies. I didn't realize how badly I wanted to cling to my WLB until I had the opportunity to throw it away for extra $. You CAN get buyside roles from boutiques, its all about how you frame your experience, your decision to take the boutique role vs MM etc.
Also, many boutiques are often the authority in a certain niche or in a certain area, so deal flow can be fairly consistent and the amount you earn may surprise you. Not all boutiques are created equal though, some are absolutely the best kept secret and are rockstars in what they do, other boutiques may struggle to get deal flow, won't pay their people unless a deal closes, or just have bad culture, low salaries, make their analysts pitch all the time instead of doing analyses, etc. I'd say most boutiques fall in the second category, the most common archetype i've seen is "former bigbank MD starting a shop with his little buddies" fails to get the expected dealflow and makes analysts do pitching and market research while giving them no true deal experience and wasting everyones time (i was dangerously close to being this guy and ive seen it happen). Critically assess a firm's dealflow, (size and frequency of closed deals) speak with people at the firm, as well as recruiters and others outside the firm. Boutiques are a big hit or miss so you have to evaluate each one accordingly
My own jaded opinion is that nothing beats a great boutique, but most boutiques are not great.
Great take, if you’re thinking about being a career banker the you should lean towards the boutique. For lifestyle, the money isn’t going to make that much of a difference in your quality of life. You can always lateral later on if you change your mind.
Middle Market - the brand recognition right out of school can give you more future career opportunity. It will also provide a path to lateral to a larger bank in the future if you like. Also, you can run into some "nuanced" people in boutiques that have more power than you want them to... have also seen and heard of very sociopathic folks in these boutiques. If you are leaning boutique, make sure you examine junior banker turnover and speak to any prior junior folks that have worked there to unpack why they left.
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