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July 31, 2026
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it's a couple of guys that try to eek out a living by providing business valuations, business brokerage, etc. that's it in a nutshell.
Pretty accurate actually. Even their largest listed clients haven't performed any M&A deals. Mostly business valuations and strategic consulting projects. They do some ESOP as well, but overall, would be shitty for IB.
Oh haha, thnx
For what its worth, out of all of the small Chicago area firms that offer ESOPs, valuation, fairness opinions, and some investment banking (i.e. Houlihan Smith/Houlihan Capital, Madison Street Capital, Cognient Group) they seem to be A LOT less shady than the other places.
Is this for FT or SA? Either way if you have no options, this sounds like a good opportunity.
If for FT, you need to be "in the door" to lateral. This would be a great stepping stone for just that. If for SA, again, get great references (shows a lot of character if you showed up to an interview with extremely strong recommendation letters from your previous employer(s)) and prep for FT.
Can't lose if you have no other option.
I agree ... if you have no other options it would definitely be a decent role. Being in Chicago will provide you with the opportunity to network and try to lateral to some of the smaller MMs (Dresner, Brown Gibbons Lang, Livingstone, SRR, Mesirow), or if you're really strong at networking and know your shit you may even get lucky at places on par with Duff & Phelps, Deloitte/PwC/KPMG M&A, etc.
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