Q&A: From State School to MM IB Vice President Without an MBA
WSO Community, I wanted to take the opportunity to leverage my experience to be helpful with a Q&A. By way of background, I attended a state school, broke into MM IB as an analyst, left banking to work at multiple private equity firms, then returned to banking. Currently, I'm a VP at the MM IB firm I worked at immediately out of university. More than happy to answer any questions you have. It's been an interesting journey to say the least, which is chronicled in the posts below from the last seven years. Looking forward to your questions and the discussion. Fire away! Thank You, Broke In Double Break In, Thanks WSO From State School to IBD to MM PE Q&A There and Back Again a Banker's Tale
1) It was good - was missing something in the two PE shops I worked at. Turns out it was culture. I am fortunate enough to have a rather entrepreneurial culture in my banking office, with smaller leaner deal teams and the opportunity to step up and take on significantly more responsibility than roles typically define. They were very receptive to my buyside experience, as it was highly relevant - closed a number of relevant deals. However, my prior relationship with my team was also a large contributor to my return to the dark side.
2) Building your personal "brand" is very important - this entails building strong relationships withe colleagues, both above and below you. They need to be able to trust you to produce high quality work, direct teams and present / carry yourself well with clients. Maintaining a positive attitude also helps significantly, as it will enable your colleagues to have a more enjoyable work experience with you.
Thanks, Super.
1) I believe hustle is a symptom of passion and drive, both of which are key characteristics of success in anything competitive - banking included. I would attribute "hustle" to my success - in the form of will to win / survivor mentality. However, I believe the most important aspect of my success (albeit limited) thus far, is positive attitude. Positive attitude is what keeps you going during the late nights, enables you to come in with a smile on our face and provides the right frame of mind for you to learn and grow from shortcomings.
2) In terms of tips and tricks, I probably would have told myself to take more ownership of my work as an entry level analyst - would help with attention to detail and better work product. I would also tell myself to be extremely receptive to feedback - even more so than I was. I wasn't a very good first year analyst, but I progressed nicely following my initial year.
1) When I was an analyst, my firm didn't really offer direct promotions to Associate without an MBA. I secured my PE gig a year in advance of the start date and was fully transparent with my IB team and continued to work hard and produce high quality work despite the fact I was leaving. This was well received and enabled me to leave on really good terms. In fact, about six months after I accepted my offer, the firm changed the rigid rules around analyst to associate promotions, and they asked me to stay. However, I had already committed to joining the PE firm and wanted to honor that commitment.
2) I envision staying at my current bank and with my current team for quite some time. I'm really passionate about the sector and have spent my entire career advising clients or investing in the space, so it's a logical place for me to stay. Additionally, my IB firm really takes care of it's employees well, and my tightly-knit team has developed pretty powerful camaraderie for the world of investment banking. I'm still interested in investing and analyzing businesses, but I can get a lot of that from personal investing. I could potentially see myself being part of a PE firm / family office later in life though.
I really came back to banking because of my current firm and the team in particular. If not for the team and positive experiences I've had, I would still be in PE. So given that, I don't really see myself moving to a BB (even GS / MS / JPM). Not to say those are not tremendous firms - they absolutely are - but I really enjoy the dynamics I have with my team, including trust that's been build over a number of years.
My realization over the last few years is that people (myself included) often get caught in the mindset of "what's the next big thing?" and can sometimes miss really powerful opportunities in front of them. It's not only about the firm name / brand, but also about finding a culture and environment that fosters your personal work style, leadership style and lifestyle preferences. Having alignment in those key areas can be a really powerful force multiplier in terms of learning and career progression, because that alignment will make you more productive (and dare I say it, happier).
1) I worked at two separate private equity firms. The first was $1.5B+ and the other was a new fund with partner track opportunity. The link to the post above on the bit I wrote title "There and Back Again..." attempts to fully articulate my rationale. Essentially, the grass isn't always greener - PE was fun but something was missing. Candidly, I think I just got really lucky with the strong fit with my current bank and team. It's pretty differentiated and surprisingly entrepreneurial.
2) The work in IB is quite similar to PE, just applied in a different way. I enjoy banking quite a bit at my current (and at the associate) level. I was a bit tired of the analyst experience after three years, but I have fresh perspective now and a really strong team of more junior folks to help support me. This allows me to have more direct client and buyer interaction - direct CEO and partner level PE discussions, etc. There's also significantly less beta (read risk) in IB as compared to PE. Of course, there's a significantly reduced change of having my own jet, but I'm ok with that in conjunction with less stress :)