Tech IB - West vs. East coast

I am looking to gather more information between Tech/TMT groups of BB and EB firms on both coasts. For each bank what the differences are in terms of culture and coverage and who has better exit opportunities.

  • GS TMT (SF vs. NY)

  • MS Tech (SF vs. NY)

  • Centerview (SF Tech vs. generalist NY)

  • Evercore (SF Tech vs. generalist NY)

  • BofA (SF Tech vs. generalist NY)

 
Most Helpful

This might be a hot take but I believe that if you hold firm constant, quality of exits doesn’t change that much based on the city you’re based in. What actually changes (and gives the perception that exits are better from one office vs another) is the composition of people in each office. By composition, I’m referring to people’s backgrounds and what they’re interested in.

Let’s use Evercore as an example because this is WSO and WSO for some reason is obsessed with Evercore. It is a fact that there are a lot of people in Evercore NY who exit to megafund PE each year. That’s great, but I doubt many people from Evercore Menlo want to work in traditional PE. It’s just like few people from Evercore NY want to go into VC right out of banking. Have there been cases where people from Evercore Menlo exit to megafund PE and Evercore NY exit to VC? Of course. Both cases are rare as a percentage of analyst classes, though. Same can be said for the other firms. I don’t think people at GS TMT SF would be thrilled at the prospect of working at Apollo post banking. However, with the right background (school, GPA, and non-banking experiences), megafund PE or VC should be possible from either NY and SF because your background doesn’t change depending on if you’re in SF or NY. There’s a lot of confounding variables that make simplistic associations like GS TMT NY = better exits inaccurate.

I will say, while I don’t think location matters that much, I think the group you’re in matters. This is where SF vs NY truly makes a difference as there will be differences in exits due to the sector you cover. Evercore and BofA don’t have generalist programs, but be careful about places like Centerview NY if your end goal is tech related finance. If you don’t like tech finance idk why you’re asking this question in the first place so I’m assuming you do.

Think about it this way:

  • If you want to cover tech at PE, NY is better
  • If you want to cover tech at hedge fund, NY is better
  • If you want to cover tech at VC, SF is better
  • If you want to cover tech at growth equity, SF is better
  • If you want tech corporate exits, location doesn’t matter

Remember, “better exits” is in the eye of the beholder, so you need to figure out what you want vs what’s popular on WSO.

As for culture, I’ll leave that to people who actually work at the above banks. However, in general SF groups are sweatier than their east coast counterparts across the board, but this doesn’t mean they have a worse culture. Not sure if that’s still the case given market conditions, though. Split is usually hardware/fintech/media/telecom NY and software/internet/semis SF.

 

Great post, but I haven't heard the take that SF is always sweatier than NYC counterparts. Why do you think this? I've always heard SF is more lifestyle focused. SA's that went to NYC from my school seemed to work much longer hours. 

 

Est cumque ut nisi. Cumque possimus sed aut iste. Dignissimos qui ut cum et voluptatum sit accusamus. Voluptatibus repellendus voluptatem labore mollitia sit culpa.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”