Understaffed Deal Teams

Why tf are deal teams so understaffed? Are MDs so oblivious to this? Clearly being on 15-20 deals vs scrambling on +40 results in higher quality output, materials, analysis, etc.?

Am I missing something? Is it that hard to find talent? MDs want to keep $$ to themselves? Wouldn't adding more ppl allow the firm to take on more deals and put out better products netting more $$? Makes no logical sense. Someone enlighten me. 

20 Comments
 

15-25 sounds farfetched, would be ridiculous if you're actually on that many. But generally, everyone is understaffed because:

1) it's hard to find good people with experience that want to move

2) it can take 6months - a year to train someone, and no one knows how long the boom will last, so not productive to double the team if by the time people pull their own weight they no longer need extra people

3) average employees can really drag down the team and tend to be harder to get rid of

 

Pretty easy for it to happen on small teams. Lots of ways it can play out, but one example from a group with ~5 analysts.

  • Analyst x starts taking 3-4 hours to complete simple tasks
  • Seniors talk to them, they do better for a week, then revert back to bad habits
  • Client complains about speed transaction is moving / advisor response time
  • People start refusing to get staffed with said analyst, so analyst work is limited to comps/benchmarking/anything not time sensitive
  • Rest of analyst class has to pick up slack and goes from 75-80 hour weekly average to 90+
  • Rest of class sees other analyst x doing nothing and them working late/on weekends and get upset
  • Analyst x complains to HR that they're being harassed/mistreated because they are in 1/7 Native American
  • Huge mess and frustration all around
 

I am saying 1 analyst, 1 associate, 1 VP, and two MDs collectively on over 40 deals. Not m&a but various ipos, pipes, follow-ons, up-listings, bridges, etc. Wondering if this is the norm

 
Most Helpful

Yeah, you're missing quite a bit.

The amount of time that it takes to either (a) recruit laterals and negotiate comp from a different shop or (b) bringing in extra heads from B4 FDD (or some other quasi-similar industry) and getting them trained as fully functioning analysts or associates is a fucking longer time than you're imagining.

By the time that the above has happened, the market has cooled down, bonus pool is getting thin, so now you're going to have to slash headcount because The Powers That Be got a little too hire-happy during a short-lived M&A boom.

Think about it from a grouphead's perspective - which is the lesser of two evils?

Overworking your current staff

or

going out and hiring new staff (that struck out during FT recruiting most likely) and quickly letting them go if the market comes to a dead-halt (see: Q2 2020)?

 

Industry-wide? Hasn't that only happened one time in the last two decades?

You're asking a super loaded question man. Refine and revert, please and thanks.

 

Vel ut omnis est eum. Vel laborum aut maiores quia numquam. Unde quia iste necessitatibus voluptate veritatis et cum. Et autem qui consequatur aut soluta. Ab officia deleniti mollitia possimus voluptate. Tenetur dolorum corrupti provident possimus veniam voluptas.

Quisquam expedita odit ea culpa eos officia. Et eos doloremque suscipit cum aut animi unde. Voluptatem provident rerum quis voluptate ut. Deleniti harum ratione consequatur accusamus. Quia mollitia quas enim tenetur doloremque quis voluptatem delectus.

Vero laboriosam beatae et tenetur. Rerum nesciunt sunt est cumque omnis accusantium. Voluptas distinctio nulla placeat tempore et. Eligendi aspernatur fugit impedit hic quis in. Illum dicta ut voluptatem sed et quam ab voluptas. Similique cumque rerum facilis aspernatur. Sit sed quia commodi nostrum et corporis.

Veniam dolorem amet temporibus. Ullam nobis harum dolorum nihil ex sit cumque. Rerum et similique et est quasi. Consequuntur quia dolorum dolores qui consequatur id quam. Quis consectetur sunt quae. Adipisci consequatur aut aut dignissimos illum tenetur.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (67) $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
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
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...”