“I recently had a LinkedIn audit call with Arnau as part of my WSO Academy program, and it was one of the most practical and useful sessions I've had so far. I came in thinking my profile was in decent shape. I left with a clear picture of how recruiters and bankers actually see it, and a concrete list of changes that will make it work much harder for me.
Some background: I'm moving from corporate finance into investment banking, corporate banking, and private equity. I have an MBA in Corporate Finance, a PMP, and several years of finance and project management experience. Making that kind of move depends heavily on how you present your story, and LinkedIn is often the first place a recruiter or analyst sees it. That's why this session mattered so much to me.
From the first few minutes, Arnau was well prepared, direct, and focused on what actually moves the needle. He didn't just give generic tips like "add a professional photo." He went through my profile section by section and explained why each piece matters to someone in finance who's quickly scanning candidates. His feedback was honest without being discouraging, which I really appreciated. He pointed out where my profile was underselling my experience and where it wasn't clearly showing that I'm aiming for banking and PE.
What stood out most was how he helped me think about positioning. My background covers corporate finance, project management, hospitality, and real estate, and it can be hard to make that read as one clear story. Arnau helped me connect those experiences to the skills banks look for: financial analysis, modeling, managing budgets and capital, and working with senior stakeholders. He showed me how small changes to my headline, About section, and experience bullets can make that story obvious within seconds.
The session was also very actionable. I didn't leave with vague ideas. I left with a short list of specific edits I can make right away. That matters a lot when you're job hunting and every week counts. He also shared advice on using LinkedIn more actively, such as engaging with the right people and content, so the profile supports my networking instead of just sitting there.
I also want to recognize the overall WSO Academy experience. Between the modeling bootcamp, the company research work, the mentorship, and sessions like this one, the program has given me structure and support during a career transition that can otherwise feel isolating. This call was a good example of what makes WSO different: the people coaching you understand the industry you're trying to break into and give feedback that reflects how hiring really works.
If you're a WSO member and haven't booked a LinkedIn audit yet, I'd strongly recommend it. It's a short time commitment, and the return is significant. Your LinkedIn profile is often your first impression, and having an experienced set of eyes on it is worth it.
Thank you, Arnau, for your time, honesty, and practical guidance. I'm excited to put the changes in place and keep building toward my goal of breaking into investment banking.”
How is it that you think BB M&A deals work that differs meaningfully from this?
Not sure since I don't really have anything to compare to but: i do basically no modelling work, less complicated due diligence issues (not sure about this?) and we don't have access to Bloomberg, Thomson One or FactSet or any other sort of databases that even a larger boutique would have.
Are you saying larger deals aren't that different from lower-MM?
DD in big deals is often much less in-depth than the DD performed on MM deals, since large companies have many layers of oversight already built in (auditors, counsel, shareholders, SEC, etc.).
I'm not trivializing BB work by any means, if you're not doing any modeling right now, then perhaps your experience would change more dramatically than I had thought. However, at the end of the day, most deals are made using multiples, doesn't matter the size of the company.
shit gets cray when them deals get big, bro!
I am surprised that bankers are even brought on for a 5-10m deal. Seems unnecessary.
If you're looking to sell your $10mm business, are you just going to start cold calling rich people?
I feel as if deals of this size would mostly be strategic deals by other small cap to mm companies, and that the owner, operator, etc. would have the industry expertise to know who to call on their own. Just saying I was surprised, not questioning its existence -- sorry if I sounded like a douche
Possibly.
In all seriousness, sounds like the OP works more for a business broker. $5 to $10mm isn't even a MM deal IMO. There are M&A advisors for the lower-middle market, but the value add evaporates once you get lower than say $3mm EBITDA IMO.
OP, in order to move up to a legit MM boutique of any size, you need to learn how to model and understand the deal process better. Are you FT or interning there?
Daeg, you'll get more informal training and less face time as you would in BB.
These types of deals happen frequently as they facilitate Series B, C rounds and eventual cross-P/E sales as the business gets larger. The experience is quite helpful if you want to stick to the start-up route. If you look at west-coast based companies like Arbor, you'll notice these guys work on relatively small deals, and choose to work at start-ups before moving to merchant banking. That route isn't guaranteed, but the experience is certainly valuable despite it being considerably different than what a traditional MM/BB/EB does.
Concern about this model, however, is you'll need to consistently source deals to maintain decent pay so a ton of the time, you'll see junior roles cold-calling and sourcing potential clients. It's similar to very very low-market P/E in that sense though you're not taking an investment role.
I've worked/had experience in this stuff prior to moving to BB. Disclaimer to my comments, however, is that at these small sizes, adviser structures and sourcing habits can vary significantly.
From the sound of it, OP isn't working with VC firms necessarily. There are thousands of small $500K to $3mm EBITDA cos.
Isn't there another name for this kind of advisory? I'm guessing it's mostly stuff like mom and pop stores and restaurants right?
What kinds of restaurants do you know that are pulling in $3mm+ EBITDA?
I already said it, business brokerage.
You will learn to put together a deal with inadequate controls, management, and structure. We have had the one off deal fall below $10 million and it comes back to bite the firm every time. The deals take too much work and time for the small $300 thousand fee. If the range is truly $5 to $10 million, keep looking for something else. If you have no other options... welcome to the weeds.
Karlsson - Do you have any idea on the firms fee structure? Is the firm registered with FINRA? Business Brokers usually structure the deal as an asset deal or a real estate deal. Will you be taking the Series 79 & 63? This will tell you if it is a business broker. Let me know.
Associate_MA123: Nope haven't heard of having to take Series 79 or 63, but I'm in Canada so I'm not sure if that makes a difference? Fee structure is generally 4-5% with a 5k/month retainer from what I've seen.
peinvestor: Definitely doesn't sound like this firm then.
You should be fine. The fee structure kind of worries me... $460k...
Wow, those retainers are quite low and the fees are higher than ours. Definitely going "all-in". Just hope the group continues to close transactions.
I interned at a place like this for my sophomore year internship. Leveraged this experience to get an offer from a top middle market bank as a junior SA this upcoming summer.
They focused mostly on growth funding for start-up companies ($5-$30 million or so) using equity private placements. Although it was small cap, people definitely considered my experience as 'actual' investment banking, even if it was extremely small cap.
Encouraging to hear but I think my circumstances are probably a little worse off than yours were...
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