What's the difference between a very small boutique (>10 employees) and a "normal" bank like a EB, BB, or MM in terms of the work you do on a daily basis and what's expected of you? Currently interning at a small boutique but planning to recruit for larger banks so I'd like to know the difference. Obviously you are working on larger deals but is it the same otherwise?
| +325 | UBS Tech MD hires Son (from no-name college) as an Intern | 57 | 7h |
| +222 | Evercore Intern Seizure | 34 | 2h |
| +89 | [Official] 2026 IB Analyst Bonus Megathread (with 2025 Consolidated Pay and Perks/Benefits) | 12 | 2d |
| +55 | Is DCM actually underrated ? | 21 | 6h |
| +51 | JPM M&A is Gone??? Purely Coverage Banking??? | 20 | 1d |
| +46 | Are all Tech / TMT groups sweaty? | 33 | 18h |
| +41 | UBS Groups Ranked by Future Outlook | 20 | 6d |
| +38 | Am I behind? 31 Year Old Analyst | 9 | 1d |
| +36 | Losing my personality in Banking | 5 | 1d |
| +36 | Associate & Above IB exits | 15 | 1m |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
This has been covered a lot on here.
Based on the size of your Boutique and the services offered, the work could be the same, but typically BB's are going to have a larger service offering and be able to provide a platter of different services such as ECM/DCM.
If you don't mind could you point me to one of the threads? I tried searching but I didn't really find one that answered my question specifically. I guess what I'm trying to ask here is yes BBs are going to offer a ton of different services but if you are an M&A or industry group analyst how would your experience differ from a small boutique?
https://lmgtfy.com/?q=wso+boutique+vs+bb
Most of these are either answering questions about comp and hours or are talking about BB vs EB.
Thanks though
Experiences at BB/EB are fairly standard across the board. This is not the case with boutiques. Experiences at boutiques vary significantly depending on the firm. There are fantastic shops that will give you an amazing experience, but there are also no-name boutiques that will give you sub-par experience. The point is, you'd have to specify which boutiques you have in mind.
Can you give some examples/names of "fantastic shops"? Just want to get a better sense.
As the person above me said, there really are two distinct boutique groups (not counting the EBs, which are barely actual boutiques considering some employ thousands of people). There are the regional boutiques that don't really do many deals and just kind of exist, and then there are these higher powered boutiques that typically cover M&A but sometimes other stuff and usually focus on a certain industry. These places aren't that great for exits, but they do a lot of deals and generally are good experience.
Molestiae consequatur aut ipsum adipisci. Perspiciatis aliquid assumenda accusamus repellendus. Alias aut cum porro hic doloremque omnis perferendis. Quaerat nam est quae ea velit quia eligendi.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...