There is no meritocracy - Importance of Finding Internal Sponsors
As the new analyst class rolls in, let me save you years of disillusionment.
There is no meritocracy in IB or PE.
None at all.
You think if you work the hardest, make the cleanest models, catch all the errors, turn comments fast, you’ll get top bucket and be promoted? You won’t. That gets you in the middle of the pack at best.
Here’s the truth:
IB/PE is a relationship game. Full stop.
That MD who commands the room and prints fees? He’s not there because he’s technically perfect; he’s there because clients trust him and he has strong internal political standing. Because he built relationships and navigated internal politics. Because seniors pull for him behind closed doors.
That senior PE partner who manages billions? He didn’t get there by being the best associate. He got there because he knew how to play the long game and was liked by the right people. aligning with the right power brokers, picking his spots, managing up, and building real internal relationships that got him promoted.
Meanwhile, you’re grinding in Excel, thinking your turn times are gonna get you promoted. They won’t.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
75-80% of juniors can do the actual job to an acceptable enough standard.
They can build the model. They can make the deck. They can stay up until 3 a.m. reformatting comps. You’re not special for doing what everyone else is doing. There’s no meaningful edge in being the “best” analyst, because the gap between the top-performing analyst and the 20th percentile is way smaller than you think.
What separates people is who is willing to go to bat for you. And that’s where mentorship comes in.
If you don’t find someone senior to back you, you will stall out.
Not some HR-assigned mentor. Not someone who gives you feedback on formatting.
You need someone who actively invests in you, puts your name in rooms you’re not in, and eventually vouches for you when it matters.
Thanks captain obvious.
Is the sky also blue? Do fat chicks give the best head? Is having winners for parents helpful to being a winner in life?
What keen insight you have.
And this is exactly why you’re stuck at Director. No judgment, the industry "needs" middle managers who type like Reddit trolls and call that “personality.”
Meanwhile, real decision-makers are bringing in deals while you’re still yelling at analysts over margins on internal pages. Enjoy being the guy juniors fear and seniors forget.
Every time the SVP in Corp Dev posts something, you know it'll be a banger: dude does like 3 things: 1) shits on UBS in an extremely detailed manner, 2) is very funny attacking people (unsure if intentional or unintentional), 3) gives good advice. Has to be one of the better shit-posters on this forum.
@Senior VP: You are a UBS TMT senior who brought in no fees and was fired “pushed out.” STFu
I’m stuck at director! Living in Greenwich and suffering! Woe is me!
Not sure about fat chicks giving the best but hot chicks tend to give the worst head. Pillow princesses the woat
Not everyone can have daddy buy them an a NYC apartment
Oh I agree. Some people have lazy parents who had kids before they were financially stable. Sorry bro. That’s life!
you can have a Greenwich house and still be a loser
How so? Calling out idiotic posts not a noble thing to do?
This advice is as candid as it comes. Unfortunately, it takes time for juniors to build relationships with seniors unless you are a DEI girlie then seniors need you for their quotas which forces them to go above & beyond to coach/mentor/vouch for girlies. If you are a male junior, there isn’t much hope for you as half the seats are earmarked for Beckies in each promotion cycle.
also, "culture fit" = being from an upper middle class family and playing golf/lacrosse/tennis
This is why UBS sucks:
Fired ED or Md from one of the worst groups believes there is no meritocracy. This is what Barclays Nepotism has done to his world view. Fees and performance don’t matter, just being liked by the right person.
The entire bank is focused on being liked and no one is focused on doing deals, the doom loop continues…
From this thread, it's very clear he's an Industrials banker (the two PE firms he suggests are both hyper-niche industrials players). There's a chance he's ex-LevFin, though, given she always talks up about that group and commented on a lot of the LevFin threads from earlier. Pretty easy to figure out it's him, given his writing style and the verified status with the rank.
https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/investment-banking/when-to-decide…
Nahh that’s a head fake with “not a tech guy”
There is absolutely a meritocracy - though the "merit" is the soft / relationship building skills you mentioned, not modeling. Sourcing and putting together strong deals, managing LPs and fundraising, what Partners are compensated highly for, isn't done because they are excel wizards. Modeling will help you be useful as an analyst and is table stakes. Sales and relationship building is a skill and if you aren't able to even do that internally, why should there be an expectation that you will have any more success interacting with third parties?
Unless you work with jerks stuff like nepotism isn't a barrier (if you're already in the seat) and it's a limiting belief to think otherwise. You get senior people to like you by having an unrelenting drive to find ways to make them (i) more money, or (ii) their lives easier. Combine that with a positive, optimistic demeanor and you'll get along just fine.
More of an attention-grabbing title, but yes, this is the point I am making: it's not the technical stuff that gets you ahead in IB/PE, it's the soft skills and relationship-building skills. I do think PE is uniquely political/non-merit-based because of its longer-term nature. Ultimately a large point of getting promoted isn't how good you are at generating top returning investments but the soft skills you highlighted. Some of the smartest people from my analyst class have been forced to go down market from MFs, and some of the dumbest people I know have succeeded to partner level at MF/UMM firms largely due to soft skills. I think at a mid-level or high-level IB is much more "merit" based than PE since you have more directly attributable revenue but that's neither here nor there.
In PE there can definitely be a "refuge in mediocrity" due to the long-term nature. Though in my experience if you are objectively crushing it you still very clearly stand out. I'm in the LMM though where the teams are leaner and there's less bureaucracy to hide in if you suck.
Any practical advice for incoming analysts joining a new desk
Perhaps coffee chats with VPs+ when you hit desk and periodically build the relationship?
Identify the key players, then do your best to secure a spot on their projects. To find the rainmakers, simply look at your bank's deals over the year and check them against what each MD covers. Whoever has the biggest or most deals can be deemed a rainmaker within the context of your group. Don't be fooled by titles; follow the deals.
To get on their deals: do really good work for them and prioritize them when you get staffed on their stuff, as usually, first years are just staffed on things as they come in. Another thing you can do is go to a staffer and say you are interested in whatever subvertical or coverage space the rainmakers focus on. As a former staffer, I think most staffers are pretty willing to give first-year analysts the subverticals they'd like if there is an opportunity to do so. Once on one or two things in that subvertical, just do great work and show interest in continued staffing with the senior.
Word to bro
Talk about things other than work. Be casually interesting
Could you give some examples please?
How to do this as summer intern?
Doesn't apply as a summer intern. Summer intern return decisions are basically almost all made by juniors, as from my experience, most seniors don't ever bother to show up, or even if they show up rarely say anything of note. As a summer intern, you really should just keep your head down, do good work, and maybe build rapport with the juniors you work with. Summer intern return is going to be huge on attitude though, got to show you are coachable and don't repeat mistakes.
most top juniors in the team are already working for the rainmaker and unless they drop the ball, opportunities to work with them will be few and far between.
aint reading allat I think i'll manage A2A promo without bringing in $20mm in deal fees
It's such facts mane anyone who goes on this site to write a manifesto is not someone who you should be listening to.
congrats on being ex-barclays/lateral to UBS!
Wild how much being liked by certain top MDs can help your career. 80% of these Barclays "MDs" never brought in deals, but probably got top bucket bonuses and were promoted to MD solely because one guy at the top liked them.
Exactly and for the large part staffings are out of our control in the earlier years or if you aren’t keen on his sub-vertical, you will suffer.
I find it interesting that developing relationships is not getting considered a skill that's part of how good you do your job.
Yeah this is true.
Even getting promoted requires this on the sell-side, let alone the buy-side, where it's far harder.
Hard skills get you in the door.
Soft skills take you to the top.
Always take such generalizations with a bit of salt. There're groups that are highly technical and will attribute more value to juniors who are real good at hard skills. But agree that once you hit VP level, you need to polish your relationship building skills - whether it's with upper mgmt of your own bank or with the treasurer of your client.
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