Went to corporate - now I realize it's not mostly the clients that make IB tough, it's 100% the MDs
Went to corporate from IB M&A and the prevailing idea was always that deadlines are tight because the clients are always demanding shit in a short amount of time, which rolls downhill to the IB MDs and rolls further downhill to the junior folk
That's probably true depending on the client (mostly PE have type A people with tight deadlines), but it's clear to me now that most of the time it's the IB team leadership that is setting these stupid deadlines. A conversation with our bankers went something like this:
My manager: oh yeah, just send us a draft of some of the materials sometime before Thanksgiving, we probably won't launch before the end of 'insert some time in the future here' so that gives us some time to work through it
MD: we will get you a draft before the weekend
My manager: oh that would be nice but we probably won't read it until next week because it's the weekend
MD: We'll get it to you before the weekend anyways
And this isn't some test where we're trying to see how good they are with being proactive with clients, we actually don't care if the materials come in that early because we don't want to see it yet
I'm working for F500 for reference. While this what you're saying is true and people in corporate are more chilled about deadlines, it also massively depends on what team you're working for at corporate. I worked in a few teams at F500, and non-finance ones were reasonably chilled about any deadlines and getting back both internally and to the clients. But, on the contrary, my corporate finance team is very intense. We have short, fixed deadlines and IB-like culture. Given the team is very lean, often we end up grinding IB hours.
They're trying to push the client forward. Bankers are salespeople, it's what sales people do. When the client is on the fence or acting like there is no urgency on their part, a good salesperson will instill the urgency, or at least try.
Now are there times where it's totally pig-headed and the MD is just running into what he should know is a brick wall and they're just wasting everybody's time? Absolutely. But I can think of at least a few times when I was in IB where a client is on the fence about something or in no particular rush and the MDs end up pushing them along and getting a deal done in a matter of months instead of "sometime in the next few years".
But hey that's life in the arena trying stuff. Some will work, some wont. But always learning.
Occaecati nemo itaque consequuntur repellat vel ad. Dolorem voluptatem aut esse nam vitae. Aut sunt et voluptas neque molestiae et aliquid cum. Est doloribus quo earum omnis magni tempore.
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...