Evercore vs Vista
I just got an offer from both for summer 2024, and I’d appreciate any/all insight to make this decision
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Pretty simple answer, and totally based on personal choice, but would:
Take Evercore if you want to preserve optionality on what you want to do post-banking, or even in the long-term to some extent.
Take Vista if you want to hop into MF PE immediately build a tech investing mindset, and potentially make a career out of it. Vista's and Silver Lake's analyst programs are the best places after undergrad for a career in tech investing.
Curious to hear others' thoughts and considerations
Yes this exactly
Thank you so much!
How would you compare Vista and SLP’s analyst programs?
were you in Vista superday yesterday?
Yes I was
Just PMd you
Easy choice, Evercore. Both are top notch institutions, but think exits. Be aware of how unaware you are at this age.
You're an intern and will have far more opportunities going to Evercore. Best of luck!
Accounting intern says Evercore by a mile. Noted.
Agree on EVR
For Vista, are you sure they actually promote their analysts to associates?
If yes > Vista
If no > Evercore
This assumes you're gunning for PE after IB
Just take a look at Linkedin or the team page -- for Vista associates (and plenty even above that, like senior associates and VPs), a very large portion of them are A2As, and Vista prides themselves on internal promotions, so that makes sense
Headhunter here - thought I'd share of my experience with you. Both are great - so first you should be proud of yourself.
I would recommend you choose Evercore in this situation. Much better optionality and not solely focused on PE. In addition, it will be challenging to jump ship at Vista as the precedent is focused on staying at your firm and not looking to move after 1 month on the desk. Plus, location in NYC provides leverage.
Interesting take. Would agree going to EVR offers more variety to your upside and exits.
Great points - caveat here is that I would add that emphasizing long term at a firm like Vista isn’t necessarily bad.
For those looking into PE long term, firms like Vista and Warburg suit them much better than your typical KKR and BX 4 and out
Never really understood why places like KKR, BX, H&F push you out after two years. You’ve clearly demonstrated competence in getting in and, after two years at the firm, likely are very familiar with the way they operate. Why hire post MBAs instead of doing internal promotions? Any idea?
Hey, I'm a current MBA student who went through banking at a top group (GS TMT / EVR M&A / Moelis LA) to MF PE associate (KKR / BX / SLP), and I strongly doubt that the person above is a headhunter because so many of the things they said are factually incorrect lol.
Vista's analyst program (and literally every other MF-tier PE analyst program) has top-tier exits to everything from crossovers and VC firms to other PE firms and HFs. I really don't know what better exits/optionality Evercore offers tbh (unless you don't want to be an investor). Also, location doesn't provide leverage – it makes your life easier for on-cycle because you don't have to fly over from wherever you may be located (and potentially miss out on like one opportunity), but that's literally it. Elite buy-side firms don't give two flying fucks if you're in LA, Austin, SF, or NY. They just care about getting the best talent.
I don't know why people are suggesting that you waste two years doing mind-numbing work when you could be learning how to invest from one of the best PE firms. Also, you have to gamble during on-cycle where getting a shop like Vista is far from guaranteed even from Evercore. People in my SA class were trying desperately to switch over to a PE analyst program because of how shit banking is. All these people telling you to go banking are probably fucking interns who couldn't get any buy-side looks for SA or people who never left banking (I'm ready for all the monkey shits for spitting these facts).
People are MSing saying I'm inaccurate, but no one is responding and pointing out what is inaccurate. That's because this isn't inaccurate... people are just salty that I'm not cocksucking banking. Please, interns, BB VPs, and "headhunters," tell everyone what's inaccurate about my statement because you definitely know more about this than everyone else.
Hope you enjoyed your time in LA buddy!
This guy is 100% right, agree that people sending MS are interns who failed to recruit MF PE. People do not understand how boring banking is (yes even at top groups). The decision is here is very straightforward, take Vista and do not look back.
Trust me, if you accept EVR, 2 weeks into your summer when you realize the job is boring and every intern is trying to go FT in PE, you will regret your decision.
I actually do believe the person is a headhunter, because headhunters typically offer clueless, superficial takes like "Vista would be too focused on PE" and "NYC gives you leverage."
As if IB isn't all about trying to get to PE, at least for those who can make it. As if someone with better experience is going to have less leverage because he lives in Austin (basically Silicon Valley 2.0) instead of NYC. It's a ridiculous take, yet very classic for a headhunter.
Take Evercore, without a doubt. Coming from VP at a top bulge.
i.e someone who hasn't worked in PE.
You’re replying to a troll account
If you know you want PE, or especially tech PE, take Vista. I never understand these threads where people tell others to take a banking offer over a megafund PE offer. Evercore has a NYC M&A Analyst class of ~60 people. Only 15-20 of those MAX will exit to megafund PE for roles all across the U.S. On-cycle can be brutal and no matter how prepared you are, a lot will be outside of your control. Every year there are good candidates who fail to secure offers. Evercore Analysts are all vying to exit to a Vista tier PE firm, an offer you already have. If you want to be an investor, take Vista and don't look back
^^this. If OP was to choose Evercore, arguably the the top shop for exits along with GS/MS/Q, there's still only a select few amount of MF/"Vista tier" spots available.
So is this a risk everyone is willing to take?
This 100%. Do the math at any top bank (Evercore, GS, PJT, whatever people think is the “best” today) and if you assume ~50% of the class is gunning for large cap PE, the hit rate is honestly pretty scary low. Even if you include all the MFs and top UMMs, it’s by no means a guarantee even with the best pedigree out there.
On cycle is such a crap shoot - maybe you get unlucky your first few staffings and don’t have good deals to speak to. Maybe you get slammed the week before on cycle and are exhausted and have no time to prep. Maybe you have a pitch the next morning and can’t get coverage to go interview. Maybe you seize up in the model test and screw up a balance sheet and don’t get an offer during your final round interview at KKR and by the time you’re done every MF seat is full. Maybe the CPI person is grumpy for your 10 minute intro call and they blindly decide to not send your resume anywhere. Literally all of these things can happen and seriously hamper your changes at a top offer, whereas you can walk into Vista now without any of this.
Unless you’re skeptical of tech and/or PE in long run, take Vista. Vista probably positions you as well as anywhere for a tech-related exit (tech PE, crossover, VC, etc) or a generalist PE exit. If you want to join a distressed debt hedge fund maybe if a different story but for most investing exits take Vista.
yea but tech investing is going to suck this decade. preserving optionality is the better play
What if ur optimizing not for the name/“investing experience” but rather general skill set? Have heard that Vistas analyst program is a lot of qualitative work/not that many modeling reps, whereas Evercore is known to have one of the best training programs…
You’re 100% right! Let’s think optionality for a second, I know people that did a summer at Vista and got to walk into a top SF Tech IB job. The optionality is still there to do banking but at no group in the world is MF PE a given….
Never worked in PE, but if you feel pretty equal about your level of interest in both opportunities, I would take Vista. I understand everyone's point about optionality at EVR etc., but it goes both ways. Someone who landed Vista out of undergrad can walk into EVR or some other EB as a lateral quite easily, and could likely switch to other MFs or hedge funds by just connecting with headhunters. At the end of the day if your career plan is to become an investor, why not start earlier? The only scenario in which I take EVR in this scenario is if you're like me and know you don't have interest in becoming a career investor.
Ask yourself if you would be happy taking the Vista offer after 2 years at Evercore. If yes, then take Vista now. If not, I would recommend Evercore. I occasionally see people get too excited about getting into PE ASAP they end up settling with something that's just not a good fit. I definitely wouldn't think about silly things like how BX is marginally more prestigious than Vista (esp with how much of a crapshoot on-cycle is), but instead consider if you're genuinely more interested in a different industry, strategy or city. If so, take Evercore
Work in PE and did IB, would say that this is an entirely personal choice with no wrong answer.
I would take the IB option because I think it took me some time to discover what kind of investor I was. I started out thinking I wanted to do big software deals, I did a few and ended up enjoying Mid Market deep-value/turnaround stuff more. I’m now at a fund that does this and couldn’t be happier, and this wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been exposed to both kinds of deals through a generalist IB program. I also read a lot of books on investing during this time which helped me decide.
Also in banking you will occasionally be able to leave the office and get extremely fucked up with your coworkers, this is a very valuable experience that builds your network in a way coffees and breakfasts never will. I haven’t seen this happen so much in PE as people are generally older and have families.
There are pros and cons to both, and Vista is certainly a great shop, but be sure it’s what you want before you do it.
I worked at a MF portco as VP in M&A and worked with the fund guys as well as lots of banks from 2-man semi-retirement boutiques in FL to BB and our deal team was 4-5 people from Partner down to associate. Meanwhile, I worked with dozens of bankers across many banks. As many have said here, there are way more qualified bankers trying to get to PE than there are PE seats.
Also said, going from IB to PE is that you have no control of headcount in a cycle, the idiosyncracies of a hiring team or interview process - way too many variables. If offered an internship at a place like Vista, probably the top tech PE fund and one of the biggest and best known funds overall, I would take Vista.
Vista is going to have lots of exits and optionality, plus you will see all your IB classmates hitting you up, trying to transition.
Take Vista. I’m an incoming analyst at a similar program and I took up the PE program as it was something that I absolutely wanted to do long term. It just made more sense to go right into it and build an investor mindset for day 1. From both, you will always have decent exit opportunities so don’t worry about it.
This is for summer, not FT, right?
I wouldn’t discount how hard it is to get the Vista return offer, and I also wouldn’t discount how that should play into your decision calculus. Vista with 40% chance of returning FT vs. EVR with 95% chance of returning… I’d pick EVR
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