Went to undergrad B school, never did MBA, almost a decade in the industry, here's my path, happy to answer what questions I can.
Started out at a boutique, did a couple years at a MM as an analyst, couple years at BB as an analyst to associate promote, went the corp dev route, then got in on the ground floor of an M&A roll up backed by a family office, after a couple years we entered peak covid so I left and went back into BB during the SPAC boom, then joined another PE-backed M&A rollup.
After nearly a decade in these various roles, what I'm encountering now is that years of experience/tenure in a role is critical, which is where I'm getting dinged.
Jesus that’s a lot of role changes
Each role change has opened up new opportunities that I never would've imagined, and now I'm in the middle of partnering with a group to acquire a small platform for another M&A rollup venture.
How long did you stay as an anylast at the MM before you transitioned to a BB? Why did you decide to lateral and would you do the same again?
I was at the MM for 2 years as an analyst, accepted a 3rd year analyst offer, and then reneged to join the BB as a 3rd year analyst.
Lateral from BB to BB? After leaving the portco in the middle of covid, my contacts really wanted to hire me into their group b/c they really liked my work ethic as a resource and there happened to be an opening. I am trying to avoid doing it again b/c it'll hurt more than it'll help my career if I don't stick with it long enough. If I get back into banking, I'll need at least 3-5 years on the job for it to make sense. I can do it and will enjoy it just as much, but it's not the path I'm trying to take my career.
Thanks for sharing your story. Will PM you
What industries are/were the rollups in?
Tech-enabled services and residential services
What are your long term goals? How has comp been across the different roles?
The problem with just being the deal guy is that my career skill set becomes stuck in just doing M&A execution. There’s a narrow universe of companies that actually have the capital to do M&A and even fewer opportunities where there’s an opening.
Trying to shift my career towards portfolio operations/value creation or a more strategy focused role.
How hard was it to move from MM to BB? Did you have many offers or just the one?
Was mostly just being in the right place at the right time. The BB was looking to fill a 3rd year analyst role off cycle bc someone quit, the hiring VP happened to be at an intralinks event with my colleagues from the MM, and my colleagues ended up referring me.
i will say though lateraling is a lot easier once you get in contact with the bankers in the group and being front of mind when a position opens up.
Thank you!
Thanks for doing this. What made you to come back to BB again? Would you say if you had stayed in banking all along you would’ve made a lot more financially?
I resigned from the first M&A rollup b/c the founder was running the company into the ground. I only came back to banking b/c it was a job during peak covid and was interviewing for various corp dev roles, but I'm very much plug and play for banking so my MD expedited my process. I joined as a senior associate and was probably the only associate in the group to have fee attribution by bringing in a deal as soon as I joined. I found out a company was about to launch an IPO through my interviews with them for the corp dev role, which my undergraduate classmate ended up getting instead. As soon as I joined the bank, I checked to see if they were on the lineup, turns out they weren't, so I called up my buddy and kickstarted the process of us getting a passive bookrunner role even after the confidential S-1 had already been filed.
Let's just say, I was paid extremely well for the year I spent at the 2nd BB. Caught the whole SPAC craze of 2021, which then tanked in 2022. Staying in banking is not at the top of my list at the moment as I'm at a point in my career where I want to see how far I can take it in a different direction. While there are a lot of things that I quite enjoy about banking, it all feels very unfulfilling. Having worked on a plethora of deals across all banking products, I had an itch to want to be part of the team that built those successful companies as opposed to just being the broker. I'm in process of partnering with some investors in acquiring a small platform company to continue doing another M&A rollup. The challenge with a long-term banking career is the skillset you develop becomes less and less useful to companies that aren't banks.
I quite enjoy my M&A rollup experience where there's no manual on how to do this job. I got to fly around the country talking to and connecting with business owners on a personal level to gain their trust. These types of negotiations and discussions become more of a collaborative partnership as opposed to buyer vs seller meeting only with lawyer chaperones. Hitting platinum on Delta is also a nice perk for the holidays ;)
Thanks for detailed response. What’s your view on M&A product vs. coverage banker for a long term career in banking? Can you share traits that successful M&A product bankers in BBs have?
What do you think the best pathway towards PE ops is given that you talked about it being a desire of yours? At an MBA now, and the big CXO programs are aboslutely flooded in apps and it's harder to find other ops related roles that are actively hiring, much less hiring without an ops related background. Just curious if you see any entry points?
Consulting for sure. The MBBs, Accenture, Deloitte, they have PE advisory practices that focuses on portfolio value creation. Accenture’s doing a big hiring push now to build out that group.
Mind if I PM you for advice?
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