4AM Analyst Thoughts
I recently lateraled into a much more intense IB platform in NYC and stress has really been getting to me.
4AM- just sent across a deck for a meeting in the morning and im basically shitting my pants from anxiety in the chance i fucked something up. I keep looking over it again and the stress is getting to me. Idk if im cut out for this.. in reality this job isn't the end all be all of my life
Am i the only one like this, idk if im being a bitch or what but it be stressful sometimes.
Bro sending a deck out at 4am as an analyst for a meeting the next day is probably as bad as this job gets. Over time you will become more confident and better at the job (catching mistakes, being able to finesse your way out if someone calls out your numbers etc.) and the stress (whilst always there) will start to subside.
Analyst years are like bootcamp, just gotta get through it and you will come out as a much more talented professional by the end of it.
Also - A mistake in a deck isn't catastrophic so it helps to think bigger picture, so long as you are performing well 90% of the time, people will be willing to gloss over the other 10% given we're all human at the end of the day.
What helped me was sitting in client meetings and realising how little attention is actually paid to the materials (unless it's some asshole sponsor client but even then no one likes those guys anyway).
The above comment makes sense. But I'd point out when I look back on what I did during almost 2 years now, these are the 2 years I never wanna experience again and I now firmly believe it'll never get better. You slowly get used to this life style & mentality, but you understand it's not the norm whenever you spend time with someone you care or friends back to college. You can try jump ships, change coverage groups but it's same different.
Learn as much you can and get on the next exit train that can make you happy.
The asshole sponsor clients have even less time to pre-review the deck haha. They’re just instinctively reverting to banking and scanning for nits.
1) There are mistakes in every deck
2) It’s the associate’s (and up) fault for not checking
3) The client doesn’t look at 95% of the deck
4) The analyst shouldn’t be sending the deck across at all, let alone at 4AM
5) “Please see attached for a slightly updated version of today’s materials” happens all the time
This means a lot coming from a PE associate. Seniors will get mad no matter what but they get over it by “are you in NY or Miami now?”
Great comment - will SB when I can.
The beauty of being an analyst is that it is almost never your fault. Any associate who blames it on you to higher ups is an idiot who is covering their own ass and any good VP knows that (and won’t embarrass themselves saying “it was the analyst’s fault” to the MD).
Likewise, be nice to the SAs - they are not your punching bags
Yup.
If your associate is well-regarded enough to credibly say “it’s the analyst’s fault” without side-eye from the seniors, there’s a very good chance he will catch the mistake in the first place.
If he’s blaming you, chances are the seniors know he’s a clown.
edit: wtf I deleted my comment at 7 downvotes and now it's at 23. fuck off prospects.
deleted
Anyone know what he said?
No, but I downvoted when I saw “summer associate,” the MS, and “deleted”
I’ll add this... Senior Bankers always say that the best pitches are the ones where the materials are never discussed.
Most of the time the materials are just a prop for the discussion.
A typo or a bust in the deck is not going to change the outcome of a pitch / transaction 99% of the time....
The funny/ sad thing is that 99% of senior Bankers would agree with the above, but still have us sending 50+ page decks for 30 minute client calls....
All humans make mistakes. Those who say they dont - lie
The only thing in life you can't fix is a terminal illness such as cancer, the rest will pass
Making a mistake in a pitch won't end your life
Life is short, try to find joy even when the job feels impossible
Agree with most of the folks above. I will say that obviously a glaring numerical error which materially affects valuations etc won't help your cause exactly but otherwise there will always be errors in books and you won't get penalized for each one. That being said, you seem to care a lot and likely put in a lot of effort to putting out quality work so you are probably just overthinking the potential consequences and hopefully didn't fuck anything major up. Don't worry about stuff once it's out of your control / hands.
Yea when it comes to valuation it's def more important and i usually have that zipped up and ready to go. I feel like this job has just caused me to become insane... i check comments or changes 5x or emails etc to make sure its correct before sending off. Even though the first 3 times I've checked i know i confirmed everything is good to go. Idk if its from anxiety and making mistakes early on in my analyst career, but sometimes i tend to over think a lot.
can't tell you how many times I've spent 25 minutes re reading a 3 sentence email and re opening a pdf to quadruple check stuff I had already double checked 5 minutes earlier lol.
Well you're not wrong lol this job definitely makes you neurotic about everything. What might help (if you have the time, of course) is to check the work, take a step back for a few minutes by taking a walk/talk to someone/plant some flowers for all I care, just do something to get your mind off of the work. Then come back and take one last look so you have a "fresher" view on your work.
4AM analyst thoughts hit different
You quickly realize that clients don't even really give a shit about the materials we put together.
It's both disheartening and liberating.
Honestly i think it really helps to have a system. I have a notepad on desktop that outlines all the things I should check.
So #1 would be alignment, then #2 would be font size, #3 font type, etc. Try to check just a single aspect in each slide and then after going through all of them, check the next item (font size, etc). I dunno if this works for anybody else, but going through the deck one by one and not trying to look at 10 different formatting stuff at once helps during late nights.
Also your associate probably assumes there is a mistake anyways and will always check (if he is a good associate that is)
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