I have the opportunity to intern at either the VC division of a Bulge Bracket or at a small M&A boutique bank. My role at the BB VC will include modeling, analyzing cap tables, etc. If I were planning on trying to get a BB IB Summer Analyst position in the future, which do you think would be more beneficial? Thanks!
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How small is this M&A boutique? Is it a no name or do they have a lot of quality bankers from past BB / EB backgrounds?
Your mileage may vary with VC from an internship experience. There's probably less in the way of 'modeling', but it'll likely be quite interesting, particularly from the perspective of getting exposure to a world outside of IB. I would also suspect that since it's a VC arm of a BB, there's a good chance some of the folks you'll work with will have come from an IB background and may have ties and relationships with the IB side of the BB. They can provide you with perspective on their career paths, and maybe even connect you to the IB side during your summer. While you're summering at the BB, you could use that as an opportunity to reach out to IB professionals for coffee.
Unless the M&A shop is a very notable one, I'd take the BB VC spot for the following reasons: (1) BB name and network - You can network with bankers within the BB during your summer, and a BB VC position is an attractive one that's unique, and will get you some looks for IB SA/FT (2) Exposure to something different - You really don't know if you'll like or dislike something until you've actually tried it. And VC's not something most people get exposure to so early on in their careers. This will be a great chance to see a career path people consider after a few years of IB/MC/startups/MBA/maybe PE.
(3) Exciting time to be in tech - A lot of banks are getting involved in startups, whether its through partnerships, in-house development, or via investment. There's a lot of activity, so you could potentially see a lot during your summer, or at least gain some perspective on it. (4) You have more than one summer - You mentioned you're trying to set yourself up for IB SA in the future, meaning you have more than one summer internship before FT. In that case, there's less onus to do IB this summer before trying to secure FT. In that case, I'd use the opportunity to do something different (that also doesn't disadvantage you from a positioning perspective). BB VC checks those boxes.
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