Boutique without a client - Am I screwed?

Hi,

So I've been working as an unpaid intern at a boutique investment banking advisory in west coast for two weeks. I discovered lately that my company does not have a client at the moment - they have been around for several years, completed about a dozen deals in multiple sectors in the past, but are not currently working on deals. I didn't know about this until I get to work there - this sucks, I know, and I think I'm pretty much screwed. So basically, my daily job is meaningless dirty work. What I'm trying to do now is to learn Excel modeling on my own to cover the large blank of time.

I am graduating either in 13 or 14, which is up to me, from a semi-target, so this is either my freshman internship or sophomore one. I would like to hear your advice as to how I can make up for this seemingly worst-case scenario. What am I going to tell recruiters next year about my experience here? What do you think is the part that I can take the initiative to change in the next 4 weeks of the internship?

I appreciate a lot for your inputs.

 

They must be pitching, if you are involved in that its pretty much the same as SA at a BB - doing pitchbooks and models. Even at a BB it can happen that your team is small and doesn't have a live transaction while you are there or that they give you meaningless stuff to do. If you work on a pitch and it translates into a transaction, that's a great experience you can talk about right there!

I like pickles...
 

Recruiters won't expect you to close a deal during your internship, that is unlikely to happen anywhere you work if you are only there for a few months. The most important thing is to learn as much as you can about valuation and learn technical skills. One good thing about not being busy is that you can ask people around you to explain to you and teach you how to get started with modelling and valuation, to take you through some of their templates and previous models they have done. You won't get a chance to do that if the team was really busy, people just wouldn't have time to explain to you how to do things and would give you dirty easy and boring work.

cubiclecrowd.com blog.cubiclecrowd.com
 

Hey guys,

Thanks for your replies. Just that I think the situation may be somewhat different from the usual case.

My bank isn't doing pitches - the dirty work I mean is rather like admin work than banking. The MD is traveling abroad, maybe for business, maybe just for vacation. I'm not sure if he and the associates in my office are actually seeking deals. The bank is not FINRA licensed.

I'm starting to ask one of the two associates just before I get off work today how to build models and wonder if he could give me some previous models. Think he'll reply tomorrow. Just I'm not sure if he can really help me.

Guys, do you think it's still normal?

 

To me this is an awesome internship. Learning stuff is nice but lets be honest any bank will train you if you go FT so its not like you are forced to learn stuff no or you will never be able to. IDK whats better than an internship where you could sit around a watch porn all day.

Follow the shit your fellow monkeys say @shitWSOsays Life is hard, it's even harder when you're stupid - John Wayne
 
heister:
To me this is an awesome internship. Learning stuff is nice but lets be honest any bank will train you if you go FT so its not like you are forced to learn stuff no or you will never be able to. IDK whats better than an internship where you could sit around a watch porn all day.

Trust me, you don't want to tell recruiters things like that.

 

lol and why would you? To recruiters you should be a hotshot banker interning at a boutique and rocking the shit...why sell yourself as anything different - no matter how the internship goes? Also if you are unhappy there, network and switch to somewhere else.

I like pickles...
 

observe what everyone else is doing, what the associates are up to. it's very strange that they are not even pitching or meeting potential clients. surely thats bad for everyone else as well, not just you. speak to the associates and if they have nothing to do they should gladly teach you or tell you about deals that they have worked on previously and show you what they've done. otherwise may be see if you can work in a different team within the bank that is busier. speak to HR department or whoever took care of your recruitment and explain that you want to learn as much as you can and get real work experience. may be they can help you move internally

cubiclecrowd.com blog.cubiclecrowd.com
 

Ok OP, in case your not trolling you need to chill out :p

Who the fk cares what you do at your freshman/soph boutique internship.

Just having this internship is invaluable.

Now you must get good at the art of lying and just make up some shit that you did during your internship at your interview, dont take it too far and say you build lbos, or they will quiz you on how to build an lbo and youll be screwed.

This lying and bullshitting will be great practice for working in ibanking, because the majority of work you will be doing will involve lying and bullshitting your client, welcome to the sell side.

If you are lucky enough at some point you may jump over to the buyside where your value add will come less from looting and lying and deceiving clients.

 

Be happy you have an internship. Even if you're not working on a live transaction, there are a lot of steps and efforts made by boutiques to get to that stage. The partners are probably talking to potential clients and analyzing potential, which is also a great experience to be a part of. Pitching, creating investor presentations, etc. are all similar things you will be doing at a BB too, and if you get to that stage you can also talk up that experience.

 

Impedit commodi labore architecto adipisci debitis accusantium laudantium. Saepe enim unde sed quas facilis enim. Ut in enim ut minima aut voluptas id expedita.

Qui est occaecati natus consequatur est ut pariatur magni. Non ut eius quia et impedit. Consectetur adipisci vitae minima ut quod quis. Ut id natus nisi occaecati deleniti velit id quia. Ullam necessitatibus aliquam beatae et qui mollitia. Voluptatibus minus quis et neque.

Et sit culpa voluptatem qui vel. Voluptatibus est sint at praesentium id error. Laudantium nobis ducimus debitis beatae sit sunt. Laboriosam sint fugiat tempora quam est fugiat et. Doloribus inventore occaecati fuga dolorem quidem commodi quis.

Beatae error dolorum delectus nostrum atque aut. Corrupti praesentium reiciendis asperiores nihil ipsam exercitationem voluptatibus. Dolorem ut beatae id exercitationem.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”