Does getting into a smaller boutique count as "Breaking into Investment Banking"?
Does getting into a smaller boutique count as "Breaking into Investment Banking"? It's a 20 person M&A shop
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No. You MUST get into a BB or MM in order to be considered an Investment Banker. If you get into a boutique your just an investment banker, lowercase.
bump
Tbh if youre at a reputable bank its banking. Theres also some powerhouse boutiques out there with less than 20 ppl that are on par with if not better than a lot of BBs. Zaoui & co, m klein come to mind
Only EB
wdym, the rest aren't considered ibankers?
Yup. Only those at EBs are investment bankers
Who the fk cares.
Dude it's all the same. You just work in PPT and Excel
Are you asking because you want to be factually accurate on your tinder profile or...?
lol
OP is 5’11” trying to claim 6’ over here. Sad!
I'm guessing you're asking because you've heard something along the lines of "breaking in is the hardest, once you're in you can easily move around", so let me base my answer on that. In the end it all depends on you. If you are at a small boutique that other IBs/PEs have never heard of, you will probably not get preferential treatment versus the guy who was at a bank everyone knows. If you want to move, you're going to have to network and prove to people that you are good way before you start interviewing. You won't just be able to move around because you have a banking job. Congrats on getting the offer, but if you plan to use this as a steppingstone, the grind is not over yet - and it will never be.
"Incoming analyst"
Uh yes
Hope this reply doesn't come off as too "hardo" or pretentious, but as someone who interned for multiple years at a LMM boutique and then ended up at BB for my junior summer and FT, they are very, very different experiences. I guess I'm not really answering your original question of "Does it count?" ... sure it absolutely does. You're still an investment banker. But, in my opinion, true boutique IBs operate very differently. The hours are a lot better. The pay is a lot worse. Some people can get away with not even taking the Series 79 because private, sell-side M&A (almost the only product that boutiques offer) does not make you do activities that require licensing. Oftentimes, the senior bankers did not actually come from "true" IB backgrounds, which makes it hard for them to give that type of experience to their young analysts. In short, yes you're a banker, but know the experience is likely very different from someone at a large MM, BB, or EB.
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