There are many different exit opportunities that you can pursue after completing your investment banking analyst stint. I mean its one of the biggest selling points of breaking into investment banking.. You can decide to lateral within the sellside, jump to the buyside, take a break in corp.fin, or start your own business after realizing thats where the real money resides. I wanted to focus on START UPS in this thread and share some of the startups that I have witnessed fellow investment banking analysts begin personally and others that I have heard stories of during my almost 4 years on Wall Street.
-
VeeV: Two brothers started an açaí berry liqueur after working at GSachs. This is a good one. So two brothers at GSachs.. Hm.. Connections?!? Yeah, so these literal banker bros deff had an inside man but I guess thats how the world works. They were able to source capital to begin VeeV through the connections that they made at GSachs. At the end of the day, they were probably trying to get laid at 1 Oak in NY but VeeV exemplifies the connections that can be made to pools of capital quickly in an IB career.
-
Chubbies Shorts: Analysts from LazardAdvisory decided that they wanted to ditch the slacks and get into a pair of Chubbies. Founders said that they learned more in 2 years than they ever expected and when they left they were still young enough to take the risk of a start up vs. finding another "job". After investment banking you have enough capital and usually don't have a family to look after unless you got cuffed EARLY making for a perfect start up storm.
-
LogoIntern: Lastly, this banker realized that he was truly over copy-pasting logos into pitch decks.. He was so over it that he decided to create a program to do it for you (I wonder how many logos he copy-pasted) Banking and corporate america places you into an archaic environment that is only beginning to be penetrated by younger generations who are more fluent in software. If you identify a simple problem in the unfortunately software inept industry the opportunity can be huge.
What do you guys think about starting a business after investment banking? Have you heard of stories of your friends starting a business after their career in finance? What are the transferable skills from banking into the start up world? Lets have a conversation about it.
I mean we have real skills as investment bankers. The pros that lead ex-investment banking analysts as perfect start up cofounders are:
Save up money fast - money gives you time and resources to explore. I have been in IB for 3 years and have been able to save north of 150k. I cant think of any other industry that offers that opportunity.
Learn to work really hard and efficiently, while delivering quality - self explanatory. Essentially, you learn how to grind harder than you did when you were studying for finals..
Do the nontechnical version of coding - excel is always laughed at by coders but it is one of the most powerful tools. Exiting IB you ability to manipulate a CSV will not go to waste
Learn to deal with people under very high stress - multibillion dollar deals, dealing with passionate CEOs, late nights, and MDs that are looking for perfection. Yeah its stressful and so is starting your own business.
Become an excellent multitasker - working on s strategic M&A, capital raise, bankruptcy, and getting coffee for your boss at the same time that doesnt happen anywhere else. Starting a business is multifaceted and your going to need to be an excellent multitasker
Lol....150K is peanuts.
what were you able to save in the same time period ?
I have seen multiple of my analysts start businesses and become more successful than me...
Stop trolling, there is no way that an MD uses WSO..
The VeeV story is hilarious.. I can imagine these clowns in the club going around with their own liqueur
CADRE was founded by an ex Goldman TMT analyst.
Sounds like a FIG guy to me
Being an IB analyst helped him start CADRE. Being boys with the kushner bro’s from their Harvard days helped more.
I feel like the risk tolerances for investment bankers and entrepreneurs are somewhat opposite. On one hand you have a group of people that like to be conservative (finance) and on the other hand you have kids you are radical and enjoy taking high risks. Seem like opposites to me.
Have you seen the wolf of wallstreet.. Finance is pretty high risk too man. They have similar risk profiles if you ask me
Uhhh....no, just no
My man, you can't name something a mega thread if you just made it - props though haha
I've always thought it would be a good idea for there to be an outsourced analyst that could do all your work - they haven't figured that one out
Analyst’s job can easily be outsourced. I wonder what’s preventing companies from doing so
I mean the BBs already have an indian team so
Because the entire investment banking industry revolves around the illusion of prestige. GS is prestigious because they are GS, and because they are seen as prestigious they get a fresh crop of analysts every year from Harvard, Wharton, and all the best schools in the country. They can then point to their impressive pedigrees when clients question the cost of their services. Outsourcing to India would save them money in the short run, but no big client would want their model to be outsourced to India, even if the final work product was identical.
And anyone who's worked with one of the outsourced Indian teams can attest that the work product would NOT be identical. Those teams are a great starting point to get shitty tasks (profiles etc.) kicked off but they need more checking and fixing than even a late summer intern's work usually.
First of all, 1Oak is for losers. Secondly, all those startup ideas sound lame.
Yeah well your start up ideas are non existent
Lol...are you honestly stupid enough to think I would share my business ideas with anybody?
Don't forget Morning Brew, while one the guys was S&T and the other was only an intern, still similar environment
Wow, never knew Morning Brew was finance related. I am an avid follower. Interesting to know.
Yea its founding is actually a super cool story, you should check it out!
Ok the person in question has probably never been an investment banker, but he basically has an only fans of himself fucking chicks. 200k or something subscribers on PH im not even joking
Legend
You mean like Johnny Sins? The man has been an astronaut, doctor, lawyer, pizza delivery man, personal trainer, his hustle never stops
Goals
Code is like being on excel times 1000
Enim odio ipsa neque excepturi eveniet et distinctio. Quas reprehenderit voluptatibus quisquam velit. Qui nam occaecati officiis quod ipsa. Aspernatur ad eveniet porro impedit ducimus magni sint. Ex est ea tempora illo repudiandae.
Qui magnam quisquam ducimus eos deleniti fugit. Sunt nam et velit rerum ab quasi.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Fugit ut est fuga et odio itaque beatae non. Iure ut rerum est mollitia nesciunt odit quia. Minus laborum doloribus dolorum autem quo eius consectetur earum.