Understand the answer to this question varies greatly but I have been debating this decision for over a year now and would like some insight from the people here.
Some background: currently a VP in Sales/BD for a tech company that is PE backed. Have been in the space for 7/8 years now and am making a decent living ranging from an associate to low end VP in IB comp, working roughly 60 hours a week. The aspects that I do not like is the variability in comp and that there are many changes from a year to year standpoint that can range from low $200K to upper 6 figures. Also, there is not much of a set career path where you can be an individual contributor to management and back and forth. In order to keep your career going well, you tend to have to join a new company every 2-3 years or else your progression seriously slows. On top of all that, the work gets to be fairly boring and not mentally stimulating where you are having the same conversations over and over again with the prospective client.
Given we are PE backed, I have had the opportunity to work on some of the operational DD and post-acquisition work associated with our bolt-ons, which was very interesting and a good change of pace. Also, I have been chatting with a good amount of investors and IBs sharing thoughts on the direction of the industry, what companies need to do to be competitive and continue their growth patterns which is super interesting.
Throughout the last year plus, I have been trying to figure out what the ideal career would be for me and I am leaning towards IB, however, as the title states, I am not sure it is worth it. I like the sales aspect of it, meeting with different founders and companies, trying to raise funds for them or sell their companies to another investor or even taking them IPO, etc. I like the financial aspect of it, taking a look under the hood of the business, understanding how it is operating and modeling it out to where it would make a great investment. Plus, I enjoy the change from deal to deal, where each company is different and you can gain a lot more variety in your work. But what I think is the most desirable aspect is the career trajectory and predictability. In IB, you have a lot more career development and consistency with the promotions and comp that you know in X years you get to the next level and X comp etc.
With all that, from people who are in the space, do you think it is worth it to make the change to IB and basically start new? Or would it be better suited to just keep hopping from startup to startup in sales ever 2-3 years hoping to be part of the next Snowflake IPO to be set and start investing on your own on the side?
Nah, you’ll have to come in as an associate which is bitch work. If you have a family/kids, I wouldn’t do IB at any level
Appreciate the response. Understand that there would be bitch work to start but is it a move worth it in the long run?
I don’t think so. It’s easy to look at the pros (money, prestige, pedigree) but look at the downside (always traveling, bitch to clients even at the top, W/L balance goes away, you don’t see your kids and there’s a reason why mds always divorce)
I’ve yet to start so we’ll see if it’s worth it, but at your level i wouldn’t even consider it.
Are you an account executive or are you selling partnerships? Where are you located?
NYC. Mixture of an account executive and team lead selling multi-year engagements with services/tech products.
Bumping to see if there is any other input
Have seen a guy recently make this move to my small boutique in a niche sector. Came in at the equivalent of VP. Think he is going to get cut soon tbh. His value proposition was basically BD, leveraging his existing relationships and industry knowledge to help us win mandates. While he a natural sales person, he is not able to pull his weight in the execution side of things (modelling, running a deal etc.). We are a relatively small team so sometimes a VP needs to get their hands dirty and pitch in with stuff that would be done by analysts/associates at BBs. He puts in the hours but basically has 5+ years of banking experience to catch up on and its a pretty big ask for a mid career guy with a family. I guess we took a chance on him but its not really working out.
I think you would have a better career trajectory climbing the corporate ladder to the C-suite level in your current industry. You would essentially be signing up for 3/4 years of incredibly hard work/stress and playing catch up if a smaller firm recruits you at a VP level and as the poster above said, you would have to come in as an associate if you go to an MM/BB. I think it is highly unlikely you would get looks from a MM/BB and you are basically going 5/6 years backwards in your career trajectory.
Thanks for the insight and firsthand experience as this is helpful. Would you say the biggest thing would just be playing catch up for 4/5 years working long hours? From your experience, was there anything your colleague could have done to better position themself in the role? After that, do you think it would all be worth it or still no? Don't mind taking the steps back and putting in the work if it is worth it at the end, however, if by that time it wouldn't be much different from were I could potentially be in my current industry, then it might not be worth it all.
With all that, would be curious to understand why you or any one else who read this decided IB was the right move for them.
Yeah biggest thing is probably the hours. I mean myself and the other juniors don't have to pick up kids from school, attend regular family related events etc. If the MD needs me to I'll be there 9am - 2/3am everyday during a deal and its shitty but I don't really have any major priorities outside of work yet. This VP is in the office with us most of that time but 8 months in I can tell its putting a strain on his family life + he doesn't have the energy of a 22-26 year old so he's drained the whole time.
I think he would have been better off learning modelling beforehand on his own time while working less hours at his old job. At least he'd have that skill down but its still an uphill battle. You learn so much just doing deals and a career banker might have 30+ completed by the time they are a VP. That's a lot to catch up on.
If you are 100% serious about banking I would either do an MBA or try to recruit directly for an associate position at an MM/BB (improbable but possible with networking). Personally I think that if you have DD and post-acquisition integration experience you would have a good chance of recruiting into consulting or an operational PE role (i.e. not originations).
I chose IB after picking up a finance elective in college and really enjoying all the classes. I never considered/knew much about high finance before college but immediately knew it was what I wanted to do for work. Took me a year to decide on IB after researching all the different career paths and talking to people in the industry.
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Based on your description, I'm assuming you're low to mid thirties right? It's not worth it to come in at an AN/ASO level. Comp will most likely be a decrease and your hours would significantly. Your coworkers with the same job title could be a decade younger than you. If you're that interested in the work, try to maneuver into a corp strategy role within your current company.
Appreciate it. Age is late 20s but still understand where you are coming from. Was thinking about Corp Strategy but that would be a huge pay cut, although the work would be more stimulating. Anything else along these lines that would be a potential better move than IB? Just trying to figure out what would be the right career move giving the best comp/trajectory/stability while not wasting all the success I've had thus far.
You didn't do an MBA, right? I know late 20s is on the older spectrum for traditional MBA candidates, but it would allow you to recruit for consulting and product management, assuming you get into a top school, which have the type of work you're into. Those have good pay and better WLB than trying to do a MBA associate role at an investment bank.
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Maybe look into some sort of operating role at a growth equity or pe fund where you help/advise portfolio companies on sales and bd? Don’t know too much about it but have heard of some type of roles like this that exist (insight onsite)
Have looked into that as well and have had many conversations with people in those roles but if I was to do that type of stuff, I'd prefer to work for the startups directly due to the equity component. Would rather transition more into an investing/finance role as opposed to an operational one.
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