Major Boutique Start up HK office vs. Major Bulge Bracket NYC

One of the major public boutiques is set to start a new office in HK and I have been offered an analyst position. I already moved to New York and start with a major BB in NYC soon. However, I am very interested in an entrepreneurial analyst role of working with a new start-up office in a foreign location. Any thoughts? Any advice and insight will be highly appreciated.

6 Comments
 

stay w/ your NYC BB gig. start ups tend to be entrepreneurial but i talked to an analyst who was with a BB opening an office in a continental european country and he said the first 10 months he spent playing admin assistant to all the senior bankers and associates. he had to like fix the printer and figure out how the phone system worked so they could get on w/ their jobs. no pitching/modeling/etc -> no learning at all during that time.

 
Best Response

There's definite pros and cons with joining an 'entrepreneurial start up' even if it's not exactly a startup company, but backed by an already established BB or large boutique. I've got some experience with being with a new group in an established bank, and it's like the above said, there's going to be some admin work.

The obvious pro is seeing how things come together - how a business or group is built from the ground up. But at the analyst level, there's not that much value besides it 'being interesting' unless you plan to stay there long-term (associate and onward). Also, you may be able to provide 'additional value add' because the group hasn't established a format to do certain things, so maybe an analyst gets to contribute by building the templates, marketing materials, etc for that group to use in the future.

Unless you're really interested in working in HK, I would stick with the NYC offer. Just keep in touch with the boutique, and maybe make the move in a year's time. In 1~ yr, it's still 'entrepreneurial', but much of the admin stuff will be taken care of.

 

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