Piper Jaffray vs Imperial Capital
So, through the most grueling 6 weeks of my life I was able to land two full time possibilities come graduation (with a third option potentially in the mix).
I'm really having trouble weighing the pros and cons of each, and would appreciate some feedback. I'm beyond stoked on both offers, and would gladly take both, but would appreciate some non-biased opinions outside of the recruitment cycle.
As a little context - The PJ spot is a regional office (think NY, SF) as a generalist to be put on either Tech or Consumer/Retail. The Imperial position is for their HQ in LA, and is generalist in nature (so ultimately working on m&a, financings, and restructuring for a variety of industry verticals). Both offices pay the same base salary of $70k with a $10k sign on bonus, but I haven't been able to talk to any of the analysts about bonus sizes.
In terms of location, I don't mind too much either way, as long as the work I'm doing is interesting and I will have the possibility at some point if I so choose, to pursue an MBA, lateral to a BB, or move into PE/VC. I do have a slight industry preference to Tech, but it's nothing that would really sway my ultimate opinion unless it was something like Qatalyst!
Anyways, I would reeeeallyyy appreciate any insight on the matter. Reputation, exit opps, bonus sizes, etc. And if you don't feel comfortable posting a reply, please shoot me a PM. I honestly am at a standstill here, and could really use the help.
I've known guys from both shops, I'd lean PJ, NYC is not regional for them and if you want to do tech, SF is the Mecca. PJ has better name recognition too.
Thanks for the reply.
Only issue I see with PJ is that they are constantly ripped on in this forum, and I don't really understand why?
I've also heard that most of they're transactions out of their groups are follow on offerings, as opposed to m&a deals and lead book-runners...I'm not sure how accurate that is though. I got a really great vibe from the people I met, and everyone seemed really intelligent and into the firm though, so I'm not sure.
I would still go with Piper. They have been doing some better M&A deals lately in tech (SF > NYC). Better brand name than Imperial and better placement into MM PE or corp dev.
Beware though, Piper is a sweatshop.
Appreciate all the feedback, I also have news in regards to a third offer that I'm really considering.
GCA Savvian is extending an offer to me, and I've heard nothing but great things about them from people in the industry. They closed something like 30 tech deals last year out of the sf office, and pay 85k base.
If anyone has some feedback on GCAS that would be awesome also.
Also, I just checked GCA's website. They have a dozen Managing Directors and at least a half dozen Directors sitting in their SF office. 30 deals between that many senior bankers is very unimpressive, unless there are some elephants in that deal list (doubtful). I'm sure a few of those MD's sit outside of the tech group, but no matter how you slice it, that's still a pretty bad ratio of deals to senior bankers.
^You have to understand 80% of the forum is unemployed college kids (and HSers...), that's why.
I'd go with PJ too. Solid MM shop with decent exits to MM PE or ability to lateral to a BB.
PJC>>>>>>>>>GS TMT, MS M&A, Blackstone
Imperial hands down, better reputation & exit opps
Imperial
Congrats on the GCA Savvian offer! No brainer now, if I were you, I'd choose GCA in a heartbeat, better reputation in tech, better pay, better deal flow, great culture, what else do you expect? Imperial comes the next.
I would take Piper Jefferies
GCA for SF / Imperial for LA, simple as that, you'll have a decent shot at MM PE. Piper? Never work as an analyst there, never, you won't get good exp compared to the other two
Don't worry, I'm sure Shitizen will clarify in his next post that he was asking for his FRIEND, not himself. My advice would be to ignore idiots like this. Just for your context: I used to work in BB IBD and currently work at an upper MM PE shop, so I truly have no horse in this race. This is just my honest and (hopefully) helpful advice. By no means is Piper is a top tier bank, but it's a solid institution and I would argue that they're a notch above the likes of GCA and Imperial.
All three are solid spots and you'll be fine regardless of your pick. Congrats on landing your offers!
iheartdietcoke - thanks for the earnest replies, it's really appreciated. Unfortunately, I don't have enough banana points to shoot you a PM, but I appreciate the help.
At this point I am leaning towards Piper, but would still appreciate any insight available.
LOL @"Shitizen"
I hate people who pretend to be someone they're not on the interwebz.
Imperial Capital by a mile. Headquarters is usually better than a regional office, and generalist is often better than a more narrow focus. You have a chance to meet more people, obtain more references, and you also gain a wide enough variety of experience to do well in almost any interview.
Correction: Okay, maybe not by a mile. I would agree that Piper Jaffray is a solid firm that may even be a notch above Imperial Capital, the problem is that (like most investment banks) their largest/most well-known groups (in this case healthcare) are located at their headquarters, not at the regional offices.
This is actually good to know, as San Francisco is toward the top of the list of cities that I would consider moving to one day. Of course, I'm currently transitioning to equity research, not IB, but it always is good to know where the strongest offices of each firm are located, especially for the firms that I have the best chance of going to work for. And thanks for pointing out that L'Oreal/NYX deal. I try to keep up with which companies are making the most acquisitions, and apparently L'Oreal is pretty active right now:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-18/l-oreal-agrees-to-acquire-u-s-…
Don't listen to the students/interns above that don't know what an IB offer looks like.
Go with Piper for the exact reasons iheartdietcoke mentioned.
PJ's probably the better/safer bet just because it's a more well recognized name but if you want to be in LA, Imperial's the way to go. There's something to be said about nice weather and beaches nearby. I haven't done a deal with them but I've come close once or twice and they seem to be a pretty decent shop, at least the more senior level guys I've spoken to and all of their ancillary material has been on par with any IB I've dealt with.
Really appreciate all the advice, this decision is obviously tough and any input is good input (well almost any).
In regards to exit opps, how well would Piper fare in terms of a couple options:
1) lateral to a BB or elite boutique after 2 years or so, then MBA at top Uni / straight to upper MM PE or mega fund 2) Analyst for 2-3 years, then straight to PE / VC or MBA
I'm leaning towards Piper at this point, and just want to understand what a typical career path might be coming from a shop like PJ.
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