Sold my startup -> Investment Banking SA?
Hi everyone,
I’m currently a junior at a semi-target in the West Coast looking to break into banking through a SA internship.
My prior work experience is mainly entrepreneurial having started two six-figure revenue companies and even selling my first one for a multi-million dollar sale.
My interest in finance and banking was sparked by going through this process of acquisition and i became extremely curious into how large scale companies go through the process and after speaking with some of my mentors and alumni who previously worked in banking, i realized this is what i wanted to do to learn as much as possible.
I’m having a hard time getting past resume screens and getting the opportunity to interview, probably due to my lower gpa 3.20 (3.50 major gpa) but i know I’m extremely committed to pursuing a career in banking. Any advice?
TLDR: non-traditional background, started and sold a company for multimillion dollar deal. Looking to transition into banking for the learning opportunities. Having a hard time getting past resume screens and having an opportunity to interview in addition to being a little late to the process. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.
If you have that money, why do you wanna do banking? I know you said you're interested in m&a, but are you interested enough to work 100 hour weeks on powerpoints about m&a?
That’s a question I’ve been getting a fair amount, and its a fair question. To me, I see what I’ve done as pretty small scale. My goal isn’t about the money but more about building a solid foundation of knowledge especially out of college and as someone just starting their career. I know that IB will provide me the solid foundation in how businesses leverage finance to succeed at a high level which is why i want to go into banking. Also you meet and work with some really smart and interesting people.
Bullshit, if you had really developed and sold your startup you'd have the network to join a VC fund
Complete waste of time. Start another company or start taking small stakes in existing companies and add value with your operating experience.
I'm surprised to hear an ex-entrepreneur with a relatively fast exit even consider working for others again. I think you'd hate it very quickly.
I don't mind working for others in the beginning of my career, everyone has to start somewhere. I truly believe that the learning experience in IB will be extremely helpful to me as it will build a solid financial foundation within my skillset. Any advice for someone looking for SA positions with a non-traditional background?
what about VC instead of IB?
You're dramatically overestimating how smart people in finance are. You don't have nearly as much to learn from ib as you think you do and are underestimating yourself. Most are risk-adverse lemmings. There's massive opportunity cost with your plan.
Btw...As an entrepreneur you can always call other entrepreneurs and learn whatever you want. So long as you're courteous it's usually easy to get other entrepreneurs to pick up the phone (provided you aren't selling). I'd suggest you use that to your advantage. Find a few people who started firms whose thesis you love and ask away.
I feel like you are taking a safer path given what your peers or other may define as success post-grad. Given you've successfully completed a sale of a business you started and likely were fully in control of, M&A for networking or meeting smart people probably isn't something you'll enjoy or thrive in given you'll be relegated to being an excel jock or slide bitch with no opportunity to feel that rush of ownership or the drive which comes with it. And as for meeting smart people, yes you'll meet some people in IB who are sharp etc but I wouldn't consider it a cesspool of intellect by any means. Keep in mind a lot of people get in through connections and other means. And those who do get in on merit have generally just been able to hustle and perform in interviews which is not an indicator of intellectual horsepower, at least in the sense you're looking for. This isn't to downplay the IB crowd (and I'm actually thinking about switching back to it) but rather to make a point that the specific points you've called out may not be totally available within an M&A group.
I can't really offer an opinion on what you should do next but take the above into consideration if you're looking to make a career choice.
Yeah agree that you’ll probably hate it if you were savvy enough of an entrepreneur to grow and sell your biz that quickly. And being a successful IBD summer analyst requires diametrically opposing characteristics to being a good entrepreneur imo. However I can think of a few benefits: if you join an industry group related to the companies you started you will have access to metrics and strategy of larger companies in the space, learn to speak the finance language, and get a rough understanding of the financing dynamics of your industry of choice. These are valuable for the next business you start esp if you want to scale it past a certain point.
To your point, I feel like I have a decent grasp of general business knowledge but having the experience of investment banking under my belt would allow me to deepen my understanding of the financial aspect of business. I have always had an interest in finance and have thought a lot about this decision. Ultimately I believe that this is the best career choice for me and am determined to pursue it, that being said, what advice would you give for someone like me who comes from a non-traditional background looking for SA opportunities this late into recruiting?
If you’re in college, do the internship. It’s only 10 weeks you’ll make a decent chunk of change, live in nyc, and try to do something different. If you dont like it, at least you know.
do some more networking and see if you can break in, b/c you have a phenomenal story and I can only imagine how much of an interesting person you must be to grab coffee with...if that doesn't help then continue doing what you're doing and apply to B-School with stellar essays and LOR's and then try your luck again to recruit for IBD associate programs...GPA doesn't matter at the M7
Thanks for the advice! I've been actively trying to network through cold emailing and have gotten a decent amount of success. Have a gotten a few referrals at a BB but apparently they are cutting down the networking aspect and relying on the Hireviews exclusively.
Try to break into VC or growth equity if you can - they value prior startup experience a ton, especially w/ a successful exit under your belt.
Seems like the general advice here, will definitely look into VC. An issue I’ve seen is that they don’t typically recruit undergrad, are there any reputable firms in NY you recommend reaching out to?
Insight Partners recruits out of undergrad - great software VC firm in NY.
What were your two businesses based in out of curiosity? To answer your question I'd say reach out to some higher-level people networking, they'd probably be very impressed with your story. Are you targetting MM or BB?
The one I sold was a technology that helped e-comm stores and the second company was a tech-fashion startup. Targeting anything I can get into haha, but obviously BB would be the goal.
Don't do it. Just sold my company to a VC firm in another country, so no, you've prob never heard of them. But who cares. For a decently recent college grad I'm just happy I got to create value rather than just add it. And I led a decent sized team (more than 15).
Start another company. Sure, credibility and the "learning" is all good and well, but one day you'll wake up and be like, why the hell am I working for someone else. Life is too short and I'll never make nearly as much as I did working for myself. Think about the opportunity cost of research into product differentiation you could be spending for something new or getting ahead in a new industry with those killing hours. Working 90 hour weeks non stop for yourself is not the same feeling as doing it for others. Trust me.
Want credibility? Start another company that grows large enough to give it to yourself. You're an entrepreneur, it's the better choice. I've been on the other side of the fence. The grass ain't fucking greener.
Also, tech-fashion? care to elaborate just a bit more, really curious.
was the tech start up a wordpress plugin?
I think the best way forward for a very talented person like you would be to go out on your own, start your own fund.
I can help you with more information, PM me
Curious as to what you ended up doing?
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