Hey troop,
Shameless plug alert
After going back and forth on the idea, I pulled the trigger and launched a newsletter. I previously tried writing for SeekingAlpha but found that I don't have much interest (or experience) in public markets so that faded quickly. I also almost started writing for WSO while in undergrad but that initiative faded as I realized I needed to spend a lot more time recruiting (sorry Patrick!).
In the coming months, I plan to share some of my more entertaining experiences working in the industry and occasionally comment on recent private equity deals (hopefully giving you all some interview fodder or at least a format for discussing deals). My first note discussing a recent deal went out this morning, you can check it out here: Francisco Partners & Evergreen Coast to take LogMeIn Private. If you like it, hit subscribe and/or send it to a friend. The next post will have some tips on researching companies and generating ideas.
My goal is to shed some light on obscure deal dynamics that may otherwise go unnoticed, but I'd also love to hear what you all think would be interesting to cover. Reluctantly, knowing the brutal honestly around this part of the jungle, I also welcome your feedback.
You can sign up here: https://leverup.substack.com
/Shameless plug over
Just to make this less about me, I'm here to answer your questions about my experience in middle-market PE, boutique banking, and business school.
size of your boutique IB? process to get to MM PE? size of MM PE? why business school? what rank of b-school?
and awesome site, well written. will stay tuned for more
Thanks, appreciate the feedback! Glad you enjoyed it
Size of boutique IB: Two-ish partners, some analysts and ops people. The partners were pretty senior, former size movers at large platforms (BB + multibillion fund you've definitely heard of/read books about) and set up their own shop at the tail end of their career to effectively continue some of the work they've been doing at smaller scale and (importantly for them) without someone to report to.
Process to get MM PE & size of MM PE: Admittedly on the lower side of MM, though not too low. After boutique IB I thought a non-deal position at a brand name firm was better than moving to a larger bank or a deal position at a no-name fund (you can blame it on non-target undergrad, growing up outside of the US in a working class family, but effectively I was a bit late to get a feel for recruiting sentmiments). Couple years of that, moved into an investing role at an asset manager and eventually found a smaller PE fund that liked my story (strong technicals helped).
Business School: First boss (boutique IB) was an MBA business schools">M7 grad, he was/is a great mentor and left enough of an impression on me that I set a goal early on to go to that school. Met more ppl from there during my working life and thought they all seemed pretty cool and that I would enjoy spending two years at the school. Also, considered a slight adjustment to career trajectory and wanted two years to try things out in an enviroment where it's safe-ish to experiment (definitely more safe than switching jobs and potentially struggle to get back into PE). Last but not least, working class family, first to get college degree, parents were sold on the "American Dream" through access to education when we moved here, so they felt pretty excited that I got into a top graduate program, and that meant a lot to me.
Cool idea, never seen a IB/PE deal analysis news letter before. Nice to see a break from the stock twats on seeking alpha using bronalysis to predict market movements. Ironic coming from a guy like me to read a finance news letter, but I'm always a supporter of those who are venturing and trying to create and do new things, even if I have no direct interest in the subject matter.
Read your bio on the site, found it pretty funny to see your humor and some what satire approach to the finance industry. Also found it amusing to see jokes in your analysis, it's a nice break from the pseudo intellectual bs you would constantly see in Equity Research reports Deal Memos.
Cheers from a former brofessional.
I'm all about inefficiencies, and the world definitely doesn't need another SA contributor. It can be a great platform to practice stock pitches for aspiring analysts but I remain sceptical overall.
Anyways, glad you enjoyed the idea! I just saw your last post and I'm expecting you're wowing all the other engineers with perfectly formatted logo slides and reports (or w/e engineers read) stapled at an exactly 45 degree angle.
During your time on the buyside, which bank had the best looking CIMs? TPG just replied to my IM and said that it comes across more like a mgmt. presentation and needs to be redone. #hurt #shotsfired
I hope there’s no identifying info in my post history but honestly more than a handful of TPG slides can use some redoing. I’m a fan of RJ for making dense slides digestible, iirc I’ve also seen some good slides from HL.
I actually like mgmt presentations (as long as there’s also a decent market section), a typical pain point for me was not seeing enough in the CIM and having to ask the bankers the same set of questions that I would’ve expected to be standard for the types of companies we look at.
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