West Coast IB Rankings

Have been reading a lot of things online about the relative strengths of IB groups on the west coast, but whats the consensus in terms of where they stack up against each other in terms of exit opps, deal flow, how they're seen by the Wall Street community, etc. The groups I'm referring to are namely GS SF, MS SF, MS MP, CS SF, Qatalyst, GS LA, MS LA, Moelis LA, CS LA. Any insight or rough rankings appreciated!

66 Comments
 

What are you saying? Qatalyst should definitely be considered. They may not exit well to PE MF/UMM, but they kill it for VC/GE/Corp Dev. Most of the bankers at Q stay though because the pay is ridiculous. Would say top west coast are: GS TMT SF, MS Menlo, and Qatalyst.

 

Would strongly disagree with placing Moelis LA above Qatalyst. Top three groups are GS SF TMT, Q, and MS Menlo, with Q and GS having stronger years recently (they were on Fitbit, Salesforce, Looker, Hortonworks, Ultimate Software, CA Technologies, Qualtrics, Imperva, SignalFX, basically every merger of note this year).

Don't know personally, but have heard that Q pays very very very well (around 100% bonus ) which keeps people from jumping ship, but those who have exited have all exited to top shops (NEA, Kleiner Perkins, Accel-KKR, Lightspeed Venture, Corp Dev at top tech companies, etc..), keep in mind with an analyst class of 4-6 analysts per year

 

What about from a completely industry blind perspective? I have no doubt Qatalyst is better for tech than Moelis LA, but in the overall realm of finance you would still say it's considered better?

 

Moelis LA is definitely better than Q from an exit opps perspective. This kid has no idea what he’s saying. They came to our school and even said that they don’t exit well and if you want to exit go to a GS TMT, MS Menlo, etc.

 

Answering your question, it really depends. This is kind of like comparing apples and oranges. If you like tech/want to do tech related stuff after your stint, the Qatalyst name is hard to beat.

If you are looking at more traditional high-finance roles, Moelis LA places lights out. But overall, I would recommend getting an offer before considering first as both of those shops are notoriously difficult to get offers at.

 

No idea why you got monkey shit - the coverage group is pretty meh when it comes to buyout PE but they do place pretty well into Tech VC/GE and corporate roles.

 

Basing these off of exits

Top west coast shops for traditional buyout pe exits: GS TMT SF, MS Menlo, HL RX LA, Moelis LA, and CS LA Top west coast shops for tech pe: GS TMT and MS Menlo Top west coast shops for VC/GE/Corp Dev: GS TMT, MS Menlo, and Qatalyst Top west coast shops for HFs: GS TMT, MS Menlo, Moelis LA, CS LA, HL RX LA

Don't know why there are so many comments as it is quite clear.

 

Would say top west coast shops are GS TMT, MS Menlo, and Qatalyst. GS and MS have better exit opps due to their additional placement into tech PE and traditional buyout funds.

 

Exactly, JPM SF is much behind GS TMT and MS Menlo when it comes to deal experience, headhunting/exit opps, and prestige. All these monkey shits are just people who don't understand West Coast IB scene.

 

Wouldn't say they are comparable to top tech teams at all. Stop spouting BS.

 

Anyone have insights into lower MM/MM banks in SF, specifically BMO/RBC/HL/Oppenheimer

 

GS SF, MS SF, MS MP, CS SF, Qatalyst, GS LA, MS LA, Moelis LA, CS LA.

Tier 1: GS SF, MS SF, GS LA Tier 2: MS LA, CS SF Qatalyst Tier 3 Moelis LA , CS LA

 

How are Moelis LA and Qatalyst not Tier 1? GS LA and MS SF shouldn’t be Tier 1. How did you come up with these rankings?

 
"PesseJinkman" Have been reading a lot of things online about the relative strengths of IB groups on the west coast, but whats the consensus in terms of where they stack up against each other in terms of exit opps, deal flow, how they're seen by the Wall Street community, etc. The groups I'm referring to are namely GS SF, MS SF, MS MP, CS SF, Qatalyst, GS LA, MS LA, Moelis LA, CS LA. Any insight or rough rankings appreciated!

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At the senior levels, geographic differences become more important because certain offices have better deal flow and clients, and senior bankers’ bonuses depend 100% on performance.
 

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