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What would the exit/lateral options look like after a few years at a boutique sized firm in a large market working primarily on financing in a rather specialized industry?

Is finance work still finance work and the industry specialty won't matter? Or is this pigeonholing yourself at the outset?

Anonymous User wrote:What would the exit/lateral options look like after a few years at a boutique sized firm in a large market working primarily on financing in a rather specialized industry?

Is finance work still finance work and the industry specialty won't matter? Or is this pigeonholing yourself at the outset?

what kind of finance? Lender or borrower side? Size of the deals? Give us more details. No, finance work is not finance work. The term is very broad when used to describe practice groups.

nouseforaname123 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:What would the exit/lateral options look like after a few years at a boutique sized firm in a large market working primarily on financing in a rather specialized industry?

Is finance work still finance work and the industry specialty won't matter? Or is this pigeonholing yourself at the outset?

what kind of finance? Lender or borrower side? Size of the deals? Give us more details. No, finance work is not finance work. The term is very broad when used to describe practice groups.

From what little I have been able to gather:
Asset-based, project, and structured. All for lenders, borrowers, and issuers of debt and public/private equity. My understanding is that the deals are only one or two steps down from the HUGE deals going through the big firms, but still sizable.

Hope that helps.

Anonymous User wrote:

nouseforaname123 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:What would the exit/lateral options look like after a few years at a boutique sized firm in a large market working primarily on financing in a rather specialized industry?

Is finance work still finance work and the industry specialty won't matter? Or is this pigeonholing yourself at the outset?

what kind of finance? Lender or borrower side? Size of the deals? Give us more details. No, finance work is not finance work. The term is very broad when used to describe practice groups.

From what little I have been able to gather:
Asset-based, project, and structured. All for lenders, borrowers, and issuers of debt and public/private equity. My understanding is that the deals are only one or two steps down from the HUGE deals going through the big firms, but still sizable.

Hope that helps.

Unless your group is servicing a small niche industry (e.g., Solar projects), you don't seem to be describing a specialized group. IF true, it's a good sign that your firm is on all sides of transactions. re: deal size, you could be desribing $10mm deals or $250mm deals. Those will lead to big differences in terms of edit options.

Without knowing more, generally, you'll probably be looking to move in house on borrower side. Finance will position you for decent exit options, but you won't be as in demand as, say, an M&A associate. If you have more of a general finance experience, big banks will be more in play down the road.

Firm reputation probably won't be as strong (if it really is a specialized industry) in your efforts to move in house, but it may be strong within the industry your firm serves, so that could end up being a wash.

Like everything else, positives and negatives to being on borrower or lender side. Ideally, you should endeavor to do both for as long as possible.

Can you elaborate more on moving in house on the borrower's side versus on the lender's side? (Ease of moving in house on each side, when to start looking, anything else important etc.) Not the OP, but also finding this very helpful, thanks.

Anonymous User wrote:Can you elaborate more on moving in house on the borrower's side versus on the lender's side? (Ease of moving in house on each side, when to start looking, anything else important etc.) Not the OP, but also finding this very helpful, thanks.

Really depends on the type of finance you are doing and the practice group you work for.

persinally, I think you need a good four to five years experience before moving in house. As far as ease of moving in house, too many variables in finance to really generalize it.

Best advice is to do both lender and borrower side work (which is hard to do because not too many firms are strong in both areas) and try to figure out a niche within your finance group and really become a subject matter expert on it. You should make it a goal to have partners from other offices call you about particularly tricky areas within your practice group.