I recently finished my first job. I came in as a wide-eyed hungry 22-year old ready to conquer the world. I had expectations I would scale the “rat race” where I would go two years at a bulge-bracket bank and then move on to a become private equity associate and then end up at a “end-all-be-all” prestigious hedge fund. This was the goal since I could remember. I started trading stocks at the age of 12 and thought I knew what I wanted from day one. For the next ten years, I did whatever it took to get to my career goals. I went to a prestigious university where I majored in economics and joined a bank as an Investment Banking analyst in their technology group. The last two years have changed me, for better or worse. Investment Banking is a job where many young smart students want after college, and as such, I wanted to share my thoughts and questions during my stint as an analyst.
How do you define success?
Investment bankers make a lot of money. I never thought I would make so much money so quickly. Some of my co-workers were spending $10K on Vegas trips acting like it was nothing. At 25, some of them will be making $250K. If success is measure by monetary value, I would suggest you go into banking and stay in banking. Even if you go to a start-up and “make it big” after a couple of years, you will not be making that much more over the lifespan than a banker while carrying on incredibly more risk. However, if your goal is something else other than monetary, banking may not be the place for you long-term. The learning curve can be incredibly difficult in the first year, but then afterwards you are almost just going through the motions and being what us analysts called a “monkey”. I valued learning more so than short-term earnings as I believe that the monetary earnings may come later if I emphasize my personal development.
Time = Success
Investment banking forces you to become a workaholic. I averaged four or five hours of sleep a night during my first year. My group would constantly work with New York, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong so the moment I was sleeping, someone else on the other side of the planet would be working and asking for work. Some co-workers would be cognizant of your time and ask for work during the day tomorrow, but most of the time, they would want answers ASAP. Everything in banking is ASAP. Since we are a client-facing business, everything has to be fast and right and no matter what time it is. On weekends, I would make friends with my friends only for it to be blown-up and had to go back to the office. However terrible this may seem, I’m extremely glad they made us do that. I learned that no matter what it is, if I want to be good at something, I need to put in the time and effort. Instead of spending 40 hours a week crafting my skill, I was spending 2–3x the amount of time and as a result, I felt like I was faster and better at being an analyst. As a result, I learned to anticipate my boss’s needs before it came to me so I shave an extra hour or two out of my work week.
Always be open to new opportunities
I came in thinking that I would be on a straight shot to the top of finance world, but realized during my time at Deutsche Bank, I wanted to pursue other interests. I am joining Lightbank, a venture capital based out of Chicago, where I will be working with some of the most talented entrepreneurs and investors in the world. If someone would have asked me two to three years ago, if I would be a VC or would ever be interested in early-stage technology, I would have said no way. I was an equities guy through and had been trained to think about cashflow first, but now I am becoming a venture capital investor investing in companies that have zero cashflow. Seems an odd place for me to be, but it is an opportunity to continue to learn and learn from the best. As cliché as it may seem, I have learned that life doesn’t and shouldn’t follow a straight path.
Banking is something that is not for everyone. The hours are tough, the work is demanding, and sometimes you will feel like you have lost control of your life. I was in that same boat, however I wouldn’t trade my two years at Deutsche Bank for anything in the world. I learned how to be successful and more importantly what I valued and wanted out of life. I am excited for the future and can’t wait to see what is in store at Lightbank.
