As an Analyst, the deals or assignments you’ve worked on says a lot about the quality and level of your experience. Most people will care most, and ask most about what deals you’ve worked on. If you’ve worked notable transactions and with high profile companies, people will respect you differently, and in a better light. […]
As an Analyst, the deals you've worked on says a lot about the quality and level of your experience.
Most people will care most and ask most about what deals you've worked on and what tasks you completed.
If you've worked notable transactions with high profile companies, people will respect your experience differently, and in a better light.
Not to mention, the learning you'll get will be awesome, in addition to starting to build a powerful Rolodex.
1You'll be able to expedite your learning curb, your career, and possibly even find your own niche to explore.
Most of the time, the highest-profile and largest deals are the toughest and most complex to work on.
The bigger the deal, the more complex, the more people who are going to be involved in the transaction.
2Knowing that, if you're the Analyst on the deal, and take to the challenge of performing at a high level, not only will you get some of the larger bonuses for an Analyst, but you'll be able to build your credibility within your firm.
It’s also very possible, the client or other parties will want to hire you away after the deal if they like you and how you worked on the deal.
3It's also worth noting the high-profile deals look incredible on your resume and will make you a hot commodity if you are considering leaving.
It's great for networking and talking shop with other people in your industry.
And to be honest, you're an Analyst to build your resume and create a stepping stone for your future, so try to build the best one you can by being the on the best deals.
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Every company or group is typically separated by asset class, region, or industry they specialize in.
Depending on how your company is structured, these are the different deal teams.
It's important to note some teams have more notoriety and prestige than others.
The deal team you want to be on depends on what you're trying to get out of your experience.
If it’s simply to build your resume, then try to get on to the one with the best reputation and the largest deals.
If it’s to explore a certain industry or area, then try to get onto a deal team in that niche.
If you have an offer for a certain team, and you want to move around, it might be best to take it, then try to move.
Once you have become a credible Analyst with a good track record and build good relationships, it’ll be easier to pivot and move to a new team within the same firm.
6A great way to do this is by pitching in for a team when they have a lot of work and could use an extra hand.
This way you get familiar with the deals, industry, and start building relationships with the team.
Another option is waiting until there is an open position and raising your hand (or volunteering) or going to the MD and asking if you could be considered for the role.
7Often, it's much easier to do it one of these ways, then going for the deal team everyone else is going for from the start.
It all depends on your goal and what you're looking for from your experience and where you want to go with it.
8If you do decide to try and pick up some extra work from a team or lend a helping hand, it's important that your work does not suffer because of it.
It should be a second priority to the team that hired you and employs you.
The relationships you have within your deal teams are incredibly valuable, as you may never know if you cross paths in the future, or where they end up, and if they can help you.
So, treat everyone on your deal team well.
9Try to go into your Analyst position with an idea, of what you want to do after, in regard to a specific industry.
The advice we got which worked out well was to focus on an industry you find yourself going into down the road or are interested in prior to starting your position.
That way, you know you have an interest in it, and see opportunity. But it might change with some time and experience.
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As an Analyst, you’re going to be responsible for inputting the numbers and handling the presentation for the most part.
This includes any market research or summary of what the deal is going to look like. Tax implications, deal structure, and other important information.
The Associate or VP will be overseeing and supervising the work product you produce.
Ask them any questions you have, as you both have a shared goal to produce the highest quality of work for the MD.
The Associate's job is to produce the best package that gives the MD/VP the best chance to land the business.
The VP is going to be the liaison in the room for the Analyst and Associate.
They’ll be the person citing your members and statistics while in the meeting (aka taking the credit).
They are client-facing, but the majority is held for the MD or higher-ups. They'll be doing the lion share of the talking in meetings.
Here and there, depending on the client, you might have a C level exec or even a board member join the meeting depending on the client and the situation.
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Deal flow is one of the most important factors of any team.
Your industry group and specialty will play a role in the type of deals you work on.
In order to gain experience, you must be able to work on deals!
Your team's deal flow will build a lot of your connections, skills and possibly your career path, so choose wisely!
The best industry or product groups are tough to get on and are usually built with longer-tenured, or well-connected Analysts.
The better the deals, and the more deals you work on, will have a direct impact on how fast you develop your skills and the quality of them.
The goal is to become the best Analyst you can be, and if you are able to perform at the highest level, then you will rise up the ranks, and build an awesome reputation for yourself and at the firm.
15The best deal flow usually surrounds the best employees, who know their stuff and have great connections.
The most important part of building your knowledge and experience will come from reps, the more repetitions you get, the more practice you get, the more you’ll learn.
Being on a team with good deal flow will expedite this process.
You'll be ahead of the game and learning different areas, or markets, with a lot of different people involved.
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The nitty-gritty, meat, and potatoes of your Analyst experience. The deals you work on are like the social currency as an Analyst.
With every deal comes a different set of circumstances, different situations, and different requirements to make that deal happen.
Your bosses are going to be navigating the landscape of negotiating with the clients.
They will be trying to find the balance of winning for the firm while also making the client happy.
Every deal is a constant back and forth over terms, conditions, documents, and language.
It’s a negotiation over every detail involved in the transaction.
18As an Analyst, things can get tricky here, as the back and forth can significantly affect the deals structure and the engineering of the deal.
Which for you as an Analyst, means updating all the models, memos and presentations with the correct terms and conditions of the deal.
Meaning there could be a lot of work, and possibly in circles, which is frustrating, to say the least.
19As you start working on deals, you’ll start learning the different structures, why a certain structure was chosen and in what situation you would use the structure again.
This is a great time to ask questions as to why one decision was made instead of a different one.
These opportunities are the best you can get for learning, as your learning in real-time, and involved in every step of the deal.
20Another key component of the deals you are working on is the people.
Most deals will be with a different set of Lawyers, Managing Directors, Accountants, Tax Guys, Brokers, you name it.
When you work on a large transaction, there is a direct relationship between the number of people and coordination.
The person running the deal is going to be coordinating different conversations with different groups of people, depending on the agenda and objective for the calls.
21Every deal or transaction revolves around the numbers.
Analyzing and understanding the metrics is essential for your development as an Analyst and as a business professional.
If you are on the deal from beginning to end, it's valuable to watch how and why the deal evolves.
You’ll be in the know on deal specifics and see how the numbers change over time, and with each decision.
22Understanding the connections between numbers and which metrics change with which variables is the best thing we can recommend learning.
This will teach you the different metrics, and why certain structures are effective.
Ask your superiors any questions you want, because learning about the deal, its structure, its reasoning or its drivers is how you develop into an experienced professional, hopefully even into an Associate sometime soon.
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Any deal usually starts out as a conversation between two senior-level people that eventually evolves into a lead for each.
Usually, one person will throw the idea out to the other to see how it's received and what they think of it.
The next step, if both parties are open to the idea, is to exchange the financial numbers with both parties (Earnings, Projections, Income Statements, Balance Sheet and Statement of Cash Flows).
24Once the underwriting team has received the info, they will input the necessary data into their financial model and make assumptions to see how the deal pencils out.
Once the model is completed (by the Analyst + Associate), then the VP/MD will review the numbers and see how it shakes out.
From there, they might tell you to change or edit a few numbers, to see how the numbers would look under a few different scenarios.
25Then you will put together a term sheet or summary of the deal to send out to the client or to superiors at the company.
From there, you will probably restart conversations with the client on a creating a new proposal then send out a term sheet or LOI (summarizing the terms and conditions your firm is proposing).
26Another way you might be instructed is to start working on the presentation or the memo for the deal, but you can’t complete it without finalizing the numbers and structure.
Often times at this stage you'll be competing with other parties for the business.
Some you'll win, some you'll lose, it’s just the nature of business.
27Once the numbers finalize, that's when the deal really starts to come together.
If both parties accept the terms, conditions, and structure of the deal, then the deal goes to the investment committee or the higher-ups responsible for approving or declining deals.
As an Analyst, your role is going to be preparing the materials for the MD or senior level people to present to the investment committee or decision-makers.
That's why it's so crucial your numbers are accurate and correct.
28The higher-ups will evaluate the deal and decide its fate based upon a good portion of your work.
If the deal gets approved, then the lawyers for the two sides will come together and hash out the language both sides feel comfortable with.
And then hopefully it closes, and everyone is happy.
And last but not least, hopefully, everyone is in line for a nice bonus season!
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This is a tough one as an Analyst. Most likely no one is going to think or consider your goals and priorities besides yourself.
That’s why it imperative that you pick your industry and group that aligns most with your long-term goals.
Expect to get a good understanding of the structure and engineering of the deals you are working on, so if you have long term plans that involve a specific industry or asset class, keep that in mind when you choose your deal team.
On the deal team, you are going to be assigned certain tasks to execute, most likely tedious in nature, but that doesn’t mean you are not allowed to explore certain metrics or statistics that interest you.
Try to understand the areas of the model that are most interesting to you.
At the end of the day, you are there to learn, gain valuable experience, develop a translatable skill set, and figure out what you want to do next.
Business is based around deals and it’s how the money goes around in the business world.
It's the most valuable part of any learning experience, outside of the relationship with your boss and colleagues.
The Deal Team you're on will determine the deals you work on, the people you meet, and the industries or asset classes you’ll learn.
32You'll be a step ahead if your able to cut your teeth on tricky, complex deals.
Often times, you'll only be exposed to certain parts of a deal as an Analyst, but those parts will build your knowledge, experience, and skillset.
33There are a lot of different types of deals, industries, and people involved with the deals you work on.
As an Analyst, you're going to be tasked with creating the documents or information needed to move the deal along.
And it’s important to note, every deal is different, and they won't be easy.
You might think as an Analyst, that this or that deal might be easy. Or that completing a deal is easy.
34But they won't be. Every deal is a struggle, and a wicked back and forth.
They take time, energy, and effort, but do produce some very nice bonus checks.
Deal Experience is a critical part of the game, so choose your industry, asset, and product classes wisely, it can be incredibly helpful to you down the road.
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