From Cold Call to Closed Deal: How a Private Equity Investment Comes Together, Part 1 – The Idea

Your office door creaks open, and you close your YouTube window in a knee-jerk response.

David – the Partner you work with most closely – walks in and glances from side to side, pretending not to notice you at first.

This must be something important if he hasn’t started talking yet.

You tap away on your keyboard while staring at the screen, pretending that you’re writing that important email that you should have sent out yesterday.

Finally, he opens his mouth.

“We need to talk about your performance.”

Do Investment Bankers Actually Add Value?

“With investment banking, you make a lot of money, and you get a distorted feeling of how wonderful you are. You’ll be flying around in corporate jets and you’ll be attending board meetings, but you don’t really add value.”

-Guy Kawasaki, New York Times Interview

And hey, it’s not just Guy – it’s a common criticism of investment bankers:

You work a lot, but you don’t actually do anything useful.

So should you cross banking off your list?

And what about those corporate jets?

48 Hours in the Life of a Sales & Trading Intern

The following takes place between 6 AM and 6 AM, at a large investment bank in Tokyo.

Events occur in real time.

6:00 AM: The alarm goes off. I really want to snooze but via sheer willpower I jump out of bed – need to impress my boss and co-workers.

6:30 AM: For my breakfast, I buy bottled tea and onigiri (rice balls) at a convenience store. I listen to the Nikkei Shimbun (analogous to the Wall Street Journal) podcast while walking to work.

6:50 AM: I am one of the first people at the office. I breathe a sigh a relief after confirming that my boss isn’t here yet – sometimes he comes in early too.