Reader Q&A: Financial Modeling, Breaking In No Matter What, Venture Capital and Crazy People (No Relation)

This week, we cover financial modeling, what to do if you’re still looking for internships or jobs at this late stage, how to decide on offers if you actually have them, a bunch of questions on venture capital (and private equity), and then the usual roundup of nonsensical questions (always my favorite part).

1. Do you have an opinion on which financial modeling product is best?

Yeah, I don’t like any of them. In the past I used to give a vague answer here, but now I’ve looked at them in detail and talked to customers who have used them, and I’ve come to the conclusion that nothing out there is that great.

Lateraling To Another Investment Bank? Look Before You Leap

“I’m in the Credit Suisse Tech M&A Group currently but I heard that Goldman TMT is way better and that everyone who works there aces their private equity interviews and gets offers at KKR and Blackstone. How can I transition over to a much better group/bank?”

Every week I get questions like the one above. And my reply is usually the same: don’t bother. In most cases, lateraling is a waste of time and effort. But around the end of their first years in finance, young investment banking analysts everywhere think about making the move.