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Out of curiosity, how does that process work from a practical standpoint? How does an early stage company find you? Do they pitch you, the same way they would p

Out of curiosity, how does that process work from a practical standpoint? How does an early stage company find you? Do they pitch you, the same way they would pitch VCs? Why not then spend your time directly pitching VCs, instead of pitching bankers who then have to go out and successfully pitch VCs? Sorry, I'm probably coming across as attacking, but really am not. I just have never heard of this role before, and am asking out of genuine curiosity. (Also as a sidetone, is there a specific name for this type of deal facilitator besides the generically overloaded "banker"?)

airstrike 5y ago
It's usually the other way around – bankers will pitch companies they come across if they think there's an opportunity, but not usually for super early stage capital because the economics don't really work. Pre-COVID, we'd all go to industry conferences and mingle, set up a meeting and see if we click after a conversation or two. That was how my team met a Series B company a couple years ago which later received an unsolicited bid from a strategic acquirer and we helped them through that. The process was very successful and actually a pleasure to work through for all parties involved - investors, management and buyer all walked away very happy with the outcome. As for your side comment, I don't think there's a more specific name rather than "banker", but in my experience the big banks on Wall Street are not traditionally structured in a way that incentivizes relationships with earlier stage / smaller companies. Since you're asking for differentiators, I don't meant to sound like an ad, but I work at Evercore, which is "the premier global independent investment banking advisory firm", as our website would put it. We're "independent" because we don't lend any money despite being a "bank". Admittedly, M&A advisory is the lion's share of what we do, but we're also hired by clients to help them secure financing or go public. We just don't have any skin in the game. The value we bring is the quality of our advice. We're more nimble and flexible, but we have the same depth of relationships as a big bank, which is what differentiates us.
- dcolkitt 5y ago
  Thanks! Very interesting to learn.

airstrike 5y ago

It's usually the other way around – bankers will pitch companies they come across if they think there's an opportunity, but not usually for super early stage capital because the economics don't really work. Pre-COVID, we'd all go to industry conferences and mingle, set up a meeting and see if we click after a conversation or two. That was how my team met a Series B company a couple years ago which later received an unsolicited bid from a strategic acquirer and we helped them through that. The process was very successful and actually a pleasure to work through for all parties involved - investors, management and buyer all walked away very happy with the outcome. As for your side comment, I don't think there's a more specific name rather than "banker", but in my experience the big banks on Wall Street are not traditionally structured in a way that incentivizes relationships with earlier stage / smaller companies. Since you're asking for differentiators, I don't meant to sound like an ad, but I work at Evercore, which is "the premier global independent investment banking advisory firm", as our website would put it. We're "independent" because we don't lend any money despite being a "bank". Admittedly, M&A advisory is the lion's share of what we do, but we're also hired by clients to help them secure financing or go public. We just don't have any skin in the game. The value we bring is the quality of our advice. We're more nimble and flexible, but we have the same depth of relationships as a big bank, which is what differentiates us.

dcolkitt 5y ago
Thanks! Very interesting to learn.