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 ca

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.