#28 Breaking Barriers: Insights from Investment Banking, Private Equity and Consulting Roles

Business/Career Insights (Strategy & Operations Focus)

1) Role clarity: what “Investment Banking” actually does

• Investment Banking is positioned as a facilitator, not an investor’s own capital deployment.
• For the guest describing the role:
  • Focus is on private-company / growth-stage fundraising.
  • Core workstream: help founders connect with the right investors and manage the fundraising journey from materials to negotiation to closure.

How success is monetized

• Described as mostly success-fee based (example: if ₹100 cr is raised, fee could be ~2–3 cr, depending on specifics).
• Some banks may take fees as equity/cut fees, especially in early-stage contexts.

Playbook / process (fundraising enablement)

• Prepare company pitch materials (collaterals)
• Build investor-ready market positioning
• Produce projections and fundraising narrative
• Run investor discussions and negotiations
• Drive deal to money-in-bank closure

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2) Consulting operating model: delivery mechanics and project types

Typical day structure

• Huddle call: align on daily plan
• Client + research throughout the day
• Stand-ups / progress updates
• Work timing can extend to 10–12 hours depending on timelines

Case team dynamics

• Offsites for the case team are used to align and strengthen team interactions.

“CFO” joke for juniors

• A junior is informally responsible for food/travel preferences & logistics—hidden operational labor that keeps the team moving.

Consulting engagement framework (as described)

• Projects split into:
  • Strategy: e.g., whether to enter a new market
  • Implementation: turning strategy into execution plans (varies by firm; not always one continuous model)

Market-entry example workflow (1–2 month delivery cycle)

• Identify customer segments
• Geographical mapping
• Assess market attractiveness: expected growth, margins/earnings, and time horizon (example mentioned: 4–5 years)
• Include both quantitative projections and qualitative considerations

Delivery cadence

• “Complete work within 1–2 months,” then potential follow-on for implementation.

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3) Private Equity (PE): sourcing → diligence → thesis → pricing → decision

What PE is (market thesis)

• PE described as investing in private/unlisted companies.
• Structural participants:
  • LPs provide capital
  • GPs manage investments
• Opportunity sizing (high level, not a strict target):
  • Private market described as ~10x size versus listed markets (example: India listed companies with certain revenue thresholds vs private equivalents)
• PE return profile tradeoff:
  • Potentially higher returns vs public, but with risks like liquidity/illiquidity

PE operating model (two primary functions)

• Sourcing
  • Maintain an active search in relevant sector(s)
  • Build shortlists and engage potential targets
• Portfolio / live deal work
  • When a target is already in fundraising, perform diligence and negotiate entry at an agreed valuation/price

Deal flow

• Many deals still come through investment bankers
• Proprietary deal sourcing is rising due to improved data and active outreach

Evaluation framework for investing (the “four areas”)

1. Market: size, growth, growth drivers, competitive structure, entry barriers
2. Company execution: historical performance and execution capability
3. Leadership team: stability, role clarity, governance focus, key-person quality (leadership as a differentiator)
4. Pricing: “buy good assets at reasonable prices”

Valuation / pricing approach (entry & exit thinking)

• Bias toward late-stage logic:
  • Instead of trusting arbitrary projections, anchor on:
    • Near-term visible profitability for ~5 years (visibility emphasized)
    • A reasonable exit multiple, based on:
      • Comparable companies’ historical valuation ranges
      • Avoiding peak-cycle pricing
      • Using proxies when perfect comps don’t exist
• Triangulation methods like DCF are also used (alongside comparables/exit-multiple logic).

Key diligence behavior described

• “Bias breaking” on projections
  • One investor says they initially ignore projections and look at historical performance first.
• Decision forcing
  • Must form a view even with limited info—distinguishes investing from advisory roles.
• Explicit mindset
  • For each deal: ask why invest / why not
  • Internalize the asymmetry of false positives vs false negatives (risk management mindset)

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4) Senior growth path: accountability + people management (operator mindset)

• Across PE/Investing/IB/Consulting, responsibilities evolve as you move up:
  • Accountability increases exponentially
    • Junior: more research/execution work
    • Senior: responsible for investment decisions (yes/no) and outcomes
  • People management becomes central
    • Especially in PE: seniors coordinate across the team and interact with company leadership
  • In investment banking:
    • Described as a “sliding scale”
      • Lower levels: execution
      • Mid levels: execution + managing
      • Top levels: execution + management + direction/relationships
    • Senior bankers are accountable for relationship touchpoints and ensuring work is done correctly.

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5) Career selection guidance (execution & long-term fit)

How to choose a path

• What you’re good at
• Whether you enjoy it (learning/value even if not everything is “fun”)
• Whether you’re paid enough

PE uncertainty callout

• One PE guest emphasizes self-reflection: evaluating whether you have the right skill set/personality for long-term investing success.

Work-life balance as a formal decision input

• Investing/IB time demands emphasized:
  • IB: 10–12 hours minimum (12+ possible)
• Recommendation:
  • Evaluate next 5–10 years priorities (partner/family/friends/interests vs work intensity)

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Concrete Metrics / Ranges Mentioned (Comp, fees, timelines)

Fundraising fees (investment banking)

• Example success fee: ~2–3% of capital raised
  • Illustrative via ₹100 cr → ₹2–3 cr

Consulting delivery timing

• Market-entry strategy work described as 1–2 months

Work hours

• Consulting/IB: could run to 10–12 hours, sometimes 12+ (timeline-dependent)

Compensation (high-level ranges; varies by geography/level)

• Domestic funds / entry-level post-MBA
  • Investment role comp: ~₹20–60L (base) + bonus
• Global funds / entry-level post-MBA
  • ~₹50–80L (base) + bonus
• Domestic investment banks
  • Base: ~₹12–20L
  • Bonus: ~₹60–150L (wide spectrum)
• Global investment banks (post-MBA)
  • Base: ~₹40–60L
  • Bonus: ~₹100–200L (sometimes higher in strong years; examples like 100–200, and “good year” references 100–250/300%)

Education timeline expectations

• PE interview process: 6–7 rounds (with multiple team members)
• Consulting interview timeline: shortlisted → interview scheduled in ~3–4 weeks
• MBA payback: described with fee recovery in ~3–4 years in a “normal scenario” (example NPV reasoning)

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Recruiting / Interview Playbooks (Business execution lens)

Consulting recruiting process (example: BCG-style)

• Submit CV via a link
• Shortlisting response within ~1 week
• Assigned buddies for coaching/practice (weekends)
• Final rounds: 4 rounds in one day (case-based), with additional rounds possible across consecutive days
• Case interviews:
  • Roughly 15–20 min case + ~2 min personal intro segment (as described)

PE recruiting process (example)

• Tedious / multi-round process: 6–7 rounds
• Early rounds: more technical (case, modeling, financial model/deck presentation)
• Later rounds: fit/personality and HR-like evaluation
• Emphasis on:
  • Technical fundamentals
  • Past decision-making clarity
  • Personality/value alignment

Investment banking recruiting emphasis (described)

• More process-oriented
• Tests technical ability: pitch decks + modeling
• Also tests “awareness” of industries/business models and top-line/bottom-line/operations metrics
• Mentions explicit testing of willingness/ability to work long hours

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Examples & Lessons (Actionable Takeaways)

• Market entry consulting example: customer segmentation + geographic mapping + market attractiveness (expected growth, margins, earnings) over a 4–5 year horizon; deliverable in 1–2 months.
• PE deal evaluation lesson: don’t over-trust projections early—check historical execution first; then validate via market/leadership/pricing.
• Error reduction principle (consulting/investing):
  • Thinking only within your “role lens” increases mistakes; thinking like a partner/director reduces the error spectrum.
• Decision mindset in investing:
  • Build the “why invest” thesis and rationalize it
  • “First thought” shouldn’t be “want to invest,” but “why invest vs why not”

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Presenters / Sources

• Nandani (GIC; previously BCG)
• Mun (True North; private equity)
• Manan (Ambit; previously KPMG)
• Host / Interviewer (name not clearly stated in subtitles)