u/Brilliant-Season7834

Graduated 2024 non-target. First year out of school was in a tech growth strategy / corp dev role at a global enterprise company. Moved into a small-cap
IB analyst role in NYC in July 2025.

Since joining I've worked across private placements, PIPEs, convertibles, and structured equity, plus real execution work — modeling, diligence, CIMS, data rooms, investor materials, management interaction.
Also been on 2 M&A deals, which has been the most interesting part of the job.

The issue is the firm is small, deal flow is weak, and the work skews heavily toward healthcare and life sciences — which isn't a space I want to build a career in. I don't want to keep hopping - ideally I land somewhere I can get properly trained and stay 3+ years. Most interested in LevFin or M&A.

Questions:

1. Does corp dev to small-cap IB read coherently to BB/EB recruiters, or does the non-linear story work against me?
2. My deal mix skews equity/structured over credit
   — is LevFin realistic or should I focus on M&A laterals?
3. How are people sourcing lateral roles right now
   - headhunters, cold outreach, Linkedin?
4. Any and all tips welcome on what to do, I have also been looking at private markets advisory ju due to the hiring surge. Should I full throttle tha, V leave banking overall?

Graduated 2024 non-target. First year out of school was in a tech growth strategy / corp dev role at a global enterprise company. Moved into a small-cap IB analyst role in NYC in July 2025.

Since joining I’ve worked across private placements, PIPEs, convertibles, and structured equity, plus real execution work — modeling, diligence, CIMs, data rooms, investor materials, management interaction. Also been on 2 M&A deals, which has been the most interesting part of the job.

The issue is the firm is small, deal flow is weak, and the work skews heavily toward healthcare and life sciences — which isn’t a space I want to build a career in. I don’t want to keep hopping — ideally I land somewhere I can get properly trained and stay 3+ years. Most interested in LevFin or M&A.

Questions:
1. Does corp dev to small-cap IB read coherently to BB/EB recruiters, or does the non-linear story work against me?
2. My deal mix skews equity/structured over credit — is LevFin realistic or should I focus on M&A laterals?
3. How are people sourcing lateral roles right now — headhunters, cold outreach, LinkedIn?
4. Any and all tips welcome on what to do, I have also been looking at private markets advisory just due to the hiring surge. Should I full throttle that and leave banking overall?