America's Growth Capital Reviews

Pros

- Lean firm, increased opportunities to take on additional responsibilities
- High deal flow (24 closed transactions in '11)
- Direct promotion to Associate (PM) for top performers
- Interesting sector coverage (technology focused)
- Well attended conferences (1 in Bos, 1 in SF) good for networking - exit opportunities
- Strong team of junior bankers
- New training program (Wall Street Prep)
- Weekly social outings

Cons

- Transaction amounts tend to be lower ($)
- Limited modeling as tech is less dependent on traditional valuation methods
- Impulsive C level executives
- Weekend hours policy
- Only recruit Ivy / NESCAC

Advice to Senior Management

The culture at AGC is generally what you are going to get at most boutique investment banks. There is clearly a "type" of candidate they are looking for when recruiting, either you fit the mold or you don't. In recent years turnover ratio has improved. My main recommendation would be to limit the busy work and try to focus the junior bankers on execution.

Pros

- Great team
- High Volume deal flow

Cons

- Limited Resources
- lack of formal training program

Advice to Senior Management

More formal and in depth training program

Pros

Great work experience, prepares you well for other finance jobs

Cons

Very little compensation as a summer analyst, however the experience is worth it

Pros

Learn a lot, good opportunity for entry into investment banking, decent people to work with.

Cons

Horrible hours, poor leadership and lack of respect from senior management, always understaffed and overworked, miserable work environment

Advice to Senior Management

Respect junior bankers more, get rid of ridiculous weekend hours policy, learn to value quality of work over hours worked.

Pros

One really cool colleague who helped me with leveraging my internship to land an offer at a respectable investment bank. Not sure if he's still there.

AGC's emerging growth tech conference. Free food and drinks. What better way to numb the pain of working at such a wasteland.

Cons

Elitist prep school-educated flame-outs from so-so colleges who, despite being unable to land gigs at real investment banks, still act like they walk on water. Banking is inherently grueling, but there's no reason to use every method at your disposal to remind interns how much "better" than them you are.

MDs ("partners," whatever) who don't even introduce themselves to you and get your name until a week after you start. I know interns and analysts are monkeys, but senior bankers should at least know their names.

Heard AGC's still paying that joke of a $500 monthly stipend, which nets out to about $450 after taxes. Looks like the pay for analysts is sub-$100K. Yikes.

America's Growth Capital -- what a stupid name. An "emerging growth" focused investment bank (i.e. an investment bank that gets the table scraps left over by the legit investment banks) outfits itself with such a hokey name. If only AGC's loyal few could see the looks on the faces of people at respected investment banks when I told them I interned there. "(eyebrow raise) Never heard of them." They can't even say the firm's name correctly. "American Growth Capital."

Stupid attempts at reinforcing a "partner-owned" culture. Are associates still called "project managers?" Is it still taboo to say, "pitchbook?"

Non-existent training. "Figure it out."

Flame-out partners who can't bring in business and instead throw their weight around by putting their associates and analysts on pitches that have zero chance of becoming a deal.

Advice to Senior Management

Invest more in your junior bankers and interns. Train them. No more periodic TTS calls. It's too rudimentary for what's needed on the job.

Pay your junior bankers and interns more.

Change that hideous name.

Pros

Lots of small deals, office is centrally-located in Boston, ability to communicate with clients from very early on, impressive collection of Phish shows on the gym's drive

Cons

A reverse-pyramid organizational structure (as many or more partners than junior bankers combined) that leads to in-fighting among partners for junior staff, very poor communication from the firm's top management, extraordinarily high turnover, few experienced junior bankers, lack of a formal training program, junior bankers are under-trained in relevant financial concepts, poor pay/incentives, zero work-life balance, unyielding senior management that refuses to change long-standing internal processes and therefore compromises efficiency, virtually non-existent Human Resources department, limited access to necessary research databases, and an overarching culture of fear and distrust. The Company picks up "cigar butts" of tech deals.

Advice to Senior Management

Increase the junior banking team and implement (and make a significant financial investment in) a legitimate training program. Revamp the intern program to provide a salary and a realistic view of the firm's operations and in turn, attract more impressive candidates. Stop hiring new partners.

Pros

Nice office. That's about it.

Cons

High turnover. No one lasts very long. The pay is horrible.

Advice to Senior Management

The partners should close a deal once in a while and stop blaming it on the analysts.

Pros

Good place to work- lots to learn

Cons

Typical IBD hours eve though it is a boutique firm

Advice to Senior Management

Increase IBD junior bankers

Pros

You'll learn a lot of different skills while there. By the time you leave you should be very skilled in such things as excel and market research.

Cons

Long hours, barely any pay, often stuck doing busy work and cold calling so management doesn't have to waste their time. Unless you went to an ivy school or have family within the company, don't expect to be hired nor will anyone help you with contacts in finding a new job.

Advice to Senior Management

The interns need to be paid more, and actually respected. You need to develop your intern program or get rid of it entirely.

Pros

Good deal flow and ability to interact with a lot of management teams early on

Cons

Poor pay package, too much micromanagement, lack of communication, extremely high turnover, lack of exposure to significant modeling exercises

Advice to Senior Management

Need to rethink business model and compensate appropriately and provide a real training program