Cowen Group Reviews in San Francisco, CA Area

Pros

Cowen pays above street for analysts. Lifestyle is reasonable for investment banking. Office is nice and there is access to senior management. Exit opportunities are pretty good, but mostly for middle market shops. Your experience really depends on the group you are in. Clearly some groups have a better work environment than others. Cowen has pretty good resources for a boutique and has a full range of IB, S&T, and research. Good place to start your career. Training is informative and fun. Not as arrogant as other shops. Same benefits as most banks, dinner allowances, taxis, etc. Analyst class is around 16 people.

Cons

Very little name recognition outside of the IB community. The company is over leveraged on equity financing, so they have been struggling as of late. Bonuses are expected to be way down this year. Some groups have bad lifestyles. Differences between NY and SF in terms of how they run the offices. Not much job security lately. There have been some layoffs. While not many people were layed off, relative to the total number of employees, it is significant. Morale is definitely down. Not sure what will happen to the boutique model in the future. Same goes for TWP, etc.

Advice to Senior Management

Senior management needs to boost morale around the office.

Pros

Competitive investment banking compensation vs. other banks

Cons

Typical I-Banking personalities at the firm

Advice to Senior Management

Focus more on revenue opportunities out there

Pros

small teams, lots of exposure to deal flow, very few senior guys with attitudes. fairly laid back for investment banking

Cons

typical downsides of any investment banks - long hours, unpredictable work flow, poor work/life balance

Advice to Senior Management

keep knocking on doors and finding deals