Pros
I enjoyed my time at Equiteq working with a group of hardworking and talented individuals. You gain a lot of reps here and it forces you to get very good very quick. You often work directly with the MDs/Directors as a junior banker and get responsibilities that you wouldn’t get at other institutions at a given level and also get to experience some of the more advanced aspects of a deal, access to which is often restricted to senior bankers. There is also a lot of camaraderie among the team(particularly within the bullpen) and it’s easy to find support and mentorship for senior bankers. From what I’ve seen the benefits and infrastructure(HR, operations, etc) is unmatched for a firm of this size as well.
Cons
The firm is trying to take on larger deals and go upmarket which is great but it also leads to it taking on risky deals with a low probability of close, meaning you will work on many deals that don’t go anywhere(to be fair you still get credited for your work internally in these situations). The politics can be tough at Equiteq, and there is a lot of favouritism that goes on unchecked and unchallenged.