Achint Parmanandka | Goldman Sachs

Achint is currently part of the Investment Banking team at Goldman Sachs. He was previously at  Avendus Capital. Prior to joining Avendus, he interned with the Investment Banking team at Credit Suisse. Achint holds an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, B.Com. from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata and is a Chartered Accountant. He will be sharing his experience from his stints at CS and Avendus focusing on sharing insights about the Investment Banking industry in India.

Interview

How did you recruit for this role? What would your advice be for potential candidates aspiring to get here? (recruiting strategy, cycle, process etc.)

What are the key skills that are required for this role?

Ability to put in long hours daily, passion to work in IB & close deals, patience, eagerness to learn and attention to detail.

What is the typical feeder profile (typical previous work experience) for this industry in general and for your firm in particular?

As mentioned earlier, most of the people would be MBA graduates from IIMA/B/C. Avendus hires from IIML, XLRI and a couple of other Institutes too. Work experience before MBA matters only to the extent of getting a shortlist and hence this could be quite varying. One can expect to find a Fresher Civil engineer from IIM A and also a Chartered Accountant with 2 years pre-MBA experience in FDD in EY TAS from IIM C in Avendus or in any other IB firm.

What is your total team size and what is the typical team staffing on a case/deal?

I am yet to join as a permanent employee in Avendus, but from my experience in CS as an intern, I recount total strength of CS front end IBD team to be close to 20 folks including 2 MDs. A typical deal might include 1 person at all levels ~ 5.

What is a typical day at work for you?

A typical day at work includes preparing pitch decks, attending client/investor calls, brainstorming sessions with teams, benchmarking industries, conducting valuation exercises and on top of everything Googling, a lot.

8. What is the typical exit that people get from this role?

PE/ VC Exits.

What are the pros and cons about this role?

Pros – 1. Meeting smart minds on a daily basis 2. Steep learning curve 3. Opportunity to be a part of deals that bring about huge impacts 4. Financially appealing industry

Cons – 1. Very long work hours 2. May remain restricted to financing aspect of an industry and not get hands on exposure to Operational/ Marketing/ HR areas, i.e. overall business understanding.

What are your typical work hours in a week (including weekends)?

Really Bad. Goes upto 16-17 hrs per weekday. Weekend hours vary across firms. In CS, there weekend hrs per day was ~

How do the responsibilities evolve as one grows in this industry into senior roles?

In the initial phase, work hours is more and one is more hands on with the PPTs/ Excels. As one matures in the organization, role shifts towards managing tasks as a project leader and they are expected to get clients as well. To summarize, ideation is crucial for senior roles and execution for junior ones. However, a few tasks remain restricted to senior roles, including presenting pitches, attending road shows etc.

What would be your advice for people aspiring for a similar role?

Having the passion to learn and grow is the key mantra