Tool 道具 · Role comparator
Compare the paths
Choose up to three roles. Compare the work, training, schedule control, interview focus, and main tradeoffs.
| Field | Investment banking | Private equity |
|---|---|---|
| What the team does | Advises companies on acquisitions, sales, financing, and capital raising. | Buys or invests in companies, monitors them, exits the investment. |
| Typical junior tasks | Research, model updates, presentations, checking numbers across documents. | Screen deals, build LBO models, run diligence, write IC material. |
| Core technical skills | Accounting · valuation · spreadsheet discipline · writing | Business judgment · downside analysis · debt & returns modeling |
| Schedule control | Low control — deadlines move with the deal. | Low-to-medium — diligence sprints compress weeks. |
| Common interview work | Accounting, valuation, and deal walk-throughs. | Paper LBOs, deal experience, investment judgment. |
| Main risk of choosing for the wrong reason | Choosing for prestige when the daily work is revision-heavy production. | Recruiting is narrow, fast, and inconsistent; junior work stays process-heavy. |
RESULTBased on your answers, Investment banking is the closest match on work type. That isn't a recommendation. Read the tradeoffs and complete one sample task before applying.
Investment banking
- What the team does
- Advises companies on acquisitions, sales, financing, and capital raising.
- Typical junior tasks
- Research, model updates, presentations, checking numbers across documents.
- Core technical skills
- Accounting · valuation · spreadsheet discipline · writing
- Schedule control
- Low control — deadlines move with the deal.
- Common interview work
- Accounting, valuation, and deal walk-throughs.
- Main risk of choosing for the wrong reason
- Choosing for prestige when the daily work is revision-heavy production.
Private equity
- What the team does
- Buys or invests in companies, monitors them, exits the investment.
- Typical junior tasks
- Screen deals, build LBO models, run diligence, write IC material.
- Core technical skills
- Business judgment · downside analysis · debt & returns modeling
- Schedule control
- Low-to-medium — diligence sprints compress weeks.
- Common interview work
- Paper LBOs, deal experience, investment judgment.
- Main risk of choosing for the wrong reason
- Recruiting is narrow, fast, and inconsistent; junior work stays process-heavy.
Based on your answers, Investment banking is the closest match on work type. That isn't a recommendation.
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A clipping is your record of a decision in progress — the two or three paths you are actually weighing, with the tradeoff you must accept written next to each. Keep it, revisit it, or bring it to the community for critique.