Hard to say based on just the titles, but the corporate planning role might be best depending on what it consists of (Budgeting/forecasting? Something else?). The problem is that none of those is great for getting into VC/PE in most cases because you need something with more transaction experience. So, if that is your goal, yes, a boutique bank would still be better.

No, we don’t, but the main difference in terms of corporate finance at public vs. private companies is that you spend more time on regulations, audits, and quarterly presentation of results at public companies. At private companies, those points are less important, especially if the company is closely held, but you may spend more time on fundraising or issues related to stock-based compensation employees (e.g., at a tech startup). Instead of thinking about it in terms of public vs. private, it’s better to think of it in terms of the *type* and *maturity stage* of the company you want to target. Working in CF at a F100 company will be completely different from working in CF at a 100-person private tech startup.

Do you have any articles comparing what it’s like to work for a private vs a public company? Specifically, I’m considering moving from equity research at an investment bank into corporate strategy / corporate finance, but am not sure about whether I should target public or private companies.

Thanks!

Yes, they’re probably quite similar. For getting into VC, strategy could work, but it’s probably not as good as other options such as IB, consulting, or even product management or business development at a tech company. VCs generally want people who know deals (for later-stage funds) or tech/sales/customers (for earlier-stage ones). Strategy is sometimes a bit too high-level to appeal to VCs, but some people do break in from there.

Maybe in the next 1-2 months. With spinning your experience, the #1 rule is to not exaggerate easily-verifiable information, such as your job title or employment dates. Also, make sure that each bullet has at least a partial basis in reality. For example, you can’t make up a deal you never worked on, but you can take a deal where you did only qualitative work and then expand it and say that you also built a model, even if you did so on your own time and not because your boss told you to.

I have a commercial strategy interview coming up and was wondering if this role and corporate strategy have any similarities. I want to be able to go into a VC so I was wondering if this will help me towards that goal.

Thanks.