Coffee Chats: A Primer

A coffee chat is a fifteen to thirty minute conversation with a banker. Casual in tone, evaluative in function. Treat it as an interview no matter how it was framed. That is the part people get wrong in both directions. Some show up stiff and over-rehearsed. Others hear "coffee" and show up with nothing. What is actually happening is simpler. First rounds go to candidates someone inside is pushing, and that push starts on this call. You are on it to do four things. Collect intelligence you will reuse later, turn the banker into an ally, form your own read on the group, and leave with the name of the next person to talk to. What we'll cover: - What a coffee chat is for, and the four things you are there to do - Why the first five minutes carry more weight than the rest - Tuning your questions to an analyst versus a VP or an MD - The two kinds of questions that land badly, and what to ask instead - What kills a call, including the topics to stay off - Ending on the ask, and how one chat becomes the next two Part of a six part run on IB recruiting, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Each one stands alone, so jump in anywhere. I'm the founder of OFFERGOBLIN and ex-Centerview tech.