Hi there!
A little background about me: Bio major pre-med/dental in undergraduate. Currently in a masters program for bio again- will graduate in 2017. Decided to switch to finance earlier this year. Unsure if my masters in bio will help or hurt if i do end up going into equity research (guess I'm pretty much struck with healthcare equity research? :/)
I'm currently doing an unpaid internship in venture capital with a VERY early stage company (they only have partners, no employees). So part of my job is to cold call other early stage companies to get them interested in us (setting up intro meetings with their CEO).
So I would always cold-call other companies and ASK FOR THEIR CEO -_____- like this:
Hi I'm an investment analyst calling from XXX, we are interested in your company blah blah blah May I please speak with the CEO?
Obviously Im not getting much positive responses. I guess I do kinda sound like a kid on the phone and maybe the other companies think the calls aren't legitimate.
But I was told that cold-calling is a valuable experience as an ex-equity research analyst (sell-side) once told me that a major part of his job involves cold-calling and making different pitches for different people.
Is it really true? How much cold-calling do Equity Research Analysts do? I'm somewhat new to finance so Im pretty much open to all areas (investment banking, equity research, consulting). But I'm just wondering how much cold calling do they really have to do. I suck at it (i know i should just try to get better at this) but I don't tthink i would really enjoy it.
On a side note, I find this VC internship to be very boring. Im mostly researching some early stage healthcare companies (trying to research their competitors and compile a list) and cold-calling/cold-emailing other new start ups. Im not doing anything with the stock market
Does it sound like what equity research analysts would do?
What career paths would you guys recommend for someone who's interested in the stock market?
Keep in mind that I'm a bio major (haven't taken math in years so i guess quant trading is out of the question?)
Thanks!