The first thing that you learn in investment banking is that, if you are going to pitch a client on some sort of deal, your bank is No. 1 in the league table for that sort of deal. If you are going to pitch a Ruritanian widget company on acquiring a Freedonian sprocket company for $1 billion, you are the top bank for that sort of deal. But what sort of deal? Depends! Maybe you are the No. 1 bank in global mergers and acquisitions year-to-date, or in the last 12 months, or in 2025, or in the 2020s. Or maybe you are the No. 1 bank in Ruritanian cross-border M&A. Maybe you are the No. 1 bank in Freedonian sprocket equity transactions. Maybe you are the No. 1 bank in asset sales between $850 million and $2 billion, or between $500 million and $1.1 billion. Excludes companies with controlling shareholders. Excludes financial sponsor transactions. Ranked by number of transactions. Ranked by equity value. Ranked by enterprise value. Ranked by target revenue.

You put together a list — the league table — showing how all the banks rank on your preferred metric, with you in first place and with a bland footnote explaining the universe of deals you considered. You become expert at “cutting” the league tables to make you look good. You find some set of transactions that includes (1) more transactions you did than anyone else and (2) the proposed transaction. This can be laborious, but it shouldn’t be hard. For any reasonably big bank, there is some way to define a set that works. Your job is to find the least embarrassing set, the one with the shortest and least stupid footnote.

I don’t know if this will persuade any clients to hire you, but it is excellent preparation for life.