Final round and the business case

Best practice — the pitch

Most firms want the same four things whatever they call the document: who you are, what you would go after, what you need from them, and what could go wrong. The quarter-by-quarter ramp is where credibility is won or lost.

• Who you are. Positioning in two lines, the differentiator, where you are based and how you travel. Background, not the case — candidates routinely spend half the pitch here and run out of room for the part that decides it.
• The opportunity you would go after. Named clients where you can, the buying centre, and which relationships are warm today versus historical. Be honest about which is which; overclaiming here is checked, and it is checked by people who know those clients.
• What you need from them. Sponsorship, delivery bench, international access, a named partner to sell alongside. Asking for nothing does not read as low-maintenance — it reads as not having thought it through.
• What could go wrong, and how you would manage it. Ramp time without your current brand behind you, a sector gap, integration with the team already there. This is the easiest section to differentiate on because most candidates leave it thin.
• Put a quarter-by-quarter ramp on a page. Not a total. First opportunity, likely buyer, rough size, which quarter. Credibility in this document is won or lost on whether a first project can plausibly land early in year one.
• Build it with your sponsor where the firm allows it. A case built jointly with the partner who wants you hired lands better than a solo effort, because it has already been calibrated to arguments that work inside that firm.
• Split your focus in percentages. Sector, function, geography. It forces precision and it is how they will describe you to each other after you leave the room.

Your due diligence

Senior hires fail on politics and role mismatch far more often than on competence, so diligence the sponsor, the peer group and the situation you are actually inheriting — not just the revenue target.

What you need to know before you can responsibly accept. Ask now — after the offer these questions carry a different weight.

Market insight

A written case is now standard for partner hires from outside the direct competitor set, and the near-term revenue number is the part that gets tested.

• A written case is now standard for partner hires from outside the direct competitor set. Where a candidate comes from an obvious direct competitor it is often waived or handled as a conversation. Where it is asked for and refused, processes stop — some firms will not progress a partner candidate without one, however strong.
• The usual ask is revenue at nine, eighteen and twenty-four months, or a Q1–Q4 ramp. The near-term number is the credibility test. Anyone can put a large figure on year three.
• Origination expectations vary widely, and the same nominal target can mean very different things. They depend on firm, on level, and on whether revenue is single- or multi-counted. Do not anchor on a market number — ask what the bar is and how credit is counted. Treat any figure you are given as directional until someone puts it in writing.
• Equity contribution is normal in European partnerships, and the amount varies materially between firms. Reluctance to contribute capital is usually read as reluctance to carry risk, which is the core of the partner model. Ask early what the contribution is and what the leaver terms are, get both in writing, and decide where you stand before it is asked.
• Partner-level references are frequently former clients, not colleagues. You may be asked for two or three client-side referees. Line them up early; that call is awkward to make at short notice.
• Expect one to two weeks of internal approval after the decision. The verbal yes and the paper offer are not the same day, and rarely the same week.

What not to do

Do not negotiate here, do not hedge on travel or location, and do not claim a relationship you could not pick up the phone to.

• Don’t negotiate here. Signal that the shape works and that you want the seat. The terms conversation is cleaner, and stronger for you, once they have decided they want you.
• Don’t hedge on travel or location. A clear position, even a restrictive one, beats a vague one. Vagueness here is remembered as a risk; a stated limit is just a fact to plan around.
• Don’t claim a relationship you cannot pick up the phone to. At this stage they check, sometimes by calling. One overstated relationship discredits the whole document.
• Don’t ask what you could have researched. By the final round it is not a gap in preparation, it is a signal about how you will show up to a client.
• Don’t leave the risk section as a formality. "The main risk is that I’m too ambitious" is not a risk. They have heard it, and it costs you the one section where honesty is genuinely rewarded.