YouSaid · the spoken record

Melissa Smith

lines on the record: 70
first: 2025-02-27
most recent: 2025-02-27
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

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“Absolutely. And again, we have teams focused on the smaller size, what we call emerging middle markets. So think about that as kind of 20 million to 100 million in top line revenue. Innovation economy doing the high growth VC backed startups and then a bunch of different industries, obviously within kind of that broader commercial banking universe and bankers that are focused simply on 100 million and plus in top line revenue.”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Exactly. You said it perfectly, and as I often like to say, we serve companies from startup to IPO and beyond. And so, you know, again, we believe we're really one of the few firms who can actually serve every need of these companies. And again, they're the founders themselves.”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“When companies need, obviously, excuse me, strategic capital raising, MA advisory, whatever the case may be. So we're constantly kind of working in conjunction with one another. And at the same time, we are often working with our asset management colleagues when companies have large cash balances that they need to invest and our private banking colleagues. And I think a good example of that is within the innovation economy kind of ecosystem overall, where because it is so interconnected when you think about VC firms funding portfolio companies, those portfolio companies having founders, oftentimes they're repeat founders. It's important that you can serve sort of the needs of that entire, very interconnected ecosystem.”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I would say just generally we collaborate across the firm in everything that we do. So the commercial bank just very broadly speaking, regardless of industry, regardless of what aspect of the commercial bank we're talking about, we're constantly working with our partners in the investment bank.”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The great benefit of that is again, we sort of pride ourselves on being kind of financing our product agnostic, right? We can do a traditional bank loan, we can do sort of a sort of, you know, public execution in the public debt markets, or we can do a direct lending transaction, sort of whatever best fits the company's objectives, we can sort of do it all.”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely two really important trends. So I would say so within the innovation economy, to your point, a lot of the companies tend to be VC backed, but there definitely is growing sort of crossover into growth equity funds. I think in the middle market commercial banking business as a whole, there has been a ton of activity from the financial sponsor community. So a ton of consolidation of those middle market businesses. And when you just look at sort of the levels of activity, like what are sponsors buying, it is within that middle market space. So that has definitely driven a lot of activity overall and something that we spend a lot of time talking about with our clients. And then secondly, to your point on the private credit direct lending side, that also has been just a massive trend impacting sort of that part of the business with these companies looking for alternative sources of capital and direct lending being a great alternative. That's in fact why we as a firm sort of developed our own direct lending capability a couple years ago. And I think that”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Kind of umbrella term to describe tech early stage tech life sciences health tech climate tech businesses Which are generally speaking high growth VC backed businesses overall”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Sure. So, our specialized industries business sits within our middle market business. And just to define that, middle market sort of means in the commercial banking, right? So anything from kind of a very early stage startup to a company that's up to $2 billion in top line revenue. So kind of a very wide, wide remit, if you will. About half of that business is the industry business that I run. So I have 19 different industry teams. So bankers that are experts in those specific industries to provide obviously coverage to clients in those industries. And I would just say, I mean, we are just a big believer in the better coverage and better that we can much better serve a client when our bankers have that expertise in terms of the industry. So we're kind of very big believers in industry expertise and kind of hyper segmentation in terms of covering companies at different stages and sizes in their life cycle. So 19 different industries, innovation economy is basically a part of that. And we use that innovation economy.”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Quote JP Morgan, first class business in a first class way. We take that very seriously and just appreciated that about the environment.”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Sure. So, first, I would say you will actually find many senior people at JPMorgan who have been there for 20 years plus. And I think that is obviously a great testament to the culture that we have at the firm. Secondly, I would say JP Morgan is a large place, clearly. And what that means is there are multiple lines of business with many different things that you can do over the course of your career. And generally speaking, we are sort of number one or number two in everything that we do, which again is a great privilege to work there from that perspective. So it doesn't make a lot of sense to go necessarily to another firm when you're sort of trading down, if you will, in some instances. Maybe I shouldn't say it that way. And so I think what's kept me there is, you know, A, just the opportunity to do many different things, learn about many other aspects of the business. And two, you know, obviously, you know, very much appreciate kind of the culture and environment that J.P. Morgan kind of back to. That's why people stay there for so long. It's a very teamwork oriented environment. You know, we like.”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Sometimes they sort of look at you because they're busy and you sort of get this feeling, you know, get out of my face. What do you want? So I think it was an interesting experience because you have to kind of, you know, gain some credibility with them and, you know, ask insightful questions, show that you have some sort of use. So I thought it was a great way to kind of like grow up and learn about the business. But again, was in DCM for 16 years, including three years that I was in London running our European debt capital markets business.”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, was in a deck happen orgas? I like to say I grew up in debt capital markets, which as an aside, I think that was such a great experience because in DCM, you're sitting on the trading floor, right? I loved being in that environment because I think it fosters learning so much more quickly. I literally sat next to the managing director that I worked for and listened on all the client calls and sort of you understand much more quickly how to handle specific situations. I also, it's sort of an interesting dynamic where you're on the private side on the origination side talking to corporate clients and advising them about their next debt raise or their funding needs. But you have to spend a lot of time with the traders who are trading the bonds in the public markets and they're obviously on the public side. So you're sort of walled off, right? But then you'd have to go over on to talk to the traders. And sometimes you'd walk over there and you need information from them, but they can't give you any information. And so you'd walk over there.”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I started in public finance, which is back to that's why they were recruiting on the policy. So, taxes and bonds force municipalities I did that for about a year and a half, two years, and then I moved into debt capital markets for corporates. So kind of an easy transition, taxes and bonds to corporate bonds. And then I spent, you know, the majority of my earlier career with the first 16 years of my career in the investment bank in debt capital markets.”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Again, did not have a grand plan. At the time that I was in policy school at Chicago, JP Morgan's public finance team recruited specifically at the policy school, just back to, it was this, you know, very kind of quantitatively based. And so kind of randomly went to the interview to be quite honest. And did well, was offered a role sort of back to my earlier point, kind of thought it was good to get some private sector credibility on my resume, learn something new. And I think probably as anybody coming out of either undergrad or grad school thinks, you know, oh, I'll go do this for five years and sort of see where that leads me. And lo and behold, you know, I've been at JP Morgan to your point 20 plus years now.”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Really physical in any way that any other athletics are with the added sort of thing on top, which is the whole point of ballet is to make it look effortless. There's no grunting down the basketball court or the football court, right? So it takes the same amount of strength, but you add the control of your body on top of that to make it look effortless. And that's why sort of the athleticism is very unique. But it was an incredible experience and I felt very lucky at a young age to have something that I was so passionate about. Not everybody sort of has that in their lives at an early age.”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, it was an amazing experience in that it teaches you such a huge amount of discipline and takes determination, perseverance, and kind of grit. You know, just back to their very few people who sort of make it. You are in a sort of a siloed world because all you do every day is dance is kind of how I would describe it. And I would also say, you know, I can have this debate with people all day long. I think there is no greater form of athlete than a dancer. To your point, it is grueling on one's body.”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And so while I was good enough to be in a small company, I was not going to be an ABT and I didn't want to totally give up my education. And so that's why I stopped.”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Definitely not. So, yes, I started taking ballet at a very early age. That was my original career aspirations. Starting in seventh grade, my poor mother drove me 120 miles round trip every day to Washington, D.C. to go to ballet, where I was from a sort of left school early at noon, kind of got home at nine or ten at night every night. And so, you know, quite frankly, my parents were sick of driving me. So I graduated from high school a year early in order to dance and sort of continue my dance training and then dance professionally before I went to college. And my, again, my aspiration was to just continue dancing professionally. As you may or may not be aware, very few people obviously sort of make it in that world.0001% are ever going to be in ABT, which is sort of the pinnacle in the U.S. American Belly The”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I also wanted to make sure that I was going somewhere that would really leverage the quantitative skills that I was acquiring at Chicago. And I also thought it'd be a really good idea to be able to pay off my undergrad and grad school loans.”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I definitely thought that I was going to work in the public sector. When Recruiting at JP Morgan. I always get the question sort of how did you get into investment banking? And I would love to tell people I had a grand plan. I didn't really have a grand plan My policy degree was at University of Chicago, so it was very heavy econ in stats and basically the same core curriculum as the business school. My summer in between, I worked for Mayor Daly in Chicago on economic development issues. And as I was doing that, I sort of decided it would be even more interesting to come to the public sector at a more senior level.”
2025-02-27 · Masters in Business · JPMorgan’s Melissa Smith on Middle Market Banking · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source