David Lipman

Hey, I’m Dave.  I joined Bain in 2004 as a summer associate, which is our summer intern program, and decided to rejoin full-time in 2005. I spend my time mostly in our Telecom, Media & Technology practice, as well as in our Private Equity Group.

The stuff that I like to do most, and part of the reason I spend so much time at the intersection of technology and private equity, is talking to the market, talking to customers, understanding how products are really used, how a company is really perceived vs. its competitors. Some of my favorite moments in my project work are when the most junior members of the team, who have been out there talking to customers, come back and turn the perspective of a business or a market on its head.

I can think of a couple specific occasions when we’ve had readouts with a CEO of a business. CEOs often don’t spend as much time talking to their customers, so they have less of that firsthand understanding. We deliver our findings and the CEO looks at me and says, “Well, that can’t be true. Let me call in my head of sales or my regional sales lead.” The regional sales lead or the salesperson comes in, the one who actually does spend more time talking to customers. The CEO will look them in the eye and say, “Can this possibly be true?” I’ve never heard a “no” to that question. 

On another project, I had a chance to go to Paris. I spent a lot of time there, meeting some great people and seeing how work is done in Paris, and also exploring museums and the countryside around the city. It is a great way to see a lot of sights and travel. If that’s what you’d like to do, there’s certainly plenty of opportunity!

The other role that I’ve really enjoyed taking on in recent years is leading our recruiting at MIT Sloan. It’s been a great way for me to stay in touch with the campus and the community and also help a lot of great folks find their way to Bain.