I was a finance guy back when banking was a respectable trade
Robertson Stephens and Lehman Brothers between 1998 and 2006. What the banker signs and never sees, told by someone who later had to live it from inside.
I started in investment banking at Robertson Stephens in 1998 and left Lehman Brothers in 2006. Along the way I executed three initial public offerings, three bond issues and twelve mergers and acquisitions. What I learned afterwards, as an operator, is that a financial model that survives an IPO does not survive an ordinary Monday inside the company that was bought.
It is the line I introduce myself with when somebody asks where I come from, and I say it with the irony intact. I was a finance guy back when banking was a respectable trade.
Robertson Stephens, London, telecoms and technology. Then Lehman Brothers, first in London and later in Madrid, on the mergers and acquisitions team. Three public offerings, among them Wavecom on the Nouveau Marché and two more with equity valuations above two billion dollars. Three bond issues. Twelve transactions, from distressed disposals up to one of two and a half billion.
That is what the résumé says. What it does not say is the following.
What the banker signs and never sees
A banker delivers a closing. He delivers the price, the structure, the contract and the press release, and the next day he is on another deal. His job ends where the job of whoever stays begins.
I closed deals for eight years and then sat on the other side of the table. That is where I learned what you cannot see from the bank: integration does not fail in the model. It fails on the Tuesday, with two sales teams that hate each other, two systems that will not talk, and a customer calling in whom nobody can claim.
The financial model of an acquisition is correct. The first Monday inside the acquired company appears in no cell of it.
I arrived as the finance guy and ended up running it
At Panda Security I came in as chief financial officer in 2006 and moved to chief executive in 2008. I stayed until 2011, with operations in sixty-three countries, and the group bought thirteen companies over those five years.
That change of chair is the part I recommend to anyone coming out of finance. Two years signing a company's accounts teach you how it breathes. Running it teaches you that the accounts were the summary, and that whatever decided the quarter happened in a conversation nobody wrote down.
Thirteen acquisitions in five years do not integrate with a model. They integrate with people who remember to call each other.
What I bring to a board
Two things, and both come from having sat in both chairs.
The first is that I know which questions the fund's analyst asks on day two, because I have asked them. And I know the one that kills a process is almost never about valuation: it is the number that shows up differently in two documents from the same folder.
The second is that I do not confuse closing with achieving. A closing is permission to start working.
- Juan Santana executed three IPOs, three bond issues and twelve M&A transactions in investment banking between 1998 and 2006, at Robertson Stephens and Lehman Brothers. (Juan Santana's CV, August 2026)
- One of those IPOs was Wavecom on the Nouveau Marché; two carried equity valuations above USD 2bn, and the largest M&A transaction reached USD 2.5bn. (same source)
- At Panda Security he was chief financial officer from 2006 and chief executive from 2008 until 2011. The group integrated 13 companies in five years, with operations in 63 countries. (same source)
Frequently asked
What changes between executing a deal and living it inside the company?
The banker delivers the closing and moves to the next one. The operator keeps the following Monday, where the problem is not the structure but two teams that will not talk and a customer who does not know who to call. None of that appears in the model.
Is moving from finance into general management worth it?
It is worth it to stop confusing the accounts with the business. Signing the accounts teaches you how a company breathes; running it teaches you that whatever decided the quarter happened in a conversation nobody wrote down. I recommend the change of chair to anyone coming out of finance.
What is banking experience good for on a board today?
For knowing what the analyst asks on day two of a process, and for preparing the company before opening it. The question that kills a round is almost never the one about valuation: it is the number that does not match between two documents.
Who writes this
Juan Santana. Investor and independent director. Law at the University of Navarra and an MBA from IESE. Investment banking at Robertson Stephens and Lehman Brothers, then general management at Panda Security, Groupalia, Plenummedia and Publicar / Guru. Founding investor in seventeen companies since 2011, six sold and four closed.
The full profile, with the portfolio and the countries, is at Flight JS54.