Associates who have realized PE is not the promised land, what's next?
Just finished my first year in PE. I realized fairly quickly that the lifestyle was not for me but wanted to give it a full year before making any judgment. Unsurprisingly nothing has changed and I know I need to get out at some point.
Current plan is to push through until December to collect another bonus. After that, I have no idea.
Tempted by a strategy type role at a corporate (easier life, big pay cut) or moving to a smaller / earlier-stage fund (hopefully keep a decent salary but how different would it really be?).
Curious to see what everyone else is planning.
Go to an LP
Or you can do Investor Relations at a PE fund or MF. Decent money but still a meaningful pay cut
How much of a paycut would you be taking, and what're the hours like?
I DO NOT recommend moving to PE IR post PE if the only reason you don’t like it is the hours. I moved from an investment team role to an IR role, hated it after 2 days, then recruited immediately after to go to another PE firm on the investment team.
from personal experience (who has also been struggling with the ‘what’s next’), IR will not give you any intellectual stimulation that you had with a traditional investing role. While the comp in my experience was in line, it was so boring / miserable relative to an investing role which will make you just as unhappy as you currently are probably. IR is just answering LP questions and there is 0 thoughtfulness behind it. Thought I had wanted something less stimulating but IR is a totally different level.
hours during fundraising are still (in my experience) like 50-60 hours / week
why you don't enjoy it? is the reason solely the hours or something more?
Hours is the main thing, along with the complete inability to ever switch off and the stress that comes with that.
I also just don’t give enough of a fuck compared to the rest of my team. My goal each day is to do my work to a reasonable standard and get home at a decent time. If I get a 5 min break, I’d rather chat about weekend plans than discuss opinions on a random deal someone brought to IC last week.
I want to work with normal, reasonable people who understand that work is just work. Hours wise, I think ~50-55/week is probably the sweet spot for me - I’d like 8h sleep a night, an hour for the gym, time to cook dinner and spend a bit of time each evening relaxing. I'd also love to be able to take vacation knowing it's unlikely I'll have to work most of the time.
I feel this, deal sprints are literal hell and I end up working similar hours to banking but with more mentally painful work. Weirdly, everyone I work with seems to accept their life consists of work, eating at the office and sleeping sub 6 hours with the occasional night drinking. On the flip side, the economy in the last 3 years has ensured anyone without an inheritance will have a very difficult time getting ahead. The lifestyle you had in a corp Dev role 10 years ago is better than what PE affords you now.
I'm just going to go until I literally can't and then move to corp Dev eventually.
Also isn't it so ridiculous that what you've asked for is literally the lifestyle people get in prisons? (Aside from vacations)
Got me top 10 craziest comment ….comparing a job in PE to being incarcerated
Fwiw dont think taking it to the point of total failure is a good idea. I told myself this too and it took a brief period of downtime/vacation to realize how messed up my mind was. So I decided to cut it early.
maybe not ideal but mentally already in a much better place
Have you met our Lord & Savior known as Private Credit??
Fuck me I am in the same spot
Same position. Secondaries roles and growth equity both top of mind. Corp dev is interesting but the paycut is much more meaningful. Feels increasingly like more and more PE associates realize the grind isn’t worth it
Is secondaries similar pay to traditional buyout?
Yeah pay is basically the same at any of the big players until you hit VP then just slightly less carry given the 12.5% instead of 20.0% in buyout (mitigated by less people in carry pool but still a bit of a haircut)
Same here. When you’ve already died in IB with multiple 80-100 hour weeks, body can only take so much of the same in PE for so long unless you’re truly passionate and love it (and I don’t think I am). Thinking of maybe doing public markets investing for lesser hours but probably will end up being similar.
Following
Looking back, I would say around 70% of my friends are still in the industry at either the same funds they started at or a lateral to similar funds. For the other 30%, the exits are all over the map, but the most common are moving to growth equity (from buyout), hedge funds, LP (endowment / family office etc.), starting their own smaller fund, working for a family business, senior management at a portfolio company, start-ups, and management positions at large tech (Meta/Alphabet etc.).
Any regrets on staying in?
No. You still work harder than most professions at the senior level, but you do get a lot more flexibility / control over your schedule at some point. It really comes down to if you genuinely enjoy the job and the people.
Thank you for the comment - in your eyes, do you think associates will still stay in PE in such high numbers? 70% is higher than I’d expect
Going to B school and planning on going into portfolio ops. Investing is hella boring imo, and while the money is good, it’s not meaningfully different to make me want to stay there.
Think I'm gonna grind it out and try to get the 3rd year / Senior Aso. nod, so kicking the can down the road a bit lol. Don't hate it enough to call it quits yet.
PortCo life is an option -- calculus involves fit / people / sponsor / realistic chance of the company succeeding
Business school
Shit advice
I went from a bad culture PE form to work at the Director level at a growth stage technology company. I've really enjoyed it.
Within the first month or two I was able to do some strategic M&A that led to successful business development opportunities with limited/no oversight.
Point being: having autonomy (predicated on being successful) has made me happy. I have schedule control to be able to see friends, workout, etc. Sometimes I choose to grind like in PE, but I don't have to, which is what matters.
My cash comp is a 40% haircut, which I don't appreciate. I feel good about living a good private school / nice home / nice vacations life with my nest egg and current compensation. I am, on a scale from 0-10, at least 4 points happier directly because of the job switch.
What type of company did you target (size / maturity etc.)? Any advice for others on how to find a similar role
Do you mind sharing the level you left PE and current comp?
Outdated title , 3rd year assoc at a MM in SoCal going to early stage renewables VC. hours will be nothing compared to this hell
Marlin wasn't fun huh
Not in PE but interned at MBB, a couple of our EMs and consultants had PE backgrounds but they also worked in primarily our PE practice and had probably the worst hours of any other projects at the office. Have heard that consulting firms with a PE practice do look highly on buy-side experience as you obviously would interface with the client a lot better
My G leaving PE to get into the PE practice of MBB has got to be the dumbest move ever
lol
several reasons that make that move compelling, including higher probability of promotion at MBB than most funds, lower exposure to portfolio management (which can suck once you actually try it and get out of the bubble of WSO analysts clamoring for it), and better hours despite still being an intense gig
Entrepreneurship through acquisition seems cool.
SWF. Or maybe special sits HF
Yeah, like I'm dying to move to Doha
If you find investing interesting, based on the lifestyle goals you’re describing LO could be an option.
50-60hr weeks (mostly 50), good pay, generally friendlier/nicer people than PE and the work is much more self-directed than PE. Like, my PMs basically don’t monitor or care how I spend my day as long as I bring ideas to them every once in a while and keep them updated on my positions.
To be successful you have to find public markets investing interesting but for context, I have an incredibly flexible schedule, never work on weekends (though often will read about my coverage/ideas I’m working on), and the WLB overall is very sustainable. It’s not as cushy as a corporate job but it also pays way more than those and has less office politics. Can take vacation and not worry about it.
How do you recruit for LO’s? Through headhunters?
Also, LO typically requires an MBA, no? Especially since PE candidates won't have the CFA typically
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