Life after 2 years in Private Equity
Hey guys, so I know a lot of what bankers do these days is 2 years in banking, 2 in PE and then 2 for MBA, but what comes after? (assuming of course we are disregarding the people that just stay in banking after the 2 years, and the ones who are lucky enough to make VP in PE and stay on as well).
What happens at this point after the MBA?
They do whatever they want? The "track" ends there. Go do PE, go to industry?
They take responsibility for their career and figure things out.
Your life, and your career, is not a boat being taken through "It's a Small World After All". It's an aircraft, and you're the pilot. For the first 28 years of your life, there was a procedure to get the plane launched, and then you had to fly in the traffic pattern, but now you exit it and go wherever-- you make your own decisions about your career and take responsibility for them.
I can assure you that at some point in our early careers-- typically a few years into your first job out of college but sometimes further down if there's a set career track-- a lot of people will have an existential crisis. They realize that they're out of the pattern, they're flying the plane, nobody else is, and they're responsible for figuring out where the plane is going to go. And it can be a little intimidating.
I recommend flying the plane somewhere warm, with water, that you haven't been before. The Florida Keys? Baja? Either way, you'll figure it out.
Totally fair, and that makes sense. I guess what I'm asking more is what are maybe three of the biggest exits in terms of the largest percentage of people who did the tracks are now going into?
I can't give you top 3, but I can give you a few more specific avenues than what has been mentioned so far.
PE: People that do PE pre MBA tend to try and go back post MBA. Because PE is so selective and most firms really only take people if they have a background in PE, Pre MBA PE associates have the best chances to get back into these roles.
Corp Dev: Corporate development within a specific business/company. This could be categorized as industry and is usually the easiest landing spot for a traditional banker to move back into a business. Pay is obviously less, but the life is much better and post guys use these Corp dev roles to try and move up within the business.
Hedge Funds/ Asset Management/ Family Office/VC: As much as people glamorize deals and dealmaking it can be slow and pretty shitty at times. Hedge Funds and other "high finance" professions offer an alternative to this.
Those are probably the big three I can think of. I guess the 4th might be going into industry in other roles such as Product Management or Marketing.
As others have mentioned if one has made it to this point they're usually pretty well connected, smart, and fortunate. The path forward really just depends on how they want to live life. Is it time to take an asset management role in a smaller city and settle down there? Maybe move to silicon valley to work at the next big startup? Or go back into PE and try to get on partner track. There really isn't any set path.
Start your own biz?
Starting a business is really interesting, for the most part. It'll be a good route, you'll learn a lot.
I would personally seek to start my Calvin Klein sock modeling career, big aspirations...
i know a bunch of former PE associates who decided to raise search funds
True that, but not only for former PE associates, also a lot of guys who are entrepreneurial ambitious but don't have an idea for a business of their own.
I agree with what everyone has said above. Most post-PE associates join other PE firms, HFs, or take on Corp Dev roles.
I've also seen a good number of folks going 1) back into investment banking, 2) accepting business development roles (i.e., deal sourcing team of a PEG), and 3) taking various operational roles at startups.
Become a rapper
The dream
I know a lot of guys that went back to banking post PE (likely due to not breaking back into PE), but that's in addition to all of the other exits listed above.
For real? What level did they come back at?
Associate. I think they generally progress much faster than people without banking in their background after the transition.
I should also note that most of my exposure is to top MM shops, so take everything I'm saying with a grain of salt. I doubt there are that many GS -> PE that go back into banking.
The credits start rolling and you get reborn for the next level in 100 years.
For those who can't go back as a VP in PE, I saw a few work in hedge funds prior to 2015.
Nowadays given the tech bubble, there's a lot of washed out PE/IBD/HF people at start-ups. Everything from project manager to corp/business strategy to sales.
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