Pre MBA Associate at Zombie Fund...
I'm currently a pre-MBA associate entering my second year at middle market private equity firm and am in quite an odd situation. My fund has no dry powder left to do deals and will not complete fundraising within the completion of my associate program. I was originally considering heading to business school at the end of my program but am unsure what the post MBA p.e. recruiting scene would be like given I've closed 1 platform acquisition but doing literally nothing but portfolio mgmt/haven't looked at a single deal past receiving a CIM besides for the above.
If you were in my shoes would you try to leave your program early, stick through to your second year and go to bschool, or stick through to second year and go to another fund? My main concern with leaving early is burning bridges in a small community and for going straight to business school is that I would have no clue wtf to do as a post-MBA associate any more than when I did coming out of banking. However, I'm also aware that if I wait until my second year end and go elsewhere, my chances of getting into a top bschool being 6 years out of college drop significantly.
Sorry for the lengthy post, just trying to make it through this quarter life crisis. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Go recruit and join another fund then apply to bschool. My friend was in the same situation as you. Worked 1 year at a zombie PE fund and completed no deals after doing banking for 3 years. He re-recruited and joined a better PE fund as a pre-MBA associate, spent 2 years there, and is now at HSW. It's worth it - make the move!
I have a good friend who was in a similar situation. You would be best served getting more experience prior to business school. That said, if you are a rockstar despite your lack of reps, you could still land a good PE job out of school. Lots of people were stuck doing no deals in the 2008 - 2010 time frame that still managed to get post-MBA jobs despite limited deal activity.
honestly there are tons of associates that don't do a deal in their 2 years, especially in the upper MM to megafunds.
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