Over the past two years I’ve been using this site to research and learn so I think it’s only fair that I give back.
I’m currently a senior member of a corp dev team at highly acquisitive p/e backed firm in a rapidly consolidating industry. I’d be happy to answer any questions that people have about corp dev for those that may be considering it as an alternative to IB or as their career path of choice.
Please feel free to ask me and I will provide my direct insight from my firm and what I see at others.
Thanks for doing this! A few questions:
What was your background prior to your current role?
Are there any instances where you’d hire a consultant/former consultant over a banker/former banker?
What do you think are next steps for your career trajectory?
I’m interning at MBB now and thinking about corp dev or PE long term for reference, so any insights that I might not have asked about above are also welcome.
Thanks!
No problem, happy to help.
I was a senior member of a team at the company that I now work in CD for and I had experience and deep knowledge of the industry.
Our strategy and corp dev teams are completely separate. Our corp dev team only deals with M&A, this is not the case at all firms though. So my answer would be no, not at our firm, but don't take that as a universal rule.
I'm going in reverse of most people and transitioning to IB.
MBB experience will be highly valued at P/E shops. Especially, if you gain some IB experience at some point. You will be a dual-threat with finance and operating experience.
Are you an MBA student or an undergrad?
MBA - interning at MBB right now. Not sure if PE DD is for me, so thinking of other roles that involve doing deals and starting to investigate corp dev as a potential jumping off point after I graduate.
1. How flexible is geographic location? Hybrid, remote, in office?
2. Experience at LMM/MM vs UMM/MF backed PE portcos? I've heard the former tends to give a lot more flexibility to their corp dev teams but heard pay can be more cash pay at UMM/MF (but smaller equity offers).
3. What type of equity packages have you gotten at PE companies and at what level (Director, VP, CDO)?
4. What industry do you cover?
5. How has your hours been? Are weekends mostly to yourself?
1. I work fully remote. We have a small team and all live in different regions. Many of our competitors are this way as well. I'd imagine fortune 500 is different though.
2. I only have experience at my firm and I would consider us UMM. Our P/E sponsors aren't involved much in the day-to-day. Our team structure is such that I am not the leader of the team. In some CD teams, the VP is the top but sometimes it's more of a #2 position as is the case with me. My compensation is all cash with discretionary RSUs and I received RSUs as a sign-on bonus. My cash comp is in line with 1st year IB associate roles. My RSUs are close to 7 figures at current valuations... hard to annualize because I don't know when we will have a liquidity event and I can cash them in.
3. I think I somewhat answered this in #2 but I will elaborate. I've had recruiters contact me about other roles - In one role the equity was all up front and would obviously be forfeited if I left. (it was extremely attractive but I have restrictive covenants that prevented me from taking the job) In the other role, it was paid as an extra bonus on top of the cash bonus. As far as at what level I am not sure... at my company, I'd say a third of the staff gets some equity compensation and every employee has the opportunity to purchase equity which is pretty cool when you are growing at 40% a year.
4. I work for a wealth management firm. Think - Focus Financial or Hightower but not them specifically.
5. I rarely work more than 60 hours, a normal week is 40-50. I normally don't have to work weekends unless we are in a crunch trying to get a deal done before a deadline. I normally spend an hour or two on Sunday planning for the week and catching up on emails but that is by choice and not expected.
Awesome. Did you mean IB associate total comp or just base? Aka 150-175K vs. 300-350K.
Also any opinion of HC Services companies that buy-and-build/roll-up strategies in the PE space? I know you don't cover it but gotten mixed reviews about the space and I wonder if you can provide some insight.
Thanks for your responses, all were helpful to read.
You mentioned you're transitioning to IB - can you explain the rationale behind that decision? And what level would you come in at?
I'm probably just crazy because I have a pretty cush job but here are my reasons: Limited upward mobility in my current role - small team and only one person above me so where do I go from here? Limited opportunity to move laterally/upward outside of my current industry because I don't have IB experience. No ability to move laterally/upward within the space because of restrictive covenants. Boredom and lack of challenging work. Overall, won't make as much in CD as in IB. Lastly, I think I will make a great senior banker - I'm a rainmaker and if I can go through 3 years as an associate I can make a lot more money in the long run.
It's also worth noting that if go to IB and decide to return to CD I will be able to land a higher-level position so I see it as a win-win.
Unfortunately, I will go over as a 1st-year post MBA associate like everyone else. The only exception would be if I stick with an industry specific boutique I could probably come over as a VP but there are a few reasons that make this less than ideal for me.
My advice to anyone looking to do CD instead of IB is if you can get into IB just do it... you can always transition to CD but transitioning from CD to IB is much harder and will require you to go backwards in title, lifestyle and possibly compensation. Do your 2-3 years in IB and then CD and P/E open up to you.
Thanks for the insight. As a CD professional, I strongly echo the upward mobility part.
I am also considering to switch side. Mind if I ask, why do you have to join as 1st year associate? Are you going across after MBA? Have you engaged in such discussion with the sell side?
Also, do you think we can move across industry? I work in a very technical industry and would like to avoid being pigeonholed here...
Oof you’re a VP and having to reset to 1st year associate? Hopefully worth it..
Hey, sorry for reviving an old post but I'm considering moving over to corp dev and I wanted to pick your brain some. My biggest concern reading your post and that of others in corp dev is many seem to want to go into IB/PE as I'm wanting out (I was in IB, went to PE and now I'm back at a large IB doing coverage).
Do you think if you were doing corp dev in a space you found more interesting you would be wanting to leave despite the lack of upward mobility? My big gripe with my role is I'm in a space that I simply don't care about (infrastructure SaaS and cybersecurity) and I'm at the upper end of the market working with large, stodgy companies. I like to think if I was working in a more fun sector (consumer or at least SMB SaaS), I'd be more content.
On the hours front as well, it's not so much the volume of hours as it is the regular unpredictability. I'll have weeks of little to no work Monday through Thursday then get random asks on Friday or Saturday. Nothing crazy, usually only requiring an hour or two of work but it's the lack of cadence and disruption to my expected day of not having work responsibilities given I had nothing during weekdays. I'm looking for a more predictable schedule with occasional pickups when necessary. I imagine corp dev will provide that.
The nature of work is also pretty lame. Rather than working on things that have clear finish lines (like an M&A process), most of my time is spent pulling together market update and M&A idea decks that are long shot presentations to clients in an effort to stoke fee activity. My soul dies a little every time I pull one together. At least in corp dev, it feels like the result is very tangible and you get to help smaller and younger companies cash out while adding to your own product or service portfolio.
Not sure how I feel about the lack of upward mobility as despite it never being something I thought much about, I've always worked at companies that had clear up-or-out ladders so I knew progression was guaranteed as long as I performed. Maybe moving away from that will make me long it again. Right now, I think my priorities are finding something with more predictable hours that still pays well that will give me time to pursue outside business interests/consulting gigs with startups but maybe all of that won't mean anything if I feel "stuck" in my day job.
I'm probably incoherent by this point but I wanted to dump all of that and see if you had any thoughts in general. I appreciate the thread.
I'm currently in IR at a moderately acquisitive company- I see our CD group as a potential next step for me. Any advice on things I could be working on now to make that jump in 2-4 years?
Networking internally is probably the best thing you can do.
Good to know- I assume I'll have to network and more or less create a position. Any advice on things to learn/work on in the mean time? Studying analyst valuation models, learning the industry from analyst reports, etc
Thanks for doing this!
I've come to enjoy the PEG PortCo space. Do you mind if I ask how you got your current role? I am a corp dev director at a PEG PortCo and was previously a corp dev manager at another PEG PortCo and got both roles by applying online. I have really come to enjoy this space. It is more demanding in some ways, but there is (a LOT) less red tape when it comes to getting signoff on deals.
What was your background prior to corp dev? Pretty surprised that you were able to get a role without having some banking or other corp dev experience.
I transitioned internally from another senior-level role.
Two years IB and several years in corp dev.
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