IB or HF FT Out of Undergrad
To be anonymous, I have the choice to be at a top SM HF ($10bn+ AUM) or Top BB/EB (GS Top Group/EVR/CVP M&A) from H/S/W. Want to start my own fund eventually, but not sure if the 2+2 program is risky (since MF PE is so hard to land even from a top group and will take 4 years off my career), or be pigeonholed at a fund since I won't come from the classic GS + KKR + Tiger Cub background.
(I want to start my own fund lol...)
Comp is roughly the same first 4 years between 2+2 and SM HF, and the economics of the fund seem great due to a small number of IPs.
congrats, would take HF. how did u get the opportunity?
the fund recruits 1 kid every few years from my school. was like 10 rounds of interviews, pitches, and behaviorals
Gotcha yeah, also went to one of the schools and groups above. Seems like a sick opportunity though.
following
could u pm? thanks
no
If you can’t research the countless # of times this post in some shape or form has been discussed in the past couple weeks in this forum, maybe research isn’t the job for you…
To tickle your pickle nonetheless… are you 100% sure you want to be an investor? If so go to the fund… a 10bn fund is scaled enough where it’ll be known to the point you can recruit elsewhere if you don’t like it. If not, go down the banking route and keep other options open like PE/corp dev… many will say that IB+PE is a great training ground and argue for that seat,.. but I don’t understand why “waste” 4yrs of your life only to fight for a seat like the one you have the oppty to join today. With the advent of AI, hiring for top seats is only going to get more competitive, so if you’re 100% sure you want to do whatever this fund does, go for it now if you think you’ll get good training and mentorship.
No, I understand fully, and I've read into all of these posts, but not many account for the post-Claude code/the trajectory we are on.
congrats on Maverick!
Hi! As someone who had a very similar opportunity at an SM (but I also had one of P72/CAP and a slightly worse BB group), my advice would be the following:
If you really do love investing, then taking the SM gives you virtually zero downside relative to the banking opportunity. Have so many buddies from college who did FT banking at groups that aren't considered "top", and they were able to lateral to CVP/EVR/Q/other top groups after doing FT banking at much worse groups. It is my view that out of undergrad, a good banking gig is very possible, even if you don't land it from full-time after an SA.
Secondly, these SM PMs are so ridiculously connected to so many people in the industry and you can easily just get referred from your SM to another SM or even to top PE shops as an analyst or even as an assoc after a year or two of being at your SM.
Final piece of advice would be that everyone has this "golden path" out of undergrad (2+2 -> SM), and the honest reality is that so many people get to the SM "end goal" and even guys that end up running their own funds all have a variety of different backgrounds. One of the smartest investors I know was an engineer @ tech company and now runs 400m out of SF working 20-30 hours a week clipping 10+m a year spending the rest of the time with kids/traveling.
If you're passionate about something and you are a smart kid (which you clearly are), you'll fall upwards and end up exactly where you're supposed to be at the end of the day. I think if your heart is set on investing, then you lose nothing by trying it out from undergrad. You're young and smart, things will naturally go well for you if you work for them.
Happy to talk more on this somewhere else.
Wow insane outcome for your SF friend, what a dream haha
OP here thank you so much, and would love to PM...
Honestly the branding isn’t that great and you lose 4 years learning not so much
If you wanna be a good HF investor be a HF investor. It’s just as hard or harder recruiting later too (like when you are working 100h weeks and having to recruit on top)
Skip the BS. Do you think being at a HF is bad for your res?!
Obviously not
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