People who made the jump from MFPE to SM HF

For those who have made the jump or know someone who made the jump from MFPE (KKR, APO, BX, SL, H&F, etc) to a top SM HF (Tiger, Lone pIne, Pershing square, Coatue, D1, Viking), have you or they regretted and wished they had stayed at their PE shop?

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1st wave finance movement: Genius maths/ physics majors go to math/ physics jobs, soft econ bros go to HF

2nd wave finance movement: Math/ physics majors go to Bridgewater, soft econ bros go to Lone Pine

3rd wave finance movement: Math majors go to Jane Street/ Optiver/ HFT/ RenTech, soft econ bros go to Bridgewater

4th wave finance movement: Math/ physics geniuses go to math/ physics jobs, soft econ bros go to HF

 
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I moved into a large ($10BN+) SM seat from top tier PE and don't regret anything. Pros: (1) comp is higher faster, (2) as a "senior analyst" I now completely own my investment process and determine how I allocate my time, (3) much wider range of transactions and trades (e.g. distressed, privates, short), (4) generally less deal minutiae (especially on publics). Cons: (1) in theory less stable comp, (2) fewer internal safety nets.

Before anyone asks, comp progression is below:

PE Yr 2: $450k

HF Yr 1: $500k (good year for fund)

HF Yr 2: $550k (ok year for fund)

HF Yr 3: $1.5MM (good year for fund, good year for my investments)

HF Yr 4: $1.1MM (slightly down year for fund, good year for my investments)

 

Impressive, good work

I know you’re a senior analyst, but does your fund have a MD / Partner / PM type title where you get a formulaic payout / carry / points in GP? How long do you think it takes to get to that level and what is comp like at that level?

Do you regret not doing pure public equities or do you enjoy cross cap stack event equity and credit style (im guessing that’s what you do?)? Could you have gotten this seat without top MF?

 

I did try pure L/S equity for a year (at another $10BN+ SM) and I absolutely hated being a purely passive investor, despite performing well. In my view, buying / selling stock and betting (hoping) that the market will reward your view is "passive" investing and not wholly dissimilar from just day-trading as a sole proprietor. I much more enjoy having actual agency over the outcomes of my investments and this is commensurate with a much more people-oriented work cadence (e.g. building consensus with a company/board, with other funds in a restructuring process, more advisor engagement).

There is a path to partnership and managing a subset of the fund's overall strategy - that is probably ~5 years away.

 

I moved into a large ($10BN+) SM seat from top tier PE and don't regret anything. Pros: (1) comp is higher faster, (2) as a "senior analyst" I now completely own my investment process and determine how I allocate my time, (3) much wider range of transactions and trades (e.g. distressed, privates, short), (4) generally less deal minutiae (especially on publics). Cons: (1) in theory less stable comp, (2) fewer internal safety nets.

Before anyone asks, comp progression is below:

PE Yr 2: $450k

HF Yr 1: $500k (good year for fund)

HF Yr 2: $550k (ok year for fund)

HF Yr 3: $1.5MM (good year for fund, good year for my investments)

HF Yr 4: $1.1MM (slightly down year for fund, good year for my investments)

Agree with above. My average comp since joining HF (3 years ago) is ~$1.5M. 

 

Have you guys been at these HFs long enough to have peers get pushed out or told they won't be moving up the chain (or at similar funds to yours)? A lot is made of HF being really high risk after doing 2+2, but would love to hear where you see people land after a multi-billion SM if it doesn't work out after a few years. For example, can you roll into a family office's public team (making close to 7 figures?), smaller HFs with (decent?) comp, etc.? 

 

Ya actually struggling to think of firms where there's distressed credit + active/activist equity + privates where this is true besides Elliot, Baupost, Third Point, DK and Apollo HF. Even at some of those names it would appear the teams are somewhat siloed. 

Plenty of distressed credit funds do invest in value equity but looking at Redwood + Knighthead 13-F, compared to overall HF AUM, there's pretty minimal equity that's not a reorg equity. Not really sure what's up with Appaloosa these days either, supposed to return outside money but ended up keeping a little. 

 

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