Sole analyst at a small L/S fund - am I at a major disadvantage?

I took this job directly after school (non-target, got this from my track record managing a small book in college). The CIO of the firm is aging out of the business and he communicated to me at the beginning of my internship that if I came on full time the following year, the PM/CIO role will be what I am there to assume when he decides to stop managing the fund, so I am basically in-line for the sole manager role of this shop by my mid 20s, a dream my high-school self would be losing his mind over.

The CIO has let me run loose, given me a lot of autonomy and responsibility. I haven't learned much from him because he rarely is in the office (yes I am in the office alone most of the time). I get to go to sell-side events as a 23 year-old and run management meetings,  run my own processes including a paper portfolio to build a track record.

I view this situation I have found myself in, in a very negative light. It's the classic severely under-compensated set-up (to the point where math isn't adding up at all for my current responsibilities), and with little to no guidance from leadership I feel like I am wasting my time.

Thoughts?

4 Comments
 

I have good exposure with the investor base, they know me and my capabilities, I run most of our meetings with the family offices that make up our AUM.

Likely a clause somewhere in a contract that I can't disclose AUM, but we are what the street would consider "meaningless" even though we produce $20-30m in returns on a decent year.

 
Most Helpful

I’d say leave.  The chances that AUM outflows follow your PM are much higher than you running the book.  At early 20s you’re still young enough that someone will give you a shot at a good fund assuming you network and/or interview well.  You should have a leg up over traditional applicants if you can talk the hiring PMs language well, which I assume shouldn't be an issue based on what you have described.


To me it sounds like your PM is already checked out and using “grooming you for a PM seat” as an excuse to offload tasks onto you while he collects his final paychecks.  That’s a bad setup.  I may be wrong, but from what I’ve heard from similar setups/smaller fund experience before, it sounds like a recipe for career disaster if you wait too long.

 

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