I am currently working as a 1st year analyst for a Hedge Fund in Asia that currently manages an AUM of $500Mn, exclusively investing into Asia (prior experience in IB). I am thinking of joining a small shop which is just about to launch (hedge fund) that will raise anywhere between $50Mn to $100mn. The main guy who is starting the fund is very well known in Asia; also, he's got great connects in the US ,as he used to head the Asia office for a largish global HF. My reason to join - Team would be very small, learning can be immense, and its an opportunity to be a part of something which is just starting out. I may want to apply for an MBA, 2-3 years down the line, to the US and come back and join this small shop again (let's please not get into the argument of why I want to do an MBA and why would I want to come back :) . Will joining a small shop reduce my chances of going to a top US B School? If I make this move, it would be more from a long term perspective, as I believe I will be able to meaningfully contribute to the work out here. Having said that, I want to get an MBA too. So my question mainly is whether the move is going to hamper my chances of getting into a top B School? I think the main guy who is starting the fund will be happy to write a reco.
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The mba and joining them is likely not compatible.
If you join and the fund does well then you are a prime position to take on more responsibility and be a well-liked leader in the firm from the beginning. It would be silly to leave your seat if the fund is doing well and assets are jumping from 50 million to a billion. Then take 18 months off and watch someone else move into your seat.
If you go to the small shop you need to be prepared to forget the mba. The bigger shop is likely better for mba route.
Either route could work.
Agree. If MBA then stay with big firm
It won't affect your chances. MBA admissions people are not finance-deep enough to really tell the difference and you can always pitch the 'entrepreneurial' angle of joining a small hedge fund. If your current fund was Lone Pine or one of the ~2 or 3 funds an admissions person would have heard about it might matter.
traderlife might be right, but you said you didn't want to argue about whether you SHOULD do an mba, so point here is that your chances wont be affected by which fund you're at.
Thanks man. I get your point. The current fund is a $500mn fund so it's definitely not Lone Pine or something even closer to that; I am sure people in the US would hardly know about it. So to that extent, $500mn (10 member set up) unknown fund v/s $50mn fund (3 member set up), wouldn't make that big a difference, I guess.
The primary benefit you gain joining a smaller start-up fund is participation in the upside if the company performs well and scales capital. Given that you're post IB, I assume you'd be looking to target an MBA ~2 years from now, so I think that removes any ability to participate in the upside unless you're willing to forego the MBA. If you're 100% set on an MBA as the others have mentioned, you should probably go with the bigger fund.
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