Starting HF Career - Best Place for Mentorship?

Leaving MF PE after 2 years and am very interested in doing public markets. Short-term comp, prestige, etc. is not a factor at this stage in my career, and mentorship is what I care the most about. If you were starting your career from scratch in the public markets, where would you go to learn, and how would you find these names?

I am worried the SM HFs everyone talks about on here will be more of the same as MFPE (mostly politics, hard to measure individual performance, bloat), and I have already made that mistake once. I have been primarily considering pods (backdooring w/ friends at platforms to find long-standing PMs with good reputations and open to mentorship) and first-time spinoffs from these larger SMs. Also have heard mixed reviews on multi-strats. 

Very curious to hear opinions and thanks everyone in advance. If any monkeys in IB are thinking about making the switch to PE, let me know via DM and happy to provide my experience so far.

6 Comments
 

Viking will shutter in the decade if anyone wants to bet lmk

 

I'm currently starting my own fund and looking for investors. I worked at a couple of SM Hedge Funds and do know a couple people in the MM space. If you're interested I can give you my pitch and my experience in the HF space. I'm just starting out so my minimnum investment is $25K but i'd be happy just to make another connection in the industry. 

 
Most Helpful

Nihil qui velit eveniet non. Veritatis et autem sit veniam aspernatur incidunt et consectetur. Necessitatibus est veritatis non nihil odio temporibus.

Ducimus sit dolorem ut qui sint quaerat aut. Omnis magnam excepturi aut vel. Enim quibusdam laborum cumque illo ducimus omnis. Aut vel unde quos accusantium dolores sit. Ex sint voluptatem praesentium cum autem. Eveniet illum distinctio inventore distinctio suscipit deserunt dicta corporis.

Ut et maiores molestias. Consequatur reiciendis excepturi magni sit quis modi.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 97.1%
  • AQR Capital Management 96.2%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Blackstone Group 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Millennium Partners 95.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.0%
  • Point72 98.1%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.2%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.2%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (12) $423
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (86) $288
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (77) $191
  • Analysts (242) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (29) $145
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (282) $96
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”