I was wondering if it was possible to do it straight out of college. I know common path is the IB exit but wondering about thoughts or how people have done it.
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It is very much possible. The best way to go about it is to look at the companies that have corp dev internships (since a literal purpose of internships is to get people in the hiring pipeline). I interned at Spirit AeroSystems in corp dev and got a return offer. Granted, they didn't do the strategy I created and here they are, but that is a different problem.
I would just be careful of what the internship is specifically. Like a corp dev specific internship is one thing but a rotational internship program that includes corp dev is a different beast. Either way they would be the type of company that hires recent graduates for their corp dev teams. But in terms of how to put yourself in the best position to be a full-time corp dev hire straight from an internship program... that makes a difference. And this shouldn't come as a surprise.
A few companies I know that have corp dev internship programs are the major defense contractors, Dominion Energy (albeit theirs is a rotational program), I know a good number of healthcare companies have corp dev internship programs and same with big tech.
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What industry is this high velocity M&A PE Portco in? Is it an industry you see yourself jumping around to other portcos for potential promotions / getting some $ on exits eventually? Anecdotally, I know someone who went this route after doing a rotational program (post undergrad) in a completely different industry. Now he's a CFO at a portco ~10-12 years later in the industry he pivoted into and I'm pretty sure at his last portco, he likely had a low 7 figure exit.
You can exit to LMM / MM IB usually within the industry you covered in corp dev. That's probably one of the more common 'successful' exits I've seen in the few corp dev teams I've followed / spoken with in the portco space.
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You must have a pretty crazy upbringing if you don't think 150-200K annual bonus isn't life changing. Good luck with everything!
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