Hi all,
I feel that I am stuck in my situation and would really like some help. I'm currently in a direct lending role (megashop) and I've come to terms with the fact that I really just hate my job. My co workers are the most toxic people I have ever met, and I feel like I have to go to work ready for battle every single day (even if wfh). 80% of my energy is already spent fending off backstabbers / aggressive comments / manipulation and I really just have no more energy for actual work.
In addition, I really just don't enjoy investing / modeling / doing decks. I don't hate it, and I think if my environment weren't so toxic I might even be ok with it. But I'm at a point where I really have no motivation left. I've thought about lateral transitions but frankly, most of the large name firms seem to have this sort of culture as well (to an extent), and I think I just don't get along with this level of type A / aggressive people.
So I have been thinking about a career pivot, and have been thinking more about a sales role for alternative / less commoditized products. I enjoy presenting / telling a story / and am relatively good at it. Think would also enjoy having more people interaction than a diligence role typically requires.
Has any every made a similar type of transition / would love to hear any / all advice / comments.
Thank you for reading.
Bump
if you like sales, have you thought about going into a BD role with the company you're currently at?
have you considered PWM? it's sales/telling a story/presenting, and contrary to popular belief, does not have to be commoditized product. also doesn't have to be individual wealth, you could go with an institutional group within ML/MS/UBS or something like cambridge/mercer
the downside of sales if it's at a PE firm/direct lending/any type of alternative investment is you'll likely start out doing what you hate - doing decks because you'll be an internal salesperson, supporting the field rep.
if I were looking for a sales job though, I'd look for the following
1. smaller firm - APO, KKR, BX, Carlyle...all of them are super douchey sales guys and the products are all the same, plus the turnover is horrendous.
2. stable capital base - you don't want to be fundraising for a brand new fund or one without a bit of diversification in its investor base. the thought of losing my job because some family office pulls out $100mm wouldn't sit well with me if I was hitting my marks
3. esoteric strategy - put it this way, I wouldn't want to be fundraising for SAC, third point, shit like that. long only equity or traditional long short is going to be difficult to sell. aircraft financing, real assets, something arbitragey, or some multimanager/systematic strategy that's not a behemoth like two sigma as a bond alternative would appeal to me
4. compensation aligned with investor interest - if you're only paid on new money, I'd walk. it's more important to keep what you got in my opinion, and as we all know all strategies have a saturation point (good luck raising a $30b LMM fund and having it scale effectively), so I'd rather have a fund that keeps that focus with its comp plan
5. distribution - if they're not already on the platform of at least one major firm like ML/MS/UBS or cambridge/mercer, that's an incredibly tough hill to climb. I've got no clue what that would be like and I probably wouldn't want that to be my first job in sales for a money manager
This is incredibly helpful thank you so much!! So I am still considering what the options are, because I really like formal presentations (or some sort of public speaking) over one-on-one relationship building. Sales came to mind, but I am sure there are also others I am unaware of - if anything else comes to mind that you can share, it would be super helpful.
A few follow ups on your pointers:
1) hahaha idk if I want to work with super douchey people...
2 - 4 totally makes sense.
Do you have any color on potential exit opps / skillsets? Given I am pivoting from an investment role to non-investment role, I want to be very thoughtful about which direction I am going. I am totally OK giving up the investment route (comp, career trajectory, "prestige", etc) but also don't want to pigeon hole myself too much. I looked at a few sales / placement opps but they are for really niche products so I am slightly worried that transferring out of that product will be difficult even if it's for another sales role since my "book of clients" will also be less transferable. Any thoughts would be super helpful. Thank you again.
I could talk to you all day long about skillsets for sales but I've got no clue on exit opps. the one thing I will say is this - sales is relationship building. you don't get to present unless you've done the work building the relationship
and while I'd definitely worry about a super niche product, if the type of investor that is attracted to it is ubiquitous, you may not have such a hard time. I would, however, seek things that are easily explainable. while I've placed money with folks at rentech and millenium (fuck you rentech for 2020, seriously), because they're so private the sales pitch is basically "look at our numbers, invest or don't, we don't give a fuck" or something like skybridge that seems to be changing all the time and constantly explaining away performance (not an investor, but I did come from Citi/Smith Barney before my current firm so I know the product well)
and as if I had to tell you - for the love of god don't go into a BD role with direct lending. I think unless you're oaktree or ares and have been through many cycles, a ton of these funds will blow up/underperform and the last thing I'd want is to begin my BD career in an asset class that's on the precipice of doom. I'd rather be selling something like a conservative multi manager strategy or convertible arbitrage that the only goal is to get 4-6% a year with bond-like volatility.
Just start the search man, you dont lose anything with a few interviews, a great opportunity is always out there
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