I was reading a post by a fellow incoming Excel monkey on non-PE exit opps, and it got me thinking.
Even in that post about some of the more interesting/uncommon opportunities out of banking, it mentions the "exit opps" of these positions, which is of course typical WSO mentality. But clearly at some point, we have to decide on what to do with our lives.
I understand why the standard thought process goes something like, "Yeah I'll do IB to keep my options open. Oh shit, on-cycle is happening in X months? Fuck, I want to do PE because that's prestigious and keeps my options open." Two years pass. "Holy shit, MF PE is banking 2.0. I need a break. I'll get a HSW MBA. Wait, what the fuck do I do with my life after that? Tiger Cubs I guess, that's a good job. Or maybe I should just go back to PE."
But I wonder if many of us are (or will) just drifting through our careers and following the "standard path" without really stopping to ask ourselves what we're really interested in. Why go from banking, which opens so many doors in finance out of college, just to go to another job where we're thinking about the next exit? Why not try to go into something we like and build a career out of it instead of always fretting about what the exit opps are?
Sure, it's hard to end up at the Tiger Cubs without following the standard BB/EB IB > MF PE path, but how many of us are trying to get there because working at a tech-focused HF actually sounds interesting versus how many are trying to get there because it provides just the right mix of risk and compensation (or worse yet, because everyone else wants to get there)?
I know we're a bunch of prestige-hunting, risk-averse cowards to go into investment banking. At least I am. But it seems to me that constantly thinking about exit opportunities leads you to view life as if the grass were always greener on the other side.
The post I mentioned at the start did get me thinking about why I personally am so tempted to try to "keep my options open" all the time instead of taking a chance in my 20s on what sounds most interesting to me. It's not like moving from IB to VC/GE is a leap of faith that causes me to lose all respect from my peers and is likely to doom me.
That was a lot to ramble about, and I know these aren't unique sentiments. So thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
Anyway, I would love to hear others' thoughts on this. For older members, did having this exit opp mentality actually help? Did you just go with the flow to end up where you are now, or did you deliberately plan to end up there relatively early on? Are you happy with where you ended up?
Great post and this type of mentality I think can lead to burnout -- constantly 'putting your head down' and focusing on the next thing without actually considering what you are interested in will take a toll at some point.
Each person has a different internal cost / benefit analysis (i.e., pay vs hours vs lifestyle) that changes for each year of experience, and frankly mine really shifted during my first year in PE where I became very burned out and later realized:
After thinking through (and going to therapy) the above criteria the logical choice was to start looking for a new role at either a smaller fund or in an industry that I'm more excited about -- obviously this takes me off the 'keep my options open' path but why keep delaying gratification if the things I'm holding out for (comp, prestige, b-school) aren't actually gratifying for me?
Hopefully this didn't sound overly preachy but in a much better spot after some tough times during my first year in PE.
How helpful do you think therapy was for your career path + life? I don't know that many people who do finance + also do therapy.
I think it was certainly helpful -- helped me realized what I valued but also helped me deal with stress / anxiety / depression caused by burnout.
It's certainly a lot more common than people let on; I know that from people in my network as well as on this site.
At some point most people who are junior in their careers will have to come face-to-face with two relatively unsettling truths:
1. In order to make entrepreneurial money (7-8 figures), you have to take entrepreneurial risks
2. In order to do (1), you have to specialize in something
Note that for (1), I don't literally mean join a startup. Being an IB MD, a PE Partner, HF PM, etc. are all "eat what you kill" in nature in the sense that you have to be a revenue generator as opposed to being a cost center. Being a revenue generator is riskier than being a cost center because you have to close deals, source investments, or make profitable trades in order to stay employed. For most of your career in your 20s, you'll be a cost center and will never be able to cross the WLB/excessive comp threshold until you become a revenue generator.
That's what most who are following "the path" never get and why it's difficult to get past the funnel around VP level in IB/PE or become a successful HF PM.
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