I Don’t Want To Be A Banker

My only reason to pursue banking was to get into PE, and the only reason I wanted to get into PE is to learn how to source, evaluate, buy and operate a business for myself. Being a business owner has been the goal since my early teens. I’m questioning whether I am looking in the wrong industry to find the skills I want. 

After sitting on the other side of the table from PE buyers (as both a sellside advisor and a seller), I understand that the model-obsessed processes they run is not how real business is done. The partners in the fund have already decided they want to invest in the manager and buy the Co. The industry exec they have chosen to partner with is already building their roll up strategy and target list. The Asso and Senior Asso are simply there to build the model. I have no desire to be a model jockey. They come to our dinners in identical GMTs and Barbours, ask only finance related Qs (no real business Qs), and every email is only about data for the model. 

I can learn to model online. What I want is to learn how to do business, and how to start playing the game. I have access to capital, and buying a small business looks to be my way in. 

I leave B school in May. Summer associate stint at investment fund did not convert to FT (fund returned no SAs). Still networking, still applying, but now thinking whether my goal is even the right one.