IB Analyst vs PE Analyst
I’m about 7 months into my first year as an IB analyst at a generalist MM boutique in a pretty “middle of nowhere” market. I didn’t end up here because it was my dream city, I ended up here because my hometown is basically all private equity. There are only 2-3 small boutique IB shops back home and they rarely hire, so when I got an IB offer elsewhere, I took it.
Fast forward to now, one of the boutique IB firms in my hometown finally started hiring and I received an offer. The thing is they’re sector focused, and I’m not particularly interested in their sector. That said, they’re hiring aggressively and “hyper-scaling” the firm, and I honestly think there’s a decent chance they become a much bigger name over the next few years. So even if the coverage group isn’t my passion, the platform might be worth it.
At the same time, I also have an offer from a PE fund nearby but for an analyst position. It’s around $1.5B AUM and about an hour away from my hometown. Long term, I’m pretty confident I want to end up in PE, which is why I’m seriously considering taking it even though the location still isn’t perfect (close, but not actually home).
Here’s how I’m thinking about it:
If I stay in banking, I can do the traditional 2-year analyst stint and then recruit for PE the “normal” way. The only thing that gives me pause is brand/location. My current shop is legit and I’m getting reps, but it’s not a recognizable market or firm. I’m not sure how much that hurts when it’s time to recruit.
If I take the PE offer now, I’d be stepping off banking early, but I’d be getting into the seat I actually think I want long term. And in my head, after 2-3 years in PE I’d have stacked experience: some IB + direct PE experience. My hope is that this makes me more competitive for the bigger PE funds in my hometown (~$6B+ AUM) when I eventually try to make the move back.
So I’m stuck between two paths of staying on the IB path and recruit later, and take the risk of receiving no offer in the future, or jump to PE now as an analyst. If you were in my shoes and your end goal was PE, what would you do?
If you jump now, you need to make sure you're at that next role for 2-3 years at least. It's not good to already be thinking about job #3 in this situation - one short stint, fine, two short stints people are going to be asking questions about why you're jumping around.
I also don't think firms will give you much credit down the road for a 7 month stint in IB. The IB + PE combo is usually 2+2. If you want to be in your hometown and in PE, I would probably stay in your current role and try to get into a PE role you are happy with from there. Nothing wrong with grabbing coffee or hopping on the phone with the people at those $6B firms, you have an in already being from the area so you can get on their radar for when they recruit, even if they ultimately go through HHs.
If you're getting good reps + don't want to be in IB long term, I don't see how a boutique IB firm is going to be better for your goals than where you're at now. Growing platforms usually takes 3-5 years to actually be landing and closing the bigger deals and getting benefit from that in recruiting, if you're trying to hop to PE within 2-3 years you're not going to get anything out of that growth.
Genuinely, thank you for the advice and taking the time to type that out
If PE is the end goal, I’d optimize for seat time, not optionality. Direct PE reps early compound fast, especially at a fund where analysts actually touch diligence, IC memos, and portfolio work. A non core MM IB brand doesn’t give you much extra signal later, and recruiting from there is still uphill. Two to three years of real PE experience puts you in a much stronger position when you try to lateral back home. Banking only wins here if it clearly upgrades brand or deal exposure, which doesn’t seem to be the case.
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