Long Term Career Advice

Hey guys, 

Straight to the point here — I need your opinion on deciding between two career options. For background I’m an undergrad majoring in Finance. 

Option 1: Currently interning for a boutique Investment Bank out of NYC. They have already had talks of trying to retain me long term. Should I stick with the firm and ride it out until the current owners retire and push my way to the top. Eventually, try and wrestle out equity  ownership and then try to exit the firm for whatever it sells for, current val. around $10MM.

Downside: Earnings could be unstable as its a boutique. Constrained exit ops, most likely no PE, if so it would be LMM.

Upside: Its the work I love and I have the opportunity to build something. Claim to make the same as street.* I have yet to see proof of this, so slightly skeptical. 

Option 2: Recruit like a normal person and accept a SA and 2 year rotation at a middle market. (Most likely would not land a BB). Then exit to PE. 

Downside: Have an increased workload for those two years and miss out on potentially building something. 

Upside: Have the clarity of going to bed at night knowing what my path is and not have to worry about variables. 

Sorry for the long post here and I’m most likely leaving out some details. I’m in the very early innings of my career and I want to make the right choice here. Let me know what you think, all input is appreciated.