Private Credit or CB

I am 25 years old and currently an Associate at a well known regional commercial bank in Texas, think Dallas or Houston making roughly $72k all in. The work is not glamorous as I work on a few new deals per year, but mainly am doing renewals/covenant compliance etc. but I have a clear progression path to VP then Director as a Relationship Manager within another 7-8 years, making $150-200k salary in that time frame. The work life balance is great and although the pay does not seem like a ton, you can live quite well as a single individual in a low cost of living city on $72k.

I was recently approached by a head hunter for a position as a Senior Associate at a start-up Private Credit Fund in San Francisco. At worst case the fund would have $70-$80MM AUM and best case the fund would have $125MM with a goal of eventually getting to $400-500MM. The fund is backed by a few high net worth individuals, family offices (both foreign and domestic) and potentially endowments. The fund focuses on debt financing for tech lending start-ups and offers asset based financing solutions for domestic and emerging markets (Mexico/Asia). The team will be relatively lean, 1-2 IR people, 2 associates, 1 principal and 1-2 partners. The pay all-in would be roughly $130k, which is somewhat equivalent to what I make now in my LCOL city, but money will definitely be tighter. Do I take the position and use the experience to try and leverage it into a more well known private credit fund such as TPG/KKR etc. or stick do what I am doing now in Commercial Banking?

All advice/opinions are welcome and I appreciate them all. Thanks.

7 Comments
 
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Ditch that Amegy/Comerica/Frost/PlainsCapital job and head west young man. How many more opportunities do you think you'll get to break into the big leagues (even if it is at a startup fund)?

You're a single dude in your 20s, now is the time to take risks.

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