Venture debt - can you go back to traditional lending?

I currently work at a top 5 bank’s ABL (Asset Based Lending) group working on primarily large corporate accounts. The organization is pretty flat and I realistically have only one more promotion ahead of me before further progression becomes very competitive and will rely on a senior individual either retiring or moving on. I’ve been both in ABL and with the bank for ~5 years. 

I recently got a job offer doing venture debt portfolio management at one of the major venture debt banks. Base comp is a significant jump and bonus has the potential to be higher as well. From a monetary perspective and from a learning persoective it seems like a good move. 

Does anyone know, if you go into venture debt are you pigeonholed, or would you be able to make the jump back to traditional lending (asset based or cash flow) after? What type of exit ops exist after going to venture debt? 

Any guidance, insight, or past experiences in venture debt are appreciated. Anyone with experience in both traditional lending and venture debt? I’m still not super familiar with it and want to get a better understanding on what I may be getting myself into. 

5 Comments
 

There is definitely some overlap. Seems like the biggest difference is in venture debt, you're underwriting to everything (equity backing, sponsor reputation, KPIs, etc.) other than hard assets and historical performance. 

 

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