I’ve been trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. The mindless number crunching, logo resizing, PowerPoint formatting and endless pitches have not exactly won me over. For some context, I’m entering my second year at a BB in NYC. I went to a good school (Ivy, not HYP). I’ve had a tough first year in IB—I realize that I came in to take away skills, but the lack of predictability in my schedule has had a greater impact on me than I anticipated. I have had a hard time being super engaged at my job, and I think that rubbed some people the wrong way. My review didn’t go as well as I expected, and it’s made me think more deeply about what my next step should be. I went through a few interviews in on-cycle recruiting for PE in the fall and didn’t land anything, and took a step back from the process.
I have been weighing PE, VC, and joining a startup (at least Series A funding, thinking like a DoorDash) post-banking and would like to go to business school (preferably HSW). Before anyone gives me sh*t about this—I don’t anticipate b-school being a mandatory step. It’s expensive and I’d only be willing to pay for a school that would potentially have a very high ROIC for me personally. Here are my thoughts on each potential path:
PE – I was initially interested because it seems like it’d take away some of the unpredictability in my schedule, and would be a good platform to continue improving my technical skills. PE is interesting to me mainly because I’d prefer to work with just a few companies very closely over an extended period of time, versus having 10-15 accounts across a wide range of verticals where I can’t invest too much time in any one. I would like to not be in a client-driven environment, and to be given greater responsibility to evaluate and manage portfolio companies.
I would prefer to go to a smaller buyout fund, perhaps industry-focused (think Freeman Spogli). My fear with this route is that my review will keep me from getting a foot in the door, and that I don’t consider myself to be a “quant”. I can do the work but don’t think I’d be exceptional at it—and I don’t want to get average/subpar reviews/recommendations that would prevent me from going to one of my target schools. I’m not sure if I should be shying away from it because of this, or if I should just push through for the skills. Also know the best time to do PE is now since it’s much harder to get into post-MBA without pre-MBA experience.
High Growth Startup – I think my personality is truly a best fit for a startup, but am nervous about the risk here. I would really enjoy the opportunity to help a company scale, and from an internship I did at a startup I enjoyed the independence and room for creativity there is in startup environments. People actually welcome novel ways of thinking/doing things and things are constantly changing. I would want to go to a larger company and eventually be in a place where I can lead a team. I’m just worried that going this route will end up closing more doors for me in the long run, but am not super familiar with how going to a startup now could play out for me since I don’t have a lot of contacts in this space so advice is limited.
VC – the actual work/day-to-day in VC seems more interesting to me than PE, as I think meeting with founders and attending conferences/pitch events etc. would be a super interesting aspect of the job. I like the idea of working with early stage companies that are focused on manifesting their vision and would enjoy helping them work out the kinks along the way. I am under the impression that VC is a little less quantitative than PE (correct me if I’m wrong), which I believe would be beneficial for my current abilities. However, I understand that positions can be elusive and I’m not sure how doing VC vs PE impacts my chances at getting into one of my target schools, and potentially MBA recruiting if I want to exit VC. This is mostly based on everyone I’ve talked to in PE who gives the same “it’s harder to go from VC (or corp dev, or corp strat, or literally anything else) to PE than to go vice versa.” What if I go into VC and wish I’d just done PE?
Not sure if this matters at all, but will be applying to b-school as a woman, URM, athlete, 3.5 GPA. I need some help either planning out what the exit prospects would look like for these three paths, realistically how they would impact recruiting for other positions in b-school and beyond, whether I should be trying to do something interesting or just something that is more skill-based/technical at this stage in my career, etc. Any advice would be helpful in general. Sorry if any of this is vague, it’s my first post plz cut me some slack
venture capital sounds interesting as the val work is more of an art than a science (what you seem to be looking for) and investing in the future/innovation is exciting stuff
had the same sentiments as you my first year of IB, ended up transferring to a more interesting industry group with more competent MDs and a friendlier bullpen
It seems like banking is not a long term solution for you. Hours will be better as you become more senior, but working with boatloads of different companies and meeting as many people as possible will become more important as you climb the banking ladder.
I think a small/mid PE fund, with less rigid recruiting processes, could be a good option for you. You'll work with a handful of companies and your schedule usually revolves around regular business hours. The work is also less abstract, and your input could result in action in a short amount of time.
I wouldn't discard the VC/Growth route, but for me personally, I think the expected value of those paths are lower than for PE. In terms of work, the VC vs PE grunt work, is not that different but the people working in the two industries tend to be quite different. To oversimplify; you gotta choose between having strawberry flavored craft beer or Bud Light on tap at your firm's local waterhole.
Thanks for your response. I agree, I definitely couldn't see myself doing banking long-term. I think I value having some sense of predictability / control over my schedule too much to be a good fit.
I also think that going the small/mid PE shop route could be interesting, but am curious to know what you mean when you say there's a less rigid recruiting process. From what I've heard, it's a slower/more drawn out process but can be tougher since they're not in a rush to hire, and equally technical. I could be wrong though. Also, do you have any thoughts on going into PE with less confidence in my quant skills? These will obviously be strengthened through interview prep and over the next year, but am nervous about becoming the "numbers girl".
I think that is very firm dependant. I've heard of people getting smaller PE gigs from the sell side just by working on deals together. The process may be more drawn out, but since the "formal" recruiting is pretty much done, I don't think you have much of a choice if you choose to go for these types of firms.
If you have the chance I would suggest that you get your quant stuff right. If they hire an IB-analyst they will expect you to be able to put together fairly robust models without too much hassle. Have you done much financial work in your current position? If not, is there any way you can increase the amount of exposure towards the financials?
I've done a decent amount of technical work but I'm in an industry group that doesn't have a ton of deal flow, so there isn't a ton to go around. If I were to increase exposure it would be through self-study on the weekends/whenever I have any free time, which is what most people who exit into PE from my group do.
talk to people in each industry that you’re interested in and get their opinion. Then make an informed view. It would be better if you got yourself a mentor for life who can talk to you straight up. Second, relax. You’re only one year in. It’ll get better. Everyone whose been an analyst has had to go through a tough patch at some point. I did too, and though I was miserable then, it passes. Important to not burn bridges with anyone. Third, I wish you the best of luck with bschool admissions if you’re considering it, but don’t underestimate how competiTive admissions are for the MBA business schools">m7. Don’t take the wrong way but from what you’ve described, there’s nothing special about you yet for hsw and you wouldn’t want to shoot yourself in the foot
"will be applying to b-school as a woman, URM, athlete, 3.5 GPA"
Feel like with that profile and BB banking on her resume, with a solid GMAT she will be competitive anywhere.
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