Looking to lateral after the 1st year, and looking to switch verticals too. Is there a taboo around cold outreach given most hiring is through headhunters? If I'm looking at other sectors will it come back to bite me? Looking for some advice from other people who have made the switch from firms / verticals. At a specialist MM tech looking to go to Consumer.
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Current PE VP in consumer. I get looking to leave tech (if software lol) but why consumer? There's a lot of headwinds facing consumer (current economic situation / low consumer confidence), many consumer brands/companies are trendy and can be hot one day and not the next, low barriers to entry for many consumer verticals. Sure, there's some high growth consumer businesses but you'll have to pay a high multiple and hope a strategic would be interested to exit (and strategics usually only want A+ assets). A good amount of consumer-focused PE firms and consumer teams at PE firms are not performing great relative to other sectors and also historically when consumer was a hotter sector.
Personally because I just find it more interesting and I don't see myself being in SaaS for the long term. Even if it's lower returns I feel like I'd perform better than staying in an industry I feel very lukewarm about.
I'm thinking too of moving to more VC type roles - might be a better fit since PE Consumers has been having headwinds
Headhunters remain your best bet as they’re the gatekeepers for pretty much all associate hiring.
Cold outreach might seem appealing, but you’re definitely going to risk word getting back to your firm through their relationships, especially if you plan to stay in the same city.
I would think about it as if someone has engaged a headhunter to fill an open associate seat, they’re going to keep reasonably quiet, because it’s slightly shameful that they’re poaching you as an associate.
Conversely, if you’re purely inbounding, and there’s not necessarily a seat even available at their fund, they’re much more likely to go tell their friends about hearing from you.
Would be careful with consumer PE tbh
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