Have I been sold a pipe dream or is it just me?
Context: graduated high target school with double major and masters multiple years early with great grades. Have job offers in big 4 (probably going to take bc I think CPA/JD route is really interesting and undersaturated) and private equity (which pays more but idk if it's what I'm interested in).
Basically everyone in my school is obsessed with the banking to PE route including professors who say IB -> KKR Blackstone is the best route. I missed the recruiting cycles for banking because I graduated early to save my family a lot of money (right now is my junior summer and I'm finishing up my master degree in august), however I know myself and know I can get it after a year or so of pushing and gaining fulltime experience elsewhere, ive always been pretty good at networking.
I'm debating whether I really want to do this (PE or Big 4 to IB after a year) or just go to law school after and forget IB/PE corporate world entirely (until I can come back to buy-side as an entrepreneur and make real money with niche stuff like distressed credit or angel investing), and wanna hear some opinions -- I'm someone who values gaining hard skills/trades which is why the accounting/law route has fascinated me and I've also been picking up programming in my free time.
What sorts of transferable skills does banking/PE equip you with? Is there an entrepreneurial route for bankers/PE guys apart from raising your own fund? I find that even independent entrepreneurial consultants are usually CPA, CFA, CFP, JD or some niche licensed pro.
Like maybe I'm a fool but I really don't think I need to be a partner at KKR to do a mid-level RE PE transaction for myself in 10 years when me and all my friends who also aren't complete NPCs see a good opportunity and throw some money into a deal together. Obviously I don't see myself running the hot big tech M&A deals without years of IB experience but really think with a CPA/JD I can do MM deals entrepreneurially eventually while also consulting my own clients too.
I also feel a bit worried if I take the PE offers of getting stuck in a niche area of finance (such as PE, growth equity, VC, distressed credit, etc.) as they are all pretty cyclical and ideally I want to have a set of skills where I can leverage my way into such opportunities when they're worthwhile without being glued to one in particular.
What is the ultimate end goal of the IB -> PE route? sounds like it's just 'exit opp' after 'exit opp' after 'exit opp' with no entrepreneurial end in sight unless you start your own fund. Would love to hear thoughts/opinions.
What kind of PE we talking abt here. At least give a range of the latest fund. We talking KKR analyst program or some search fund. Also its pre rare to see Big 4 lateraling to the relevant IBs (EBs and GS/MS) no matter how good u are with networking since ur competing against someone who did IB at banks like Citi or Jefferies.
It sounds like ur all over the place. "...buy-side as an entrepreneur and make real money with distressed credit or angel investing". Wtf does that sentence even mean. Ur gonna raise a fund thats gonna do either distressed credit or angel investing? It doesnt sound like ur familiar with either.
The entrepreneurial side - nothing in particular abt IB/PE but it gives u pedigree (important for raising money for start up) and a good income to bootstrap ur idea. There is also nothing that trains you like a year in IB/PE. Plenty of ppl leave after one year to join start ups or start their own.
Not sure what u meant by the KKR thing (they arent even known for REPE) but if ur competing in auctions with REPE funds like KKR in 10 years with u and ur bois money then u guys are prob richer than 99% of the ppl in all of MFPE tbh. Btw MM deals are usually from $100M to $500M, process usually ran by bankers, and any schmuck who raised a 1-10BN latest fund will be contacted for interest. But i also dont know who u and ur dawgs are so who knows.
The ultimate end goal of the 2+2 or 2+2+2 is to fully derisk ur career so u are free to do anything. Although most ppl just do PE for life for various reasons.
Anyways from reading ur post it doesnt sound like u know too much careers in finance besides that ppl say its good. Absent of knowing what kind of PE funds u have offers at, it doesnt sound like u have much choices. (honestly if u have to decide between a PE offer and Big 4 accounting, take the big 4 offer because the fund is prob so dogshit that it is mentioned in the same sentence as big 4 lmao)
Yea the PE offers are for 5-10B funds but pay 6 figures which is better than the big 4. And ik people who did the big 4 or MM PE switch to banking so idk ur point. My point is over the course of my life I wanna switch to getting clients / doing deals for myself and I think being a CPA/JD would prepare me for that than being in the 2+2+2 rat race competing against a bunch of Ivy mf’s who all want the same shit and wasting another $200k on an MBA to look better for corporate America.
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