IB or Multi-Strategy Fund if End Goal is Distressed Investing?

I’ll be attending a Top 10 MBA program (Class of 2022) and planning to advance or slightly pivot my career path, which has been PERE -> Corp Dev (involved in strategies beyond real estate / hotels). Haven’t had IB experience yet but know to advance further in Corp Dev or pivot to generalist private equity or hedge funds, 3-5 years of IB work experience at an elite or BB bank wouldn’t hurt. The program I’m pursuing has about a dozen recent alum at hedge funds (several that may be looking to hire in a post-COVID / early-stage recession world) and even more so at PE shops. I am confident I could get a job at a multi-strategy fund but none are in reach (aside from a few PERE-specific mega funds) that have the brand name recognition of a BB or EB. By way of background, my end goal is to run or help run a fund focused on distressed investing (industry agnostic).

A couple questions: Immediately Post-MBA, would you recommend going the IB route or gunning for a position at a PE or hedge fund? If the IB route, would you advise targeting a Restructuring, M&A, or industry group? Asking as I want to focus my networking efforts heading into the program.

 
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So I think doing RX banking out of the gate is the most direct path to eventually ending up in the distressed buyside game. you should aim for that one. I’m not sure if it’s the case for all HFs but a lot are reluctant to hire people with several years of non-related experience, especially post MBA (I classify non-related as non-RX, non -PE/Credit buyside). so the easiest bet is to do something directly related eg. RX

 

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