MM IB to HF - Advice?

Hey, current A1 at an MM IB here looking to break into to HFs. I'm interested in your thoughts on trying to time the move, as I understand that HFs are generally looking for analysts from top BB groups, and I may need some more time to build experience. On the one hand, I could work through networking and recruiting in the next few months, when my workload is arguably a bit lower, or I could wait a year or two (or even to As1, potentially) when I have a lot more experience to leverage. Basically, I want to balance building experience against not missing the boat on recruiting, and I'm wondering how much I should factor working at a middle market bank into that (or if that may play to my advantage at a small/mid-cap fund).

I would also appreciate any insight on the timing/cycles for this type of recruiting. Based on emails I've received from headhunters, and my general understanding, it seems a bit less structured and well in advance than PE recruiting.

For reference, my background is more quantitative/research-heavy than the typical IB analyst, if that would help me stand out to an L/S fund, but frankly not enough CS to be a true quant without going back for graduate school (not interested).

Would appreciate any thoughts on the process/advice from anyone who's been in a similar situation. There's a solid amount of discussion here from folks from BB backgrounds, but not a lot about MM.

Thanks in advance.