Non-finance post-PE exits
Has anyone pivoted out of finance completely after PE? What I mean is not even corp dev/M&A at a corporate. Realized PE is not for me and would like to explore roles outside of finance with decent WLB and ok comp.
For Tech Exit Opps, I’d take a look at Business Operations / Special Projects / Corp Strategy roles. Names for these functions are nebulous and will be very specific to the company (eg Business Operations will look very different at Uber where you’re launching new fleets of drivers in new geographies vs Business Operations at Scale AI where you might need to manage programs for how offshore workers will label data). A lot of people in these functions are ex-IB, PE, Consulting, B School so they’re highly driven and ambitious. WLB is a lot better, you’ll usually be done by 5/6pm, and culturally you’ll actually work with normal easy-going people. The longer term trajectory is to become a COO, GM, or CEO but its a slog of politics and stakeholder management on your way there. Your importance in an org will be based on how well you navigate politics and show executive presence vs sourcing and closing XYZ deals in PE so that can be a downside, based on experience of several close friends in Tech. Comp will be less than PE (~$300K+ / yr at a mid-senior level) but you can make millions with the right equity packages over time.
product management
How does one transition to it coming from IB/PE? Doing an MBA?
Three most common paths: 1) Get an MBA, 2) Go in Strat Fin / BizOps and pivot into PM, 3) Network your way into a PM interview at a lesser known tech company and lateral to a better company after a couple years.
Note that the PM route is often glorified as a way to have influence at a young age, but this will also vary tremendously based on the company you’re at. It’s difficult to quantify your value at larger companies where your scope is limited (eg Facebook PMs that work on a specific button within their Business messenger unit have very little measurable ROI) vs smaller companies where you’re the sole PM responsible for an entire product surface (eg early days of Epic Games PM responsible for the “Shop” in Fortnite — aka the entire monetization strategy with immediate ROI from P&P). The former category of PMs were the first to get cut in 2022 layoffs because of the lack of measurable ROI.
I’d also add that you have to really love product, design, user experience because its a less flexible role to pivot out of. The exception to this is that VCs often hire good PMs as early stage investors due to their understanding of product strategy when talking to founders
My friend went to Princeton undergrad, then HBS and then PE and after that went into the travel industry as CEO of a company.
Damn must be nice
Did he buy it via Search Fund?
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