Whether to Leave a Primarily Sourcing Role at a Middle Market Private Equity Firm

Hi All,

The summary: I'm currently in a Sourcing / Junior Biz Dev type of analyst role at a well known Growth PE firm. the role is 100% sourcing and admin with minimal diligence exposure and no execution / modeling. I'm starting to grow concerned about how applicable my skills would be outside of venture & sales.

The questions: 1) is it possible to swing a strategy or corp dev. type of role at a more mature tech firm after being here for 1-2 years? 2) Are there other popular paths that people from primarily sourcing roles find themselves other than VC? 3) Would it be wise for me to apply to B school after a year here (prior experience is 1 year as a data scientist and 2.5 years as an analyst then associate at an early stage VC that has since shut down)

The background: 7 months ago My early stage fund shut down. After receiving tremendous support from those around me and good advice from this thread (link to thread), I was able to find a position at a GA/TA/TCV/Summit in their Buyout Practice. I have been so grateful to find myself back on my feet surrounded by world class investors at a firm that was a step up from where I was, albeit in a lower title. I've realized however that the work that I am doing is just not the kind of work that I want to do. Most of my day is spent in Salesforce reading account updates and emailing 50+ companies per day with hopes of getting 10-15 of them to agree to a call, compiling call notes, and sending them to people who will execute on the deal if there is one. It would be one thing if the role was preparation for diligence and and eventually execution, but the firm has made it clear that they do not intend to promote from analyst to associate here. This is a great role for the right person. Smart,fresh out of college students with outgoing, salesy personalities, eager to find themselves beside deal-makers would learn a ton in my seat, a seat I am blessed to have. But that's not me. I'm 4 years out of undergrad with very little in the way of quantitative analysis on my resume after my first job. Sourcing in growth feels very different than sourcing in venture, where we were expected to do market diligence, build personal brands by meeting CEOs in person, and participate in investment committee. I know I could stomach this job if I was at a smaller buyout fund where I had the opportunity to do BOTH sourcing and execution and there was a path forward both within my firm but also at others, but the combination of feeling like I'm building no transferable skills and knowing that there is no opportunity for advancement makes me feel like I will find myself a year and a half from now at 28 years old having worked a dead end job.

With all of this said leaving presents its own set of questions. I don't want the last two entries on my resume to be a place I've burnt bridges with and another that doesn't exist. I'm weighing the option of sticking with it just so these guys could write me a recommendation to B-school.

Any advice would be great. Thanks all.