It gets better. My story.
Obligatory ignore title.
Don't know how long or short this will be, so [apologies for the long post] or [you're welcome for being so eloquent].
Used to live on these forums, so wanted to do my little part to give back.
My story is not dissimilar to many of you. I don't know what the ranking nerds are calling some Big10 programs now, but began there, went to GS, an "EB" (God, I hate that term), and then a UMM fund. About two weeks in, I knew PE wasn't for me but sucked it out for the program while I started moonlighting starting my "side hustle" - absolutely brutal trying to do two (three, really?) jobs at once, but I am glad I did.
I've been out of the finance game for some time now, but that groundwork of getting my business to a point where I was comfortable enough to "jump" was critical. In my first year of running my business full time, I cleared more than I had made cumulatively in my entire career since (from intern to senior associate). Doing that then set me up for my next role - I became the US CFO of one of the world's largest companies - we had divisions from O&G, telecom, etc. - was a super unique experience (especially at such a young age). Eventually, and here I am now, I run an AI company with a multi-billion dollar valuation.
During my finance years, I'd always had imposter syndrome - I was the only non-Ivy or D1 athlete on my first desk; even when I could run circles around peers technically and personality-wise, I felt like I never belonged. There's nothing you can do to beat that little voice of doubt inside your head, especially when you don't have the cock-sure arrogance of an MD's nephew who grew up on Easy Street.
The background, grit, and know-how gained from doing these roles has set me up so much. Sticking it out for a few years has much more value than you think.
My advice to fellow monkeys:
- Name matters. If you don't want to / don't end up staying in finance, no one knows what Evercore is - GS, MS, JPM, those are what people actually know.
- I had a PE analyst offer to a megafund in undergrad and someone told me, "you'll always be able to say you started your career at GS... and I've never heard of [insert fund name here] anyway"
- Try things before you think you're ready. If I hadn't left and started my business, I'd still be at that fund, making a good living, but not really "getting ahead."
- It set me up for what I do now, for which I'm thankful, but I'm even more thankful for leaving
- Memento Mori. There is more to life than money and prestige. The guy from North Dakota State University (rank this, nerds!) who sold his business for a few yards will have more than you and he didn't suck peen in JPM's M&A group!
- Focus on your health, relationships, and hobbies
- Be decisive. Too many people cannot or will not make a decision. Trust yourself - you're smarter than you think and you mentally chose something for a reason. Place your bet.
- You can brute force any decision to be the right one.
- Plan ahead. I certainly couldn't have planned for any of this - it's just what life has thrown at me - but don't blindly walk into the 2-2-2 and expect to just magically figure it out. What do you like? What don't you like? Start there and build your ideal role.
I don't have much more to say and this post evolved a bit. Happy to answer any questions or give advice if any young guns have any thoughts.
At what level on the path do you think people generally have all (or enough) of the skillset needed to be successful on their own? Any skills you got to ~70% and wish you had more?
It did not - we barely competed in the Big10! Happy to help and answer any questions, though.
Edited above for Qs. Go Sparty. Shooters shoot.
I am biased as I left as a senior associate - I was leading deals, got to be pretty hands on with PortCos (had to deal with a troubled PortCo, hence why it felt like a third job), and had a lot of trust - kind of operating as a VP. Now, in the age of AI, I think you can accelerate your learning / impact meaningfully.
Depending on experience (which can be more important than name as I mentioned above if you don't do anything at your name-brand firm), I'd argue an associate has a lot of the skills he needs to leave PE or go do his own thing. How many associates have launched search funds or independant sponsors? The age of AI + having true decision-making ability is massive these days.
It looks like you're a VP - I think you should have enough of a skillset, depending what type of fund. I'd say hone decision-making a get to a point where superiors don't need to make any decisions and they just trust your judgement.
As for skills I wish I had sharpened is trust. PE is very much trust-but-verify and when dealing with other people's money as a fiduciary, I was hyper vigilant, but when it came to my own path, I was too trusting - people will always try to find a way to F you.
I was never really a golfer, but started really appreciating the game for business. Yes, you can get time with someone for 4 hours and they cannot get away from you, but I get to see if you cheat yourself (lie about your score) when it doesn't matter - if you'll do that, you'll cheat me.
Nice post but really interested to dig more because it feels all quite remote… what kind of side business did you run that survived on just your time during the weekends - how did you come across the opportunity
Why go back into corporate after launching your own gig successfully - how many years between those roles and how did being an operator set you up for CFO life on a listed company
Reason for asking all the above - it sounds in your case like quite an obvious thing to launch a side gig and do it successfully - but I think it’s quite a massive mental hurdle for most professionals
Intentionally vague. It was more than nights and weekends - I would try and step away from the desk when I could. A lot of time management skills needed. I was doing corporate finance / FP&A work, largely, for clients. I helped one of my clients negotiate a massive deal and that helped propel me a bit.
Went back to corporate as the opportunity to lead a massive global finance function was too compelling (plus a lot of equity).
Thank you and sorry i likely edited post while you were replying
What got you into AI, with a background in presumably pretty vanilla businesses (i.e., non-tech)? Especially given minimal domain knowledge - unless its some sort of AI/finance intersection
Any regrets about working so hard through all of your 20s?
How did you get clients for your corp finance / FP&A work? I'm looking to get into solo finance related consulting for companies as well but haven't had luck yet landing a client.
Can you explain in more detail how you started the business while in UMM PE? I'm curious what gave you the idea, how you actually got it off the ground, and if there were any moments when you simply couldn't run the business due to PE obligations? It seems like this would have to be a unique style of business that would allow for variable effort depending on your other obligations. Also how did you communicate with the first clients that you were actively a PE associate
North Dakota state, Doug Burgum is that you?
Can we dm? Your story resonates deeply. I see you don't have a profile/posted anonymously but would be very meaningful to connect further with you.
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