AKKR pay and choosing to stay

Would you guys go to AKKR even though the pay is much much lower than your peers at other shops? (225K vs 300K+) Would you go to help you leave afterwards or would it be much harder to lateral? Any color on the lateral environment for PE? Jumping to a senior associate after your associate years via lateral?

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From what I know about AKKR, going for the experience + lateraling may well be the ideal way to approach it. They are SWEATY but the upside is you'll get a ton of execution reps across platforms and add-ons and probably better quality of experience in 2-3 years than you might elsewhere. 

Can't comment on the current state of the lateral market (much less guess where it will be in 2025/2026) but it's a well-regarded enough shop you should be able to get looks no problem

 

I have a few friends at AKKR. Where would you hope to lateral to? I think taking a look at their historical exits on LinkedIn would be a good idea. If you're hoping to move to a software/tech-focused shop you should get the same recruiter looks as any other associate. From what I hear, you'll get great execution experience as an Associate but there tends to be busy/extensive work for a lot of their processes. Culture is apparently decent (though very much team-specific) and hours are expectedly long. 

 

I think that's totally attainable and you shouldn't worry about getting noticed by tech shops - people have had several conversations with HHs who speak highly of AKKR's execution associate role and regularly share tech opportunities on both coasts.

It's quite split across the associate class. You can see on LinkedIn that the median tenure of investors is quite short relative to other firms - either you use it as a stepping stone or stay for very long (no in-between). For those who stay 3 years to Senior Associate, the comp structure scales very well and you get much much more ownership within your sub-team which most enjoy.

Would caveat that if you're a woman, the culture is very much on the broey/sporty side. For those who enjoy the office culture, there are a lot of pull factors to stay beyond the associate level. 

 

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