BD PE to Execution PE/Growth
Is it possible to move internally or externally from a BD/Sourcing role in PE to a more execution type of role within PE or Growth down the line? Would having a year of banking make this transition possible?
Bump
Anyone have any insight on this?
BD guy here. It's not a particularly common move at all, but hey anything is possible in the lower-middle and middle market. Sometimes it happens at the highest levels, e.g., BD Partner at MiddleGround just moved over to the investment team. Having a year of banking (execution) experience would probably be very helpful. Making the switch to Growth Equity is probably the easier target as well vs. straight buyout. I've heard of some firms where their BD role is more of a hybrid and does execution work for portco add-ons but that also seems to be very rare.
Hey thank you this is super helpful. Did you start in BD or did you move over after banking?
My career path is a bit meandering but yes it did include some time in banking.
BD @ buyout shop here. I think there are two types of teams: 1) BD teams who are purely banker coverage and 2) BD teams that are true investment professionals that focus on banker coverage, thesis development, and initial analysis (i.e. up to first round bid). The latter of these teams would be an easy transition to growth, as most GE analysts are sourcing heavy anyways. However, if you want to jump to a buyout execution team, it would be a tough putt (and almost impossible intra-company). The best way to do this would be a year+ of IB in an industry group.
Thanks for sharing. Super helpful. I’m curious what is the comp at the associate/ VP level? Have you noticed any gaps in pay compared to some of your counterparts at growth shops like TA or Summit?
Comp data is pretty opaque for BD PE unfortunately, so unsure at those levels. The pay structure is very different from growth. For growth shop sourcing roles, your sourcing bonuses are a much larger portion of your total comp (think $1k/million invested) whereas in PE your bonus is much less dependent on closing deals (and as a result the sourcing bonuses are much less). If you source multiple deals in a year in growth (at the shops you mentioned) you'll have a crazy year, and if not it'll be pretty average comp.
Holding fund size constant I would give the edge to PE BD comp, but of course you'll have outliers.
Aiming to transition from banking into PE BD this summer and have been networking pretty heavily -- would I be able to learn more about your experience via DM? Appreciate it!
Yes, feel free to PM me.
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