Boutique Investment Bank -> MM PE... Advice?

That's an oxymoron. If they were not highly regarded PE firms would not recruit from them. If PE firms did recruit from them they would be highly regarded and thus very competitive to get into.

if a boutique sucks, why would a PE firm want to hire their people?

bump

Are there any not very good looking chicks who are Victoria Secret models?

what level of PE fund are you alluding to?

~250MM - 500MM

Jeffries == Lazard and Evercore??...

not all boutiques are created equal, but william blair and harris williams place extremely well into pe, though not megafunds

twilightgirl - thanks for the insight. The firm I'm with is as well-respected as william blair and harris williams so i guess i have a shot to try later.

and yea - i would expect smaller funds vs. mega funds. it makes sense.

CompBanker should be able to pitch in here. I believe he jumped from MM to PE, and if I am not mistaken, his focus was in healthcare.

Probably wait until January but never hurts to establish some contacts early, especially at some of the smaller places.

Can reach out to smaller (BB in a good group they'll reach out to you.

Recruiting for PE will mainly begin late winter to spring of next year and extend into November with some slowness in August - the megafunds recruit the earliest, followed by the MM PE funds and growth equity shops usually

As analystforhire said, I would start reaching out to recruiters late this year or January of next year to establish a rapport. At BB's or top boutiques, they generally reach out to you, so if you aren't at one, you need to be proactive on reaching out to all recruiters, some will get back to you, others wont, don't be offended, just keep trucking.

When you talk to recruiters, make sure you are on your A game, as they are primary conduit for most buyside shops. Another option, and do this only if you are tight with your MDs, is to ask them for their help and if they know any contacts at funds you are targeting.

When reaching out to search firms, just write a simple email with your resume attached, you don't need to write a cover letter, but describe yourself a little and ask them if they can speak. If you can, reference someone the recruiter knows like, "you placed my friend John Smith at Tailwind Capital and he suggested I reach to you regarding potential opportunities in Private Equity" and so forth.

In regards which recruiters to contact, there are a bunch of threads on WSO for that.

Just because you're at a boutique doesn't mean recruiters won't contact you. LAZ, BX, GHL, etc. all get called on by the big search firms.

Use the search function, this has been discussed to death.

Better yet, go to some of those firms' websites and find out definitively for yourself instead of through the monkey vine...here are some to get started.

http://www.kkr.com/team/team_pei.cfm

http://www.carlyle.com/Geography/North%20America/item8478.html

i just went through the carlyle list of analysts and associates there are actually not that many GS or MS people a lot of them actually come from accounting or small MM boutiques!?

That KKR site is outdated as well - it doesn't have all of the 2009 class up.

lol UBS SF/LA? What kind of boutique are we talking about?

"...but the boutique IB to buyside path is definitely more challenging than if you were coming from a BB..."

err, is that still true if it's an elite boutique, say Lazard/Evercore, or say Blackstone?

the only boutique -> PE i've seen (on linkedin) were analysts at fairly well known but not necessarily elite boutiques.

I think it's much more common to see boutique -> MM/BB -> PE

Congrats on your offer!

I think the main driver of your decision should be based on whether or not the higher-ups are well-connected and willing to put in a good word for you come buyside recruiting. Theoretically, some well-connected vps and mds should be able to pick up a phone and get you an interview if they like you well enough.

What kind of position in TAS? Do you already have both offers?

Does the boutique IB have its own balance sheet which it invests (ie will you be working on deals from an investor's perspective - valuable for PE outlook) or is it just an advisory shop (you get technical analysis skills, but not that strong a sense of risk as you are paid to get deals done and are incentivised to leave your clients to manage the risks, unless the IB has a smaller client base and a lot of repeat business).

i'd probably take the bank, then either switch or consider an MBA. "A bird in your hand is better than 2 in the bush." If you don't have that TAS offered secured I wouldn't count on it. (Speaking from Big 4 exp. as well)

Thanks for the input everyone.

The TAS position is on the accounting due diligence side. I already have the offer, but my planned start date is a couple months out (to allow me to complete my audit busy season clients). The firm is strictly an advisory firm, it does not invest out of its balance sheet.

Apologies for the very late reply. I ended up going with the Boutique IB. It's worked out great thus far. I'm planning to stick it out here for a year or two, and then figure out my next move - not sure if that's going to be PE or a larger, more well known investment bank.

scgrad, have you been able to make the move to IB?

I'm in a similar situation, except I started off cycle after about 1.5 years in a BO role. My strategy thus far has been to try and lateral to a MM firm or larger boutique, but you seem to enjoy where you are situated. Sorry don't have a ton to add, but would be interest in hearing others opinions.

Would really like to hear more on this as well. Just got an offer from a industry (FIG) focused boutique (I guess that's implied by boutique). Works on some solid deals (anything from $55mn - $3BN M&A mandates) so I think deal exposure will be solid, especially given that with another analyst hire and myself- there will be 4 analysts and about 15MDs and 3 SVPs! But that being said, what is the path usually followed to break into PE (from a boutique)?

And duffmt6: when you say off-cycle, when exactly did you start? I think we might be in very similar roles (well down the road anyway) as I have a potential start date of mid-September. Would that be considered off-cycle? Also, so I take it your plan is to transition into a bigger bank (BB/MM)? Are you convinced that is the only option coming from a boutique? Any luck with the headhunters and/or networking?

Thanks guys.

Gentlemen,

I was exciting to see a thread like this pop-up. I am in a similar situation (been at my boutique for just under a year) and I recently solicited some advice from CompBanker. I have pasted the applicable paragraphs below and redacted the names. However, feel free to PM me and maybe we could get an email chain going so we could discuss the specifics of our situation and offer advice/ideas.

"To address your concerns. First of all, I do think it makes sense to lateral. I completely understand your desire to stick around at your firm, but if PE is your end goal, you're taking a massive risk by staying at [firm name]. That doesn't mean it will be impossible, but recruiting for pre-MBA positions at PE firms is incredibly competitive and it is really uncommon to see someone outside of the well-known MM/BBbanks end up in PE, particularly if they don't have strong academic credentials or connections. This includes places such as [small, lower-MM PE firm] (one of my best buddies did two years at there -- he worked at [well-known MM IB]). Heck, go on almost any MM PE firm's webpage and look at their current associates; they hail from the usual players.

For your second question, whether you lateral or not, I still think you ought to network your way in. I got all of my interviews through networking and the same was true of my peers. That's generally the way PE firms work -- they don't necessarily have a resume drop or equivalent. As for headhunters, I don't like going through them at all, so I don't have the best feedback here. I wouldn't expect you to get much out of them coming from a boutique."

Hope that helps, and like I said, feel free to PM me.