With on-cycle looming, I wanted some thoughts on whether it makes sense to pursue a high growth, up and coming MM fund (EX: Arcline, Covehill, or other $2bn - $4bn fund with 40-100 employees) with the goal of ultimately staying in PE and becoming partner, or pursuing a brand name PE fund first to preserve optionality. For context, I come from a non-target school and work at an EB (think LAZ/EVR/PJT).
Currently going through pros and cons similar to those outlined in this post: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/mm-pe-vs-mf but want to hear more perspectives.
Depends on the MM, but generally IMO brand comes first as an associate. Chances are you aren’t making partner at the fund you’re an associate at, and brand names help with b-school, VP roles, etc.
Plenty of people that go from associate at UMM/MF -> VP at a MM but very few the other direction.
There’s a few MMs that might be different, but my personal view is a bunch of MMs grew a ton the last few years (especially those heavy in tech) but might have some tougher times ahead.
Thanks for your response. I agree with a lot of what you said. Thoughts on well-known UMM vs MF like BX, Apollo, WP, etc? I don't mind the grind but I don't want to hate my life so much over the next 2-3 years that I burn out and no longer want to be in the industry. I really like what I've heard about funds like Bain, Roark, GA, etc. as far as culture, but worry that the tradeoff between culture or hours and brand name/exit ops is too steep.
Not much difference between elite UMM like veritas francisco partners etc and MF.
Respect this a lot, bc I conversely know that MF-like grind again after IB could do things to my mental health that would far outweigh comp and brand lol. Feels weird to therefore be intentionally not going for them (albeit crapshoot anyway) but hey
who are some of the MMs that you referenced as having grown a ton the last few years and might have tougher times ahead?
I would take Arcline...
What are the pros and cons behind this take?
Fund 1: $1.5B (Mar 2019)
Fund 2: $2.8B (Feb 2021)
Fund 3: $4.5B (Mar 2023)
They won't be middle market much longer...
Picked an up and comer instead of a MF and regret it immensely. Would be in a much better spot if I’d just gone with the brand name and bigger fund. Really hard to move up but east to move down
Sorry to hear. Could you elaborate? In what sense has it been hard to move where you want to go? Are HHs reluctant, or what’s the issue?
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