I'm considering leaving a boutique lower middle market IB in hopes of finding a business development / deal origination role in private equity. Anyone have any insight into these roles? What are the day-to-day responsibilities, comp structure, any carry, etc...?
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Comments (26)
key bump
I hate to give the answer "it depends" but it really is specific to each firm. Some you're the other side of the coin with sponsors coverage bankers, some you're cold calling companies all day. It really depends. I think it's a sweet gig in general, though.
Thanks for the feedback. What are the typical advancement opportunities out of this role? Is there any initial vetting of target companies or is it typically a pure cold-calling lead gen. role?
Again, I hate to say it, but it purely depends on the firm. For context, I'm in BD at a lower-mm firm and I work pretty closely with the investment team developing themes, reading/discussing CIMs, gathering market intel, etc. Most of my time is spent talking with bankers and getting deals into our pipeline, as well as managing our lender relationships. I catch up a lot with my peers as well to swap notes. Also traveling for conferences/events/city visits. In terms of advancement, will depend on how many professionals are above you and if the firm is growing (and growing its BD function). Plenty of lmm/mm shops have Partner/MD level BD professionals, which is my end goal. This is the exit opp for me (background is mostly lower-mm banking).
That's very helpful - appreciate it. If you're open to it, I'd love to chat on the phone at some point and pick your brain a bit more. If nothing else we can establish a line of communication on potential deals. Feel free to DM me so we can set something up.
Thanks for info. Just curious, not asking about your position in particular... but what would you say average pay is for associate in biz development at a PE firm? Just wondering what kind of (if any) pay cut we're talking versus being an IB associate.
Also, if you were in IB (and I think you said you were), how do you like your work now compared to your previous position? And if you like your work better now, can you please describe why? Thanks!
Giving the dreaded "it depends" again, but fund size and geography play a lot into it. Especially with the way bankers are comp'd now you'll almost certainly take a paycut, but Associate should be like 125-200+ all in (again, big range for size/geography). Banking Associate to BD Associate isn't exactly 1:1 in my mind, if you try to make the jump see if you can get a Sr. Associate or VP title.
I like it more than banking for sure. Way less stressful, much better hours. I travel a bit more which I don't mind - a few days a month on the road isn't bad. I love the social aspect of it going to conferences/networking events. Sometimes I miss being a little more in the weeds with companies but I try to read as much as I can (CIMs, industry reports, occasionally sit in for mgmt presentations) to stay close to the action and be able to discuss it intelligently, both internally and with bankers.
bump
definitely agree with the "it depends" comment. when I was interviewing for BD roles, some firms were looking for a glorified IR associate, while others had a dedicated team who handled all screening/CIM review, and banker/corporates coverage. I ended up taking the latter and it pays really well and is an awesome gig with much better hours than the deal team while still allowing you to work hand in hand with deal leads to develop investment theses and screen opportunities. I'm at a top UMM shop.
What is your comp structured like? And what kinda range is total comp??
Structure is similar to deal team associates, bonus target is ~100% of base. Total comp expectations for a first year associate are ~$250k
Hi there! Can I DM tin with some questions?
Hi there! Can I DM you with some questions
Sure thing
"What do they do"
1) Call referral sources
2) Email referral sources
3) Meet referral sources
4) Rinse
5) Repeat
I work in BD at a PE firm and enjoy the role. Day to day responsibilities revolve around sourcing good deals for the fund and the fund's portcos. Work directly with C-suite of all our portcos and work really closely with the full investment team, understanding where we want to invest and evaluating/discussing current deals. Don't do any modelling, structuring, or execution work (I'm included on deal updates, but don't really touch deals post-IOI). The more mundane part of the job is managing deal processes (like turning down deals with bankers). In terms of comp, it obviously depends significantly on the role, firm, and experience. Typically, I'd expect a discount to the investment team, and carry at VP+ roles. Almost all compensation packages are heavily weighted towards bonus, and some firms will have full discretionary bonuses, and some will have metrics associated with payouts ($2,500 for every LOI submitted on a deal you sourced). Happy to discuss directly if you'd like.
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