Career Advice

I currently work for a sponsor with one portco focused on acquiring financial services businesses. I joined in the fall of 2024, and since then, we've completed more than 10 add-ons. We have another firm under exclusivity that, if completed, would essentially double the size of the portco from a financial perspective. If we exited the investment today, it would already represent a great return.

My partners met earlier in their careers at a MF PE firm and went on to build strong track records at middle-market private equity firms, primarily investing in services businesses. Working alongside them and seeing what they've accomplished has been a major reason I've wanted to stay.

Roughly 85% of my time is spent on the existing portfolio company and 15% on evaluating new platforms. We've submitted a few IOIs for new platforms, but because we're not investing out of a traditional fund, there isn't the same pressure to deploy. As a result, my partners don't seem to be in any particular rush to complete platform #2.

That's where I'm struggling. My near-term compensation is significantly below market, with the expectation that it will move to market once we complete a 2nd platform. I understood the trade-off when I joined, but I also expected that by this point we would have completed, or at least be much closer to completing, platform #2.

I started a business several years ago that has done very well and has more than supplemented the income I've given up by joining the sponsor. I'm making more from my business than I am from my investing role. The complication is that I genuinely enjoy investing much more and would prefer to continue building my career in PE.

I'm now trying to figure out the right path forward. I've been networking aggressively with LMM and MM PE, but so far I haven't found the right opportunity.

I'm debating the below:

1. Stay where I am and stick it out until we complete platform #2, hoping that the economics and trajectory improve from there
2. Continue networking and recruiting for another LMM/MM PE role
3. Use B-school as an opportunity to reset and recruit into a larger or more established PE platform

Given the experience I'm getting, the success of the existing investment, and the opportunity cost of staying - would love advice on the 3 options (or if there are more options it would be great to hear)..