Career Advice Needed

Looking for some career advice here....

I started my career at a big four accounting firm in DC. I have a CPA and a Masters in Accounting from the same state school. I did two years there and started interviewing at middle market investment banks in the DC area (Houlihan Lokey & Raymond James). During the interview process, I was introduced by a VP at HL to a small $50M Venture Capital/Growth Equity Fund that focuses on the ADG market doing minority investments ($5M-$10M for 50% ownership). I hit it off with the partners and was offered the job. I am currently going on two years as an Associate now. The firm is very well regarded in the space and I've built a good network, however because the fund is smaller, my compensation is well below market. I also am dealing with the same type of companies and types of deals and am afraid I'll pigeon hole myself in this industry. However, my hours are very good and have a good relationship with my GP's who I believe would help me with introductions should I choose to leave.

I would ideally like to invest in the Consumer Products, but I'm not sure how big of a jump that is for someone with my experience. I believe I have a few options at this point and was hoping to get some feedback from the forum.

• Go into CPG Investment Banking - could I get in at the associate level? Or would I have to start at the analyst? Would the experience after a year or two here help or set me back? Is this worth the sacrifice?

• Try to transition into a larger middle market firm doing a broader scope of deals. How competitive will this be for someone with my background? Some of the feedback I've gotten from CPG and TMT PE firms is that they value the banking experience over my deal experience. Not sure if this would be the case for all though.

• Get an MBA. Since I already have the Masters in Accounting, there are two One Year programs (Cornell and Northwestern) that I would qualify for assuming I test well. Would this be worth the money, or is it still an uphill battle? Note, I'm still paying off student loans and don't get paid a market PE salary now.

• Stay the course here. If I get to the VP level, will that make me more attractive to a larger firm that does CPG deals or will I only be able to transition to ADG firms.

Sorry for the novel, any advice would help! Thanks all.