I have an interview with a company owned by Blackstone, Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman. Is it common to move up the ranks into the PE company? The upward mobility is intriguing to me. Zero chance or does it happen over years of climbing the ladder?
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Ever heard of Jon Gray?
This was him working for Jersey Mikes, a blackstone portfolio company.
He worked 100hr weeks for 6 months to grind his way from the portfolio company to the PE firm.
The truth is, this very rarely happens, becuase surprisingly, the people who are qualified to make sandwiches rarely have the skillset required to manage a 1.1trn fund. But clearly there are outliers.
Jon Gray moved up the ranks at Hilton starting as a maid as per what I’ve heard.
What AI generator did you use for that?
What did I tell you. All of blackstone’s best came from Jersey Mikes. People just don’t discuss it becuase it’s taboo.
I caught Joe Baratta sneaking back in there today to work a half shift in-between IC meetings.
You’ll never have the chance to join the PE investment team, but you might have a shot at moving up the ranks and joining as an operating partner (after many yrs of experience) in the function you have expertise in (eg GTM, Product, IT, etc).
"Never"? Ok
I'm not saying you can never join a PE investment team, but if you're working at KKR's portco for example (or any of the other MF's you listed), they're not going to hire you for their investment team from their portfolio company. You can search linkedin and tell me if I'm wrong.
These are some of the most conservative places in terms of hiring at the associate and VP level (former bankers and consultants basically).
You could do good work where you are, lateral to a investment bank, get some M&A experience, then lateral to a LMM PE fund though.
Being the corporate development guy at Medline isn't going to get you to an investing seat at any of these three funds.
So you’re saying it’s a slim chance but still a possibility. Maybe if even 1% chance I’ll take it.
No, actually he didn't say there's a slim chance. There's no chance.
You could very well be qualified and be able to do the job just like everyone already at the fund. But that doesn't matter.
The incumbent late 20s / 30s guys in these seats like to gate keep like they're doing god's work and no one else could possibly do it. They turn their nose up at you, not because of your competence or skill or talent, but because you don't look like them (private all boys high school -> IVY / other private college / top 5 state school "with honors" -> 2-3 years IB -> current).
Yeah - I get this.
What is a state school?
Based on the post and replies this is 100% engagement bait. 6/10.
My intentions are pure.
Medline?
Not common from what I've seen to move up PE portco ranks at large companies like that.
I have seen plenty of movement in the LMM space and have seen finance / strategy folks get great portco opportunities this way over the years. Granted, I think a lot of them got lucky being in the right place at the right time (grew a growing company right out of the GFC recession, 08-12, that ended up doing really well in the late 2010s / early 2020s). Not sure if any of them got meaningful equity which even 1% could easily have been in the 7 figure range.
Your best bet is to find a 200 person company that is PE backed and is in the growth stage (ideally backed by growth equity investors). And hopefully get a small equity component and move up the ranks as it changes sponsor ownership.
Ok - thanks for the insight.
Is this the same Isiah that has been a big WSO user for like 10y++?
Seems like same profile pic and diamond emojis in the name
Yes bro it is me. Was in corp finance/consulting for a bit. Then was in healthcare for a while - now getting a late MBA. I’m applying to a variety of different roles for summer internships next year. If I could get into PE directly I’ll take it, but interviewing for a bunch of different roles across the board. I would prefer to be in the healthcare industry in a finance role.
Yeah for how much he posts, I assumed he was in a finance role already. Didn't realize he was LARPing
I started my finance career in 2006.
As others have said, it's highly uncommon to move from from portco to fund in such a direct way like "we need another VP, call up that Corp Dev guy at the portco and see if he's interested."
I won't say impossible, but unlikely enough that it's not the play.
The play is, take a role at a portco where the PE guys value your contributions ("thank god we finally filled that seat with a go-getter, the last guy sucked"). After you kill it for them, you have a valuable add to your network that can help you look for other good roles or use you as an operating partner.
It's a longer, harder game than what you probably had in mind . . not an adjacency play (adjacency plays almost never work) but a chance to gain experience and perform for people who can help you.
Yeah my context wasn’t to envision switching within a year or two. I’m willing to put in 5-10 years but thinking of my long term plan and prospects of moving up the ladder. I like the concept of PE and the business model. I have previously worked in PE for a small company, but was not in the role I wanted at that company and upward mobility only consisted of taking over the whole company, which didn’t seem feasible at the time.
Here's the funny thing....a PE firm absolutely should hire talented people from their portcos if they have the same modeling skills etc as a typical banking hire. There is a woeful amount of people in PE who fundamentally don't understand how their industries work or how a company operates day to day as everyone is hired straight from banking and has no operational experience
Despite that, they stil won't hire you. They have a formula. Stick with it and don't deviate.
Have never seen a portco employee that could model better than even a first year analyst
Yeah I mean I’m casting a wide net. Interviewing in IB PE VC Corp Dev Corp Fin and consulting, but consulting is last in my interests unless it is MBB.
Ironically, this is the opposite approach you should take. Pick one thing (e.g., IB) and commit to recruiting for just that. It's too difficult to recruit for everything and you'll be spread too thin to the point where you won't present well at any of your interviews.
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