Co-Investing vs Buyout

I just wrote a large blurb on this thread (https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/private-equity/unpredictability-o…), but will add to the above that VP is likely in the $400-600K cash comp range (for the Harbourvest, AlpInvest, etc. funds based in NY) + carry which will be very fund dependent.

Deal velocity can be very high but associates will likely only have enough bandwidth (and brain cells) to focus on one at a time; the juggling happens more at the mid/senior level.  

I would disagree with the above comment that life as a mid/senior level is similar to direct PE.  In co-invest, you are able to leverage the GP's work instead of creating it yourself.  It takes me much less time to dissect a GP's model and pull out the 10 relevant drivers to focus on in diligence, than to build it myself based on conclusions of the market work and other primary diligence.  The "diligence" is effectively reading GP IC decks, third party DD reports, and creating question lists for a handful of GP deal team calls.  I am not creating management schedules, reviewing drafts of QoE and trying to define EBITDA adjustments, doing market readouts, or any of the other regular DD tasks in direct PE that can be very time consuming.  Typically, that translates to much more manageable WLB, although short syndications or active deals may result in some late nights from time to time ("late" being generally stopping around 8-10pm; it's very rare to have situations where we need to pull all-nighters).  There is also minimal travel and management team wining & dining / sourcing, which can consume most of a mid/senior's time in direct PE.

I would echo that you are responsible for everything your junior does, so having strong support is essential and will factor a lot into how good or terrible your life is.

At the senior level, there is also much less focus on relationship building, sourcing deals, and thesis generation.  To make partner at a PE firm, you typically have to establish a new investment niche/vertical, source a good deal, and prove yourself capable of building relationships with management teams and convincing them of your value creation strategy.  This is where most people wash out after VP/Principal, as it's not an easy thing to do.  The senior role in co-invest more focused on execution and simple relationship management with GP IR (whose jobs are to interact with you), so I would say overall less pressure and an easier path to partner (though for this reason, no one leaves, so it's important to join a growing platform).  If you're at a FoF, you may get roped into fundraising and are expected to be productive there to be promoted.

Agree that WLB is highly shop-dependent and certain places can be very sweaty.  Those are the places that have extremely fast fund velocity (raising and deploying every ~2-3 years) and so you are rewarded with more TC and space in the team for promotion.

Source: I work in co-investment at a SWF/pension, and used to work at an UMM PE fund