Help for Wife: Consulting in PE
Really hoping someone on here can help with my wife's situation. My wife is currently a senior consultant at a solid lower middle market, management consulting firm (1k+ employees). She was promoted very quickly (the fastest in her class and tied for the firm record) out of undergrad due to high performance on multiple Fortune 500 clients that were very demanding. She was an engineer in her undergrad at a top 10 engineering program
Here is the long story short:
She is far overworked and underpaid. 2023 has been a really difficult year workload wise and she is exhausted. I am an in investment banking and have been encouraging her to consider being a consultant at a PE fund.
NOTE: NOT AT ALL ON THE INVESTMENT TEAM. She is not interested in finance--she loves helping companies solve problems and doing overall management consulting stuff
Further, she is not interested in working at a mega fund or anything close to it in terms of culture. We both chose LMM to boutique firms for a reason and want to stick to that. The problem this creates is few (if any) smaller PE funds have a dedicated in-house consulting team. I thought this was more common, but I am finding this more challenging than I expected to find.
She is open to options in Denver (where we currently live), Dallas (where we will be moving in the next couple of years once we start having kids), and remote options.
Does anyone have a list of PE firms we can look at? Hitting a brick wall right now and any advice / recommendations would be appreciated
Oh, it sounds like your wife is quite the superstar! It's not every day you hear about someone setting records at their firm. But I totally get it, even superstars need a break.
Now, onto your question. You're right that smaller PE firms often don't have dedicated in-house consulting teams. However, there are some middle market firms that do value the insights consultants can bring. Here are a few that come to mind:
This list isn't exhaustive, and I've seen consultants land jobs at other firms like KKR and Carlyle. Some consultants also go to newer shops like Cove Hill and AVALT.
I recommend looking on LinkedIn or company websites to see how each firm hires, and manage your tiers accordingly.
And remember, the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Moving to a PE firm can come with its own set of challenges. But if your wife is passionate about helping companies solve problems, it could be a great fit.
I hope this helps! And tell your wife to keep up the good work. The world needs more problem solvers like her.
Sources: Private Equity Recruiting Walkthrough – My Experience, Private Equity vs Consulting?, Family office Private Equity - help
I'd suggest you run some Pitchbook screens to generate names. Your criteria is actually fairly limiting as (i) those aren't cities with many funds, (ii) not every PE firm has in-house operations teams (probably < 50%). Obviously, ignore me if she prefers/open to remote, although recognize that ops is probably one of the only remote functions for many of these firms (perhaps excluding some back office functions), so it may have implications for culture, travel expectations, etc.
I'd also encourage you two to evaluate priorities before making the move. I wouldn't characterize PE ops teams as particularly "chill" compared to regular consulting (travel may or may not be less but clients (i.e., PE firms) are actually probably more demanding than sleepier F500s) and pay may or may not be better (probably better at MM/UMM/mega but debatable at LMM vs. pureplay consulting). Said differently, I'm not convinced this move will solve her burnout and comp desires. Further, you should deeply explore the promotion paths of PE ops, which are traditionally much more limited than a traditional consulting firm.
Appreciate the advice. My company just nixed Pitchbook unfortunately--that would have definitely been step one for me.
I agree on the potential for the move to be equivalent at best to what she is doing now, but thought maybe there were some funds out there that would fit the bill. Dallas definitely has more PE funds than many large cities
Ultimately, my thesis was that working at a PE fund with portcos would better align incentives and she wouldn't be treated as the "hired hand" that can be told to do any unreasonable request and be treated disrespectfully. Maybe my view is off, so would appreciate your insight if you know differently.
I get PEs can still be sweatshops, but had it in my mind that there were small shops where funds and portcos actually work hand-in-hand to grow the business with reasonable expectations on workload, being kind, etc.
Thanks again.
Ops teams in PE still work at a high pace...would encourage your life to look at corporates instead.
Try Bertram.
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