Dumb guys in LMM PE making more than IB?
Had a friend who landed an analyst role at a lower middle market PE firm right out of school. Honestly, he’s not someone I’d ever have picked as a future millionaire.
The firm’s strategy is pretty simple: buy small mom-and-pop businesses, roll them up, use a lot of leverage, and eventually sell at the platform level. He’s told me the work isn’t particularly technical compared to what I’m doing in investment banking.
Fast forward a few years, and he’s now getting carry. Every exit he makes several million dollars. Meanwhile, I’m in BB IB working significantly longer hours, building complex models, running live deals, and making less than he is.
Has anyone else seen this happen? Are there really LMM shops where junior employees receive meaningful carry that ends up being worth life-changing money, or is my friend’s situation just an outlier?
that's just life. you're most likely achieving what your heart desired a few years ago and that's ok. He landed at a LMM PE shop, which has a lot more opportunities for an asymmetric upside vs going to a BB, which is still good in terms of comp, but has less room for the 1% opportunities like your friend has captured .
The economy has long moved on from the days of hard work (compared to others) = top 1% outcomes. Although it's a small amount of people, people in their 20s and 30s have more opportunities than ever to earn as much, or more than your avg IB analyst - VP via being a content creator (even without many followers, if they have strong engagement), starting a business in a niche area, good looking women doing OF or your friend who chose a traditional path, but has captured the asymmetric upside which comes from working in a non institutionalised firm).
That’s statistical outlier. I work in MM PE, prob couple years older than you, have pretty good network from IB to MF PE to LMM / micro cap PE. and there’s very few ppl that have a setup like what you’re describing. Not sure exactly what tenure or firm your friend is in, but that’s not the norm.
Agreed, unless "fast forward a few years" means he's now director+ and has significant carry points, several million per exit sounds unusually high
They do add-ons at 4x and exit at 8x, using roughly 80% leverage (debt, seller notes, and earnouts). For a $30M EBITDA platform, entry EV would be $120M, with only ~$24M of equity required. At exit, the platform would be worth ~$240M EV. The firm is extremely lean—one investment professional across two platforms, reporting directly to the partner with no analysts or VPs—and receives equity in the deals.
They do add-ons at 4x and exit at 8x, using roughly 80% leverage (debt, seller notes, and earnouts). For a $30M EBITDA platform, entry EV would be $120M, with only ~$24M of equity required. At exit, the platform would be worth ~$240M EV. The firm is extremely lean—one investment professional across two platforms, reporting directly to the partner with no analysts or VPs—and receives equity in the deals.
Unless the fastforward is 10+ years, i’m highly skeptical an associate in the LMM is making $1M+ of carry in totality, yet alone per exit.
They do add-ons at 4x and exit at 8x, using roughly 80% leverage (debt, seller notes, and earnouts). For a $30M EBITDA platform, entry EV would be $120M, with only ~$24M of equity required. At exit, the platform would be worth ~$240M EV. The firm is extremely lean—one investment professional across two platforms, reporting directly to the partner with no analysts or VPs—and receives equity in the deals.
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