From Boutique PE Intern to Key Player: How do I make the jump?

Hey everyone, looking for your insights on a somewhat unique situation. I’m currently a sophomore in college, but I’ve been interning for the past 10 months at a very new, boutique PE shop (about 15 months old). It’s basically the founding team, the investors, and the CEO and I that were the only outside hires made. We’re tight-knit, and my performance has been very much praised by everyone involved for the work I do (cap raising/biz dev/operations/deal sourcing & execution).

Looking ahead, our firm’s targeting $100–$300 million in acquisitions over the next year, and I’m eager to step up from intern to a more official role with real responsibilities and comp. The team keeps saying they want to give me more - but I sense the student status is the sticking point. I’d love any advice on how to best proceed to get to that next level.

Any experiences or lessons learned from folks who were in a similar boat would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance for the help!

3 Comments
 
Most Helpful

Great that you seem to have your foot in the door at a good shop, enjoy the work and the people you’re working with. Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about how to take on more and more responsibilities at your level. Continue to do good work and build relationships with the team, but you’re literally only a sophomore. Enjoy college man. I graduated early and had the same, “gotta get after it asap” kinda mindset. Trust me, you got the rest of your life to work. You’re already miles ahead of your peers. Keep it up, but be sure to stop and smell the roses along the way.

 

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