Fundraising/IR vs PFG vs Wholesaler

Sharing my 2 cents as I think the most SB'd reply here is just mostly wrong (so echoing "Teller In PE"). 

First, there is no traditional or popularly acceptable path to IR/fundraising. That's both the struggle and the opportunity for you. Many firms (both in-house and placement agent) have a tendency to want to hire from IBD, thinking these folks must have a natural advantage or edge on other candidates...but to me, the only edge that IBD folks have over others is that they can grind for longer hours and can execute on autopilot better. What many folks don't realize is that junior roles in IR/fundraising are pretty brutal and not nearly as glorious as others make it out to be (OP, as you know full well, it's far from wining and dining LPs). It's usually a mixture of admin and project management, making sure roadshows are planned properly, DDQs completed on time and pitch decks/VDR updating as appropriate. Throw in there a lot of LP briefing notes, AGM planning/deck tweaking, quaterly report assembly & reviewing and most IBD folks (who may think they're God's gift to finance) may think again about whether they want to actually pursue a career in IR. 

The other guy who commented on PFGs clearly isn't familiar with what they actually are and only knows what cap intro is. PFGs are the bank-equivalent of placement agents. All they do is take on GP fundraising mandates on the primary side or GP-leds/LP interests on the secondaries side. In the glory days of fundraising (2000 to...2022), these firms made a killing. So much so that there were more and more spinouts and boutiques breaking out and doing their own thing because everyone realized that there's essentially 0 barrier to entry to this business. All you need are 2-3 folks and you can make a very good living, IF LPs are still allocating and you're able to take on a couple or a few strong GPs who can sail through the market quickly. The problem now (and this is endemic to the broader PE ecosystem) is that there's way too many competitors in this space and not nearly enough good mandates/deals. Plenty of these PFGs are now struggling and barely hanging on, laying off folks quietly in the more extreme cases. If you're a junior person in a seat at a PFG/agent, you will be more focused on ppt, excel, etc. but the hours aren't necessarily less than banking. There's always more bullshit work that can be done for any fundraise and the work can be endless if you're on the project management side. Know your background is in sales and you should target these roles but you may have to first grind for a couple years as a project manager, meaning the person who actually does the grunt work related to any given fundraise. You'll essentially act as the nexus/communication hub between the client (GP) and the sales team while also directing overall fundraising strategy. You'll work on all the marketing collateral, briefing notes, roadshow planning, GP pitch scripting and help make the fundraising process as smooth as possible. In doing so, you'll actually understand how to run a fundraising process and this can only help you do your job as a salesperson later on. 

To bring this back to your situation, I think as long as you network with these PFGs and agents, you'll be able to break in. As with any job search, find someone who is willing to take a chance on you and appreciates your ambition, hustle and potential. Once you're in the door, you can progress quickly from either project manager or sales assistant to a full-fledged salesperson. As you know, sales isn't hard and most sales ppl are idiots. In past decades of heady fundraising, every salesperson at these shops was a ticket-taker: you show every LP/allocator the menu of offerings (oftentimes 20+ funds that your firm is representing) and the LP will pick. Very few salesppl at these shops can ACTUALLY sell and push past the initial no. And oftentimes, they're not inclined to. Think about it...who's the end client? Your 20+ GPs that you're representing? Or the LP you're actually covering? Are you really going to bend/break that LP relationship just so one of your GP clients gets a shot on goal? Absolutely not. You're going to make sure you do everything to make that LP happy because you can always carry that relationship with you to your next job. 

On in-house roles, this is where I diverge with both the dude who's almost entirely wrong and Teller. What's important for you to realize is that most PE firms have absolutely horrendous views/perceptions of what IR and fundraising actually does and the role that it should have within the firm. Meaning most CEOs/Managing Partners still take the very antiquated view that if they "invest well", then money will naturally line up, a la HF fundraising (as an aside, no one should ever work in HF IR. Most allocators will pick the top 50 and that's it. At least in PE, there's a story to spin and IR can actually make an impact to a fundraise). For better or for worse, PE is literally fake it 'till you make it. I think most people will agree now that PE isn't a differentiated skill set by any means and that no one actually has 'proprietary dealflow.' That's all a crock of bull at this point and very few firms have unique access OR unique value-add capabilities. We've essentially plowed through 15+ years of cheap leverage that has lifted performance across the board. What this means is that there's now a massive disconnect between founders' perception of their own self-worth and capabilities and what's actually needed to successfully fundraise. If you're a GP and only speak to your existing LPs every 2-3 years (essentially ignore LPs as long as you're not asking them for money), then you're in for a rude awakening, esp if your fund performance has struggled recently. 

I say all this to highlight that it may NOT be better training to work at a GP because the experience will vary SIGNIFICANTLY across different firms. Sure, if you get lucky and find a great boss who's willing to mentor, train and handhold you as you figure out IR, then you've hit the jackpot. But 90%+ of the time, you'll join a firm who's IR joined as some random girl on the investment team who pivoted over to IR because the "hours would be better" and essentially then grew up with the firm over the last 10 years, chilling in her siloed, cushy world and never really understanding how a fundraising process should be run and tracking how IR practices have evolved over the years. At PFG/agents, you get a lot more churn and exposure and those reps matter. That's why most new grads join service providers/third-party firms: banking, consulting, law. It's at these organizations where you actually learn to be a functioning industry professional. Can you imagine if corporations hired new grads directly into their corp dev, in-house legal or cap markets divisions? 

And btw, to the other poster who said there'd be "less grunt work" at the junior level in-house. Comeon man. If you're the junior reporting to a singular IR head, all you're going to do is grunt work. Again, if your boss is nice enough to loop you in on LP calls, then you may actually learn something. More often than not though, they'll be insecure, lazy and not keen to involve you in on anything that doesn't help make their immediate jobs easier as you're the solitary IR in the office while she 'works from home' (meaning staying home to take care of her 3 kids). That means you're going to be stuck with not only the bullshit work, but the bullshit work that provides little training or education, floating on your own island.

In short, I'd network at PFG/agents, despite their current struggles, and get your foot in the door. Don't try to start your IR career in-house. It'll be very sloppy and you just won't have the benefit of perspective and understanding what makes a GP good, bad or straight up shitty. Hope this is helpful.