greentech/cleantech energy pigeon holding?
Would lateraling to do cleantech/greentech PE before bschool, after 6-9 months of generalist corporate PE, pigeon hole you the same way doing traditional energy would?
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I see the typo, I do not plan on holding any birds
Assuming you mean acquiring/developing generating assets, yes. I recently made a somewhat similar switch and the world of renewables is viewed as a beast of its own, even within energy-focused firms. It's project finance at its core and the knowledge base / modelling is fairly niche.
6-9 months at a generalist PE firm is not a long stretch unless you're at a high volume shop and have a number of acquisitions under your belt. It really takes 12 months to get your feet under you IMO and gain meaningful experience that you could speak to if you wanted to pivot away from greentech.
Thanks this is super helpful. I appreciate you answering. What if it's software around these assets rather than the assets themselves? Would that change anything?
This sounds fascinating. Obviously you don't need to disclose the firm you are thinking about but can you give examples of competitors or just ways to learn about deals in the "software for green tech" space?
Definitely changes things. If the mandate is focused on software/services around the peripherals of generating assets and not on the assets themselves, that's much more applicable to your typical PE experience. At the end of the day, the long-term dev cycle of renewable assets, commodity nature of the good your producing, and shifting regulatory landscape are what make it seem so far apart from other areas of the buyout world.
My opinion - It wouldn't pigeonhole you into renewables specifically, but could pidgenhole you into infrastructure / real asset roles. Many renewable energy and infrastructure PE shops are investing in platforms / making corporate placements on top of their more traditional strategy of investing in assets / portfolios of solar & wind projects. These corporate placements would be helpful for laterals into more traditional, industry agnostic buyout roles, but still wouldn't be the best background. Even at the corporate level, valuation and analysis is driven by the underlying operating portfolio and development pipeline for a renewables development company or IPP, so valuation techniques will still be different than in any other industry.
To be fair, 6-9 months of generalist corporate PE would probably prevent you from being pidgeonholed, especially if you are heading to B-School (which makes me assume you would be in your cleantech role for 1-3 years). It also depends on what type of cleantech you are talking about. Are you talking about venture roles to invest in opportunities such as energy efficiency, microgrid companies, etc. , or are you thinking about renewable energy, which largely resembles broader infrastructure investing? An example would be going to a company like Generate Capital versus a firm like Energy Impact Partners. Generate, a clean infrastructure investment platform focused on less built-out asset classes such as water, waste, commercial solar, storage, etc, would give you a real assets focused experience. Energy Impact Partners would probably largely resemble other venture capital / growth equity roles.
Either way, the space is growing rapidly and it's a cool sector to work in. As someone who is probably a bit pidgeonholed, whether by choice or circumstance, I'd be happy to talk with you about it.
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