Growth equity outlook?

I'm about to graduate and will probably recruit on cycle later this year once I hit the desk at a BB. I know tech and venture/growth is kinda fucked right now, but interested in hearing thoughts in how long this might last and the extent of the impact this will have at growth recruiting next cycle. Will there be substantially less growth spots open this year compared to buyout? If I wanna do growth down the line would it be smarter to recruit for buyout first then lateral when the market conditions are better?Obviously nobody really knows what will happen but figured I'd see if the great economic minds of WSO have come to a consensus.

9 Comments
 

lateraling when market conditions are better seems smart if you do it at the senior associate level or right before when ppl start getting carry but if you really are passionate abt tech and growth/venture getting in now isn’t too tough esp if you have a banking background and know ppl. Take my advice w a grain of salt i’m currently interviewing for Growth SA roles for funds that are pretty well respected and they seem to be hiring quite fine

 

I'm on the growth buyout side and assets are transacting from what I'm seeing, there are a lot of venture bets that aren't playing out that need a majority recap and downsizing to keep the lights on, carve outs of unprofitable tech plays by corporates, and retirement/transition transactions. Some industries have been harder hit than others- many proptech companies we've looked at have stopped growing altogether, and are unlikely to transact as a result.

 

Associate at a growth equity firm and can confirm these last couple of months have been some of the busiest. Have been on back-to-back deals with no break and our IC pipeline has been very healthy. Tons of activity going on - both proprietary and banked

I think it depends heavily on the type of growth equity firm you’re at. The more VC-oriented ones are struggling more whereas the sourcing-oriented ones that do minority+majority deals have been fine eg Spectrum, JMI, AKKR, Silversmith, etc. Lots of ways to structure deals and people have been going back out to market

 

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