Hi Everyone, posting on a throwaway account (as I routinely post in the consulting forum with my regular account and quite a few people know my identity). That being said, I want to reveal a few details about myself and seek out advice on how to position myself for a career in PE.
A little bit about myself:
- Currently a high-performing Technology Consultant for Deloitte
- 3 Years out of Undergrad (Bachelors was in Business Administration)
- Undergraduate school was non-target (average state school) with virtually no alumni presence in Wall Street. Extensively cross checked Linkedin, no one in the history of my undergrad school has gone onto any BB bank
- Consulting representation at Tier 1 is 0% - no one from my undergraduate school has gone onto working at MBB
- I was the only one from my school to join the commercial consulting division at Deloitte, with everyone else recruited directly to the federal practice
MBB to PE, and Strategy Consulting to PE has routinely been discussed in detail. I'm fully aware of the Ops opportunities available and Consultant-friendly PE shops.
I understand I face a significant uphill climb so I'm open to hearing feedback (no matter how harsh) and diligently working towards my goal in steps. My Father worked at a boutique PE firm for a few years (before taking a CFO role at one of the companies acquired by the PE shop)...This network is now closed and not an option for me and networking through my Father is also not a viable option at this time.
During the time my Father worked in the field, I got some exposure to the hours, the lifestyle, the salary, and the type of deals undertaken - and it seems a million times more interesting than a Tech implementation project.
A few options I've been seriously considering:
- Deloitte Tech Consulting (TC) -> T10 MBA -> Deloitte S&O -> PE
- Deloitte TC -> T10 MBA -> MBB -> PE
- Deloitte TC -> Deloitte S&O -> Internship Boutique/MM PE -> MBA -> Boutique/MM PE
- Deloitte TC -> Ops Role at PE portfolio company -> MBA OR Potentially landing a position with the PE firm
Please let me know - and don't tell me its impossible. I've managed to accomplish quite a few things in my life under greater odds - and overcome several adversities that would have crushed most people to pieces. When I want something - I go for it and will achieve it no matter what.
Would love to hear feedback from the PE forum.
Thank you,
Technology Consultant
I know one guy who went tech consulting at Accenture to a top private equity mega-fund. He was able to do so after a 2nd tier MBA in Europe. It also helped a bit that his dad was the CEO of one of their portfolio companies.
Just a thought, but have you thought about VC/Growth equity roles. Those could be easier transition for you rather than a PE role.
Without boring you, I'll provide a few snippets of projects I've done: 1. Customer service improvement project for a Fortune 500 hospitality organization -> optimized and enabled 5 digital channels to improve customer engagement (including Mobile/Social Media). The idea was to keep pace with new competitors including AirBnB.
Mobile Payments/Mobile Deposits for a close to 100 billion dollar financial institution. We created the Mobile app -> saved the organization millions of dollars in reduced Contact Center fees, and positioned them to save even more money to close down branches globally
Created a Social Media app for another Fortune 500 hospitality org, specifically for their 'franchise owners' so the billionaire owners can have a private app to message each other and go golfing together (i found this project/request to be quite funny tbh). I didn't code or develop this but rather focused on all the business logic - only took 4 weeks
For an Energy client, set-up a sentiment analysis engine - which basically searches for keywords across social media. Through this, they were able to collect information on what people are saying across all social media for them, as well as their competitors. This one got CxO level visibility.
For a Fortune 50 (TMT client), I worked on a project to improve Sales by working on a mobile application that enabled door to door sales of their projects. this particular company has thousands of agents and we basically re-did the entire canvassing sales strategy. I did get exposure to pricing and products, lots of analytics on this one
For a recent financial services client, using another technology platform, increasing sales by allowing for the offering of new product lines via a new digital channel being added.
These are my core projects that I'm most proud of, although I've done quite a few others that were shorter in length.
The projects themselves allowed me some room for strategy, creativity, and implementation. I also always worked closely with client Ops teams (not their tech teams) as most of these projects were heavily focused on improving a client's operations using digital transformation.
I know it's not S&O/MBB level experience, but I'm still proud of the experiences and exposure I've managed to gain. It's always been a battle to get onto some of the more 'interesting' projects.
Salary wise - although not close to PE/IB salaries, I did break a 100k base by 25. I'm turning 26 later this year.