Imposter Syndrome: PE to Publics
I work in PE and am looking to switch to public investing. In both banking and PE I could only buy ETFs and in college I was poor so I didn’t focus on investing in individual stocks.
I’ve spent a lot of time prepping, including maintaining a phantom portfolio where I track my ideas. Overall, the work seems like a much better fit for what I enjoy. I like research, business diligence, and investing, but not the process management, coordinating advisors, and quarterbacking that comes with PE.
That said, I’m dealing with a lot of imposter syndrome, which I never really felt in banking or PE. I know a lot of people started investing in stocks since they were in middle school or at least college, and that’s just not me. I kind of stumbled into it, but I really enjoy it and think it’s a good fit.
For those who made the switch, especially to a L/S SM, is that normal? Were you mostly thrown in and expected to figure it out or did you have actual mentorship? I don’t feel like I’ve had a true mentor in my career and I’m worried about being thrown into the seat and failing despite preparing as much as I can and if that were the case I’d consider just staying in privates. Would love to hear from others who made a similar transition.
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Bump
The reality is you do all these interviews and it seems like the interviewers know so much more about these stocks than you, but once you’re in the seat, you realize everyone is just making it up as they go.
It’s kind of like how you probably felt as a Summer Analyst in IB. After you start on the desk, you become jaded and it’s really not rocket science and most deals you do for strategics have pretty terrible outcomes / PE buyers just solve for mid teens IRR.
Same thing that you likely felt interviewing for buyside roles. PE guys sounds so smart until you realize they all have the exact same playbook.
Kind of funny how life ends up being mostly about luck and being at the right place / right time.
There are 100% outliers but those people are the exception not the rule. Just my $0.02 after revering all these people as a young naive non-target 10+ years ago. After working in a top banking group, top MF PE, and top SM HF, most people in the industry think they are a lot smarter than they really are. Everyone is just trying to get by.
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