Infra vs Co-Invest/Secondaries
Hey guys,
I've secured a few offers, boiled it down to two, and now looking for some advice.
I really like both teams and comp/WLB are very good for both funds.
I can't say for sure that I want to stay in either Infra or Co-Invest/Secondaries for the long-term (hard to know for a jr associate no?) and was wondering which one offers more flexibility later on should I want to switch (maybe into tech).
The infra fund is not a traditional one but more "PE-like" if that helps.
Made a poll now to make things easier!
Infra keeps you in a more direct investing role and will give you the experience of working through some of the most complex modeling there is. Depending on what within infra you get to work on it can also be quite interesting work too (insofar as pe work can be)
I would say infra especially if it’s a more PE-like / operating company focused fund. Can be tough to move to direct PE from co-invest/secondaries
But keep in mind that infra PE can be quite technically rigorous, if that’s not your forte
Thanks for all help! Went with the infra role due to a few reasons and want to outline them below to help others in a similar boat. I brainstormed this decision with many friends and picked up some valuable thoughts.
Learning / Opportunities
Direct investing in itself feels broader to me even though it is infra vs secondaries/co-invest. The infra fund is super operational so there will be many opportunities to become very good in terms of portco work. Of course, secondaries/co-invest is a super unique and interesting field as well but for me, and sounding it out with friends in investing, direct seems to be the way to go if I'm not dead set yet on a specific long-term route. From what I've seen secondaries/co-invest seems to not be closed off should I consider it down the line but direct investing seems harder to get in later in life.
I'm also considering moving to another part of the world in the future and there, secondaries/co-invest doesn't really exist whereas infra is huge which influenced my decision as well.
Team
The infra fund was a larger team with more juniors. In my first few buy-side years, I thought it might be nice to have a bigger junior network. I also felt I clicked much much better with the senior leadership of the infra fund and I could see myself having much clearer access to leadership and with that, ample opportunity to learn from them.
The infra team is also more diverse in terms of background, and country origins/languages which is nice to have for me.
Strategy / Mindset
The infra fund managed to raise multiple large vehicles and is in a growth mindset whereas the co-invest/secondaries fund is a more established, mature business. The infra leadership is also much younger and you can feel the difference in terms of where they want to take the fund and that clicked a bit more with me given the stage of life I'm in.
Insightful, thanks for following up
No problem at all! I believe that's the bare minimum as others were nice enough to spend their time on helping me!
I think there’s a pretty key point in here that isn’t often addressed regarding secondaries, location. I find the more niche a sector is within finance the more concentrated roles are within financial hubs. For secondaries, mainly NYC and London. Of course, there are firms all over but the lions share are in these two cities. I’m currently in secondaries but considering other roles precisely because I don’t want to be in NYC forever.
Bang on. I didn't think about this at first but after looking up how many secondaries/co-invest shops are where my SO vs NYC or even LDN....
Curious how the comps differ?
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