Hey everyone,
Relatively new here, so please forgive me if I'm not familiar with the customs. I'm seeking some advice on how to think about a current job opportunity.
I'm at MBB in a US office. My reviews have been fairly good, and I've been rated as "ahead of the curve" consistently (I.e. on track for promotion and not at risk of layoff).
~8 years of experience total, including pre and post MBA.
Graduated from M7.
Feel relatively satisfied with my current job, as the pay is good, and it's not too stressful.
Have an offer for a PE shop (on the smaller side and not well known, AUM in the low billions). Role would be both ops and deals.
Salary would be a slight increase on base with potential for much higher total comp on carry.
No prior buy-side experience, though I've gotten some exposure through PE DD at my current firm.
Is this a worthwhile exit, or would I be downgrading from my current position? In the current environment, it feels like a rare opportunity too good to pass up. But going to a smaller lesser-known shop might stunt my trajectory, and I'm afraid I may regret giving up my relatively nice and cushy job in mgmt consulting. Please let me know your perspectives
Really hard to know / not enough detail included. You need to figure out: hours and your tolerance for them, culture and will you be second class citizen as ops guy, ability to get promotion / how trigger happy they are to chop you, will deal team let you do things by yourself or will they sit on top of you the whole time, fundraising dynamics, type of operational work they do and if that suits you (cost vs growth vs roll up), etc.
Equally you need to have a hard think if you can do random consulting projects for much longer, if you think advising (read: documenting) is engaging enough, if you can live with never having accountability for your outcomes, if you’re fine with comp being capped at consulting levels, etc.
PE gig better for comp, learning, accountability, and ability to go operational in a serious role
Consulting gig better for job security and hours
Pretty obvious but without any detail not much more can be side. Good luck
i would say no man. if you're good at what you do and like it, it sounds like you have an ideal set up. also think of the perks and status of being at a big company that you might be taking for granted that will be gone if you go for pe.
100% no. Do not leave. Do. Not. Pass. Go.
A smooth track to AP/Partner at MBB is unbeatable unless you somehow absolutely fundamentally hate part of the job (travel, networking extroversion).
Would be really interested in why you consider it unbeatable vs other similar level roles
While awaiting for the reply for the one who actually wrote that idea - looking forward to it, as it initially sounded strange but then made sense - my guess is that once you make Partner somewhere you are the proof of that fact that you can not only do the technical part of your job but also selling it (i.e. persuading someone to do business with you), which is ultimately the thing that allows firms to exist. This applies to PE but also to all type of advisory firms. OP looks to be on track for that and switching to PE would set him back (and having a more operating experience less likely to make partner at a fund).
In addition, once you are Partner at MBB, there’s plenty of stuff you can do, including switching to PE (perhaps at a much higher rank) but also for instance join a business in the C-suite or persuade a PE firm to back a management buy-in.
What makes you say that?
Many of the best people tend to leave MBB for PE / corporate strategy roles because they see it as a much better path than progressing to AP/P. In fact, among the people I know, most people at AP/P made it there because they just didn't get a more compelling exit op along the way.
Faced a similar dilema some years ago. As long as the PE shop has good track-record / reputation and you keep the MBB doors open, I would take the risk.
If you are ahead of the curve and your MBB sees you as “Partner material”, worst case scenario you can do 1-2 years at the PE shop and return to MBB with highly valuable experience. Having a couple of operating/hands-on years under your belt at a PE PortCo or fund is actually very well-regarded both internally and externally at MBB.
In the end, the PE opportunity is like a call option for you.
Hope this helps.
That's kind of exactly how I thought of it until recently.
After some deliberation, I told one of my mentors at the firm that I was contemplating leaving for this offer. He told me that I should think very hard about it and that I wouldn't be allowed back, should things not pan out (we're generally not allowing former employees to return at this time, even if they left on good terms with good performance).
Many of my peers, on the other hand, think it's a golden opportunity. Decent PE exits have become hard to come by, and they think I'm crazy for even considering not taking it.
I'm now thinking through the lens of "is this a leap worth taking if I know I can't come back?"
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