I’m a current sophomore and took an offer for a summer 2024 internship with a MM PE shop (~$3B AUM). I really like the firm and the people and I know I could secure a FT offer. However, I’ve heard from other people and online that going straight into PE without a top brand name can hinder future career prospects. I’m not sure I’m in the ideal position optionality-wise. After I took the offer I stopped recruiting. Did I make a mistake?
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Started at a MM PE shop as an analyst and career has recently gone sideways after being managed out. I will offer this advice to avoid my fate: you need to make sure that you are getting proper training, and you need to take a ton of initiative in this role. When you're in PE, particularly at a brand name MM / UMM / MF, you will be surrounded by very smart colleagues - make sure to shadow them and be a sponge every step of the way. If you are passive or do not take initiative, it will be challenging to develop a strong reputation internally. You will be "competing" for promotion against individuals who have had ~2 years of top IB experience, which by default requires hundreds of hours of reps in PowerPoint and Excel. With that skill gap in mind, you need to make sure that a) the firm is giving you adequate training to replicate that experience or b) you need to work on those skills on the side using Wall Street Prep, Peak Frameworks, etc., otherwise you will not be promoted. In the event that you are not promoted, you may find it more challenging to lateral if you're not coming from a blue chip MM analyst program (e.g., Audax). I really struggled to get interviews for associate roles through headhunters, and I was explicitly told by some of these groups that they typically only interview IB analysts or consultants, and that despite my relevant deal experience I'd be a "non traditional" candidate as it would be hard to benchmark my training compared to someone coming out of a large IB analyst program .
Not saying any of this to dissuade you - I think starting off in PE is literally a golden ticket for the right person in the event that you get directly promoted to associate. However, you really need to take initiative and be able to hit the ground running in a more unstructured environment to make it work. Otherwise, you end up with potentially poor training, weaker branding, and less exit opportunities.
Happy to provide additional details on my experience / how to avoid similar pitfalls if it's helpful. Best of luck man, you got this.