PE founder vs Tech founder

These two paths are the pinnacle of both fields. If you had to choose between the two career paths, which would you choose?

Stanford undergrad -> FAANG SWE -> Raise $50M for your tech startup (Sequoia-backed, YC-backed) -> Unicorn founder and billionaire at age 30 

Harvard undergrad -> Lehman IB analyst -> HBS -> MF PE associate -> MF PE senior MD -> raise money for your new PE fund -> billionaire at age 50

21 Comments
 

Harvard undergrad -> Lehman IB analyst -> HBS -> MF PE associate -> MF PE senior MD -> raise billion+ for your new MM PE fund -> billionaire at age 50

I'm sorry what?

There's maybe 10 people in the world who are PE billionaires all of whom founded MF/UMM firms

You'd probably need to raise $10B+ as a founder to become a billionaire

 

how could possibly know if your boss was a billionaire? At that point it's extremely difficult to value someone's net worth bc it's locked up in illiquid investments, real estate, art

 

What??

not even close—there’s only 2 other firms that are remotely close to bx size and almost all the guys who are pe billionaires made their money back when funds could comfortably hit 3-5x and charge 2/20–that’s no longer the case at all

 
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