PE Business Development Role

I am currently interviewing for a business development role at a MM PE shop 1-2B AUM. the role is on a smaller BD team sourcing deals. My goal is to go back to school for top MBA in a couple years. This seems like an interesting role where I could generate great contacts, but have a few questions.

I am currently working in a financial sales capacity. Do you think PE BD would look better on a business school application? Would this help coming out of business school to either go IB or move to deal side in PE or HF? Any ideas on comp? I am one year our of undergrad.

6 Comments
 
Best Response

It depends on the specifics for the two roles in my opinion, but the quick answer would be yes, I think it would be helpful.

The important things to consider are:

  • Does the financial sales role allow any current (or near-term) management capabilities? This looks good to MBA programs and can provide you with some differentiation in experience and skills

  • Does the sourcing position allow you to actually take the first stab at evaluating the investments before getting the investment team involved? In other words, are you purely generating CIMs for the investment team and turning NDA after NDA, or are you able to provide some input and use critical thinking and analysis skills to determine whether or not the opportunity is or is not worthy of bringing to the next level?

I have no idea what type of comp to expect, but from my understanding in talking with some of them, compensation is obviously dependent on sourcing. Some firms give you bonuses just for sourcing opportunities (plus additional for the fund closing deals that you source), while others give you bonuses just for deals closed.

 

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