PE Fund Accounting to PE Deal Team

This is like when your 4 year old son asks to go to paintball with you and the boyz

Cute but no

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

As said above, best path is to get into IB first - MBA is the easiest path. I know the internal transfer seems doable, but it's just extremely unlikely at a MF.

Tough sledding but like your attitude. Maybe one strategy is to bring it up your goals internally with the right person. Be mindful of politics of course. Reality is the MF is unlikely to do it for you but maybe they will tell you what you'd need to do and you'd anchor a spot where you could return to and/or they open their rolodex to help reorient your track to get where you want to be.

I came out of a state school into Big 4 audit and am now a VP on the deal team at a shop that just raised a $1B+ fund. Jumping straight from your back office role to deal team at the same fund is a long shot, tbh, but ending up in a solid investment role isn’t impossible if your play your cards right. 
 

Focus on getting the right experience first - once you have an investment role on your resume, it’s a lot easier to move within the industry. That might mean something like a startup fund, an independent sponsor, or a coinvest shop (as well as classic banking / consulting roles). 
 

Convincing people of your aptitude and interest will be the hardest parts - you can’t just want to move over for more money. If you’ve worked on side projects or something else tangible for the deal teams that could serve as a nice segue into your newly developed interest in investing

Started in big 4 audit rather than fund accounting, switched to mm lev fin and now at a mezz shop. Best bet would be to get an mba. Will be a much harder path from back office to front office at the same shop. Have seen some analyst positions in lev fin looking specifically for people with accounting experience as well in the past.

I have seen it happen personally at a MM fund before. Not sure on the MF side of things, but good luck!

Started in public accounting (albeit TAS). If you can get into a TAS -> IB -> PE, do it.

Mega fund probably is off the table, but not impossible.

I did this non-investment -> investment at a large diversified fund. It takes a ton of effort and career risk.  You are likely going to need to do two jumps if internal to a more “prestigious” back office team like valuations. Secondly “top-tier” teams like LBOs are probably out of the picture, especially if they have structured recruiting.

As the guy who had done it at my firm, a bunch of people tried to and networked with me on how to do it and to be honest most weren’t prepared at the slightest so it’s a pretty uphill battle with that stigma.

It’s worth it though, I ended up lateraling to a top tier exit opp for normal way buyout PE and couldn’t be happier.

Like others have said, it’s a long shot to move at your current fund. Since you’re still pretty early in your career, would look into trying to lateral into an investment banking role before recruiting for PE associates jobs as part of the normal process. I think the market has cooled significantly in recent months so you’ll need to be proactive networking to get your foot in the door — your colleagues on the investment team at your current fund might be very helpful for warm intros if there’s anyone you have a strong relationship with. It may also make sense to try to go to Big 4 (ideally in a transaction advisory role) as an interim step since they may be more receptive to your fund accounting background. Lastly, I’d look into smaller funds in T2/T3 cities. Many funds in that category may be willing to take a bet on someone smart and hardworking outside the traditional talent pipeline and given how scrappy / entrepreneurial they are would likely be receptive to proactive outreach. 

I've seen it happen at smaller funds (can think of at least one example off the top of my head), but much more difficult at big funds. At my fund (UMM with significant support teams) I've seen jumps from FP&A type roles to our Portfolio / Ops team, but can't think of anyone who has made the next jump to the investment teams. Have seen some from treasury and other support functions, but those people tended to have a lot more hands on deal experience and were ex-bankers. 

As the person above mentioned moving into Big 4 transaction advisory or IB roles is likely a much better route. I started in Big 4 TAS and then moved to IB before transitioning to PE and know it is a very achievable route, although it is much easier to get into TAS right out of university as opposed to jumping from your first job. I would just say be patient, keep working towards your goal, and don't be afraid to take a little bit of a longer route as you would require a lot of luck to make the direct jump you're describing. 

I’ve seen it in the LMM. I think the advice you’ve gotten so far is great and once you get to work and grinding things tend to happen. I would go forward and simultaneously go for PE and IB, and if you get a good IB gig then take it as a great segue. If the stars don’t align on PE and IB doesn’t work out, then probably go for an applicable Big 4 group. That’s a great option. Best of luck!

I went from accounting to CPA to investment management. Work hard and don’t let anyone tell you no. Banking is a sales job and PE is a process-oriented job.

Would suggest looking into lateral opps to IBs as the first stepping stone - churn seems quite high these days across the board and lots of places have been hiring (tho not sure about these days given market). Have seen a few friends make the jump from valuations teams, TAS, etc. Worth a shot to network your way in and hopefully you can impress them on why you want IB, etc. Once you land a gig in IB then you can recruit your way to PE just like any other IB analyst would.

May have made it sound easier than it should, but just wanted to make it clear it is absolutely doable and there’s no “one path” to PE, especially in today’s climate. Nothing is impossible

MF brand name even in BO will get you looks at some IB shops TBH.

Highest probability (but very doable) path is: recruit now for regional/smaller/specialist IB shops (ex. Fifth Third St, FT Partners, etc; be prepared to take significant haircut on seniority) -> lateral to bigger IB name after 1 year -> recruit into MF PE after 1-2 years

Word of advice: the more niche/specialist you get in industry, the higher your chances to lock down a buy-side in MF. Generalist seats are the most coveted & experience most recruitment traffic. For example if you develop a career in FIG within banking, you're going to get great looks for FIG buy-side seats regardless of your age 

Can also pursue the MBA route but very sucking on personal resources (min. $250k spend) and IMO exp trumps school prestige from a recruiting POV nowadays in finance. Doing an MBA outside of M7 is also very low-value. Very different story if you want to do more growth-y / VC / entrepreneurship stuff but you said MFPE so am assuming buyout strategies

In general quite the perilous path w/ no promises at any point of satiating personal happiness or growth w/ a lot of potential obstacles in the way. But effectively no real opp. cost from a career POV (can really only get better if you dislike your current role / trajectory) ... different story if you're coveting WLB or have a family to look after. If you're really a grinder and have conviction then you can do it