PE - Lack Of Understanding
Currently at a new PE fund in Europe. Background: ~1.5 years in LMM/MM IB with 2 closed deals. I landed this PE role mainly through networking, as the fund itself is relatively new.
The challenge: the team is very lean. There are 2 senior people (ex-PE Partners at very well-known mid/large-cap special sits fund), but most of the Associates/VPs/Directors have left. As someone still early in my PE career, I don’t feel like I intuitively “get it” yet—particularly around investment thesis development, market analysis, and seeing the bigger picture.
I often need to present directly to the partners, but without a VP/Director layer above me, there’s no one to catch mistakes or guide me before things go up. I’ve been told I struggle to grasp the commercial side—e.g., market nuances, relationships between variables, cause/effect dynamics, and identifying true drivers.
On the technical side, my modelling is ok but not flawless—I can build clean models and do back-of-the-envelope work, though I still lean on templates when coming up with deliverables. I have tried to make a couple of models from blank sheets but I end up looking at the templates to figure out where I am going wrong.
I want to develop my investing acumen—how to really understand markets, identify key drivers, and sharpen judgment. Since I was expecting to learn this from the Associate/VP layer (and they’ve left), I feel a bit lost and under pressure presenting directly to the senior team and want to figure it out on my own and reduce the number of mistakes I make in front of the seniors.
What’s the best way to accelerate this learning curve? Any recommended approaches, frameworks, or resources (besides just reps and deal flow) to build stronger commercial judgment and market understanding?
Thanks
To accelerate your learning curve and sharpen your commercial judgment in private equity, here’s a structured approach based on the most helpful WSO content:
1. Develop Investment Theses and Market Understanding
2. Sharpen Commercial Judgment
3. Improve Technical Skills
4. Leverage Resources
5. Take Ownership of Your Development
6. Focus on Sourcing and Portfolio Management
By combining these strategies with consistent practice and feedback, you’ll build the commercial acumen and confidence needed to excel in your role. Remember, even senior professionals don’t have all the answers—focus on being directionally correct and learning from every experience.
Sources: Q&A: VP in Private Equity (Growth Equity + LBO)...Post-MBA...Formerly IB Analyst, Moving from Appraisals to REPE Acquisitions?, HF to PE post-MBA - my story and seeking advice (long-time poster)!, Q&A: Barclays IB to MM Private Equity, Q&A - Post-MBA VP
Bump
Has someone given you this feedback ?
Chances are you’re just an anxious over eager guy— I get it. I am too. But the biggest advice and struggle here is sometimes to actually do better and make sure your understanding improves, you need to chill out and put less pressure on yourself . If you’re constantly in a flight or fight mode, especially when no one is having problems with you, you are inhibiting your own ability to absorb material and damaging your own health etc.
What I do to deal with this anxiety — I recognize when i have it and say it’s ok that it’s there. I also try and remind myself often (when I started) that there are things I’m just not going to know and it’s ok, all I can do is my best and to make sure I’m learning and being thirsty for feedback and improvement etc. again, assuming no one has given you this feedback, the fact that you’re asking these questions means you’re more than half way there.
When you don’t know something , ask questions. When you do something and wish it had been better, ask for feedback.
Also keep in mind that depending on the culture, there are going to be times that you’re going to fuck up and it’s going to suck. All you can do is A) not be afraid of making mistakes and B) do what you can to minimize them / learn from them/ bounce back
I get it that working directly with partners can be a bit intimidating . On the bright side, this probably means there’s more room for you to grow in your career (assuming good returns and culture ) by staying there longer — I’ve seen recently mega fund associates etc go to industry so don’t forget that there’s a long game here too.
This is really good advice. If it does resonate with you, the only thing I'd add is an old sports cliche which is "make mistakes full speed". The point being that you should work towards being decisive both as a form of mental preservation and as a more direct route to feedback (good or bad) which will lead to growth.
When I was in these situations early in my career, the stress of not having the associate/VP safety net manifested in indecisiveness. I'd go with one approach, change it half way through, change it back, try something else. It was in the spirit of trying to be perfect, but often led to errors.
Along the same lines, I still will occasionally struggle with over caveating because of lack of confidence. I'd work on something and instead of portraying confidence, I'd send with some bullshit like "I took a stab, it's not perfect but might be directional and I'm happy to discuss and make changes". Before the recipient even opens the work they already have the idea in their head that it's going to suck.
None of this may apply to you but a good prompt to share some of these points for others.
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