PE monkeys - what made you want to switch firms?

Happy holidays!

For those of you in PE, I was wondering if you can share what made you switch/want to switch firms? Generally, the hours and the people are similarly demanding everywhere. What made you want to leave a place, and do you think that was a good reason in retrospect?

Happy 2020!

4 Comments
 

Hey bb_monkey2018, I'm the WSO Monkey Bot and I am sad to say, but this thread is lonely, so thought I'd post in here to try and help out. Some potential topics that might help:

More suggestions...

If those topics were completely useless, don't blame me, blame my programmers...

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 
Most Helpful

This is anecdotal from my peers, but I've usually heard it fell into one of a few buckets.

  1. Opportunity to lateral to a better name fund

  2. Broader/Different investment mandate

  3. No/slow opportunity to advance. Or someone gets promoted or hired in on top of you

  4. Lack of chemistry with current team/partners

  5. Desire to change geos

I find that people don't usually leave purely for monetary purposes. It usually tends to be the opportunity for a Senior Associate role or something like that.

 

Disclaimer: I'm not PE, but in VC. But perhaps my perspective might be interesting:

Reasons 3 and 4 are quite common - very hard to get to the top levels in VC as you'd imagine + you need partners who want to get advance you quickly.

Reason 1, uncommon - more people move to go to an earlier or later stage VC rather than to a better name.

Reason 2, very common.

Reason 5 is very uncommon.

 

Quia et ut nemo accusantium. Facere explicabo autem consectetur. Corporis temporibus est officiis voluptatum consequatur dolorem esse qui. Perspiciatis cumque architecto et natus neque.

Sunt vel velit veritatis sed ut nam. Culpa alias ut atque cumque veritatis qui recusandae. Rem aperiam aut quo ea. Tenetur est quaerat numquam aliquam in.

Rerum laborum labore doloribus soluta suscipit. Voluptas placeat assumenda et praesentium quisquam laborum dolor. Nihil aperiam architecto sequi consectetur quia. Error sed molestias voluptatem nesciunt.

Omnis dicta sequi quis iusto. Quibusdam asperiores dolorem minus reprehenderit. Itaque neque amet et numquam repellat. Explicabo fugiat vero et est quia.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.6%
  • Blackstone Group 99.3%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.9%
  • Warburg Pincus 98.5%
  • Vista Equity Partners 98.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Private Equity

  • Blackstone Group 99.6%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 99.3%
  • The Riverside Company 98.9%
  • Ardian 98.5%
  • Warburg Pincus 98.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Private Equity

  • Bain Capital 99.6%
  • The Riverside Company 99.3%
  • Blackstone Group 98.9%
  • Starwood Capital Group 98.5%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Private Equity

  • Principal (9) $653
  • Director/MD (24) $547
  • Vice President (99) $363
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (104) $281
  • 2nd Year Associate (235) $272
  • 1st Year Associate (411) $229
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (33) $157
  • 2nd Year Analyst (97) $134
  • 1st Year Analyst (272) $124
  • Intern/Summer Associate (38) $81
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (355) $61
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”