(Boy, it's been a minute since I've posted here)
I could use some advice from PE professionals who have operating groups at their firms. I'm ex-MBB and spent a few years in fairly senior operating roles at a PE portfolio company. The exit didn't go as planned and now I'm looking for the next thing. Several PE firms have approached me about operating roles - largely NOT your Vista-type consulting role, but more free-form groups where the job spec is basically "be a hired gun and go fix some companies".
I'm at a point in my career where I need to be thinking 2 steps ahead; I'm unlikely to stay at any of these roles for 3+ years (the economics still aren't there to have non-deal partners IMO), so the comp + benefits are nice but not what I'll retire on. What are the typical exits for someone like this? The stock response is "take an operating role in the portco" but I'm trying to put more context on that. If I want a "head of strategy" position somewhere I can do that now; do these operating partners typically exit into genuine GM/COO type roles?
Anecdotal experience highly welcome... these roles haven't existed long enough for there to be a standard answer. Thanks!
Former consultant here. If you want to go into COO / CSO / GM roles why not go back to your MBB? Partners there reliably place into those roles.
Let’s say you have a good reason for not going back. In that case, you’re better off going for the operating partner role because you’re effectively getting C-level experience, not “territory” expertise over whatever slice of the business you control.
From an operating partner role you can market yourself as having that degree of experience to parachute into top positions. The alternative is a career spent playing musical chairs at different sponsor backed companies, controlling your domain, which can be lucrative, especially if you have the trust of a good sponsor who like to put you in.
Going back to my firm would be my last resort - I grew to loathe consulting largely because 90% of what we did was useless. Too many late nights turning a deck because the partner wanted a meaningless regression to showcase our capability for the next project.
I take your point on the broader experience base, but having worked in operations, I worry that the only thing that counts for a senior role is ops experience. The two-step in and out of portfolio companies is a really interesting option though. Thanks!
I take your point on COO being primarily ops roles. In many business GM function starts to slide into primarily Ops. If you look at cable companies for example, most of their COOs spent a large amount of time as GMs.
I suppose your ability to nab CSO depends on what degree you as an operating partner also function as a strategy officer by virtue of having that expertise, and “suggesting” and/or “enforcing” the use of that expertise (the implementation and measurable success of that expertise, while in an operating partner role, would then be evidence for qualification to the ultimate CSO roles desired)
Wouldn't someone like this have a good path to being a serial board member? Semi-retirement doesn't get much better than that gig.
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