I am exploring a move to a fund-level value creation/portfolio improvement team and I am looking for some advice.
Me: I am a MF PE portco Strategy and M&A leader. Most of the past few years has been spent defining strategic growth plans and executing them alongside the BU presidents to transform the business and drive rapid growth. I have also closed 5 M&A transactions of founder-led businesses. Prior, at the same portco, I was a division VP/COO, where I was hired to re-position and accelerate change in a slow-moving business. I also was a key driver in our change of control transaction. Prior to that, I was at T-2 consulting shops where I led ~15 PE DD cases, plus 5 corporate DD cases. Before consulting, I was a Director-level GM at a F50 company, where I built and transformed businesses coming out of the great recession.
Any advice on how to position myself or who to network with at the funds?
Hey ParkAve, I'm the WSO Monkey Bot and I'm here since nobody responded to your thread! Bummer...could just be time of day or unlucky (or the question/topci is too vague or too specific). Maybe one of these topics will help:
More suggestions...
I hope those threads give you a bit more insight.
Unfortunately this is going to be highly fund and deal dependent. And typically this is a role that comes to you vs. one you seek out/create. A few questions:
1. Do you have a strong enough relationship with the Principal / VP / Director (person below partner/MD/member on the deal) to have the direct conversation about working with the fund?
2. Was the work you did a part of a playbook or did you simply do a great job as a strong exec in your role?
3. How old are you? I've never heard of anyone under 40 taking on one of these roles and they are usually older than even that with 2+ PortCo exec stints
I've been offered a somewhat similar role but the stars really do have to align for a Strategy/M&A person to be offered one of these roles. There is often too much overlap with what the IPs do themselves. Some points of diligence with your fund:
1. Research if there are multiple assets in the same sub-vertical (i.e. datacenters vs "telecom" which is too broad). They'll ideally want to use you across a handful of assets with specific expertise where your strategic thinking is more immediately useful or you have connectivity into the add-on universe
2. Refine the playbook you would run or "value-add" opportunities you would seek out within the portfolio. You need to tell a compelling story about what you can do with that handful of assets. Typically people that do well in fund-level ops roles have excellent niche abilities in supply chain management, pricing/packaging, etc. that allow them to come in, determine if there is an opportunity, execute on a project in the near to medium term, and move on to the next one
3. If you have no obvious successor and you are close to exit, it's not going to happen with your current fund. If you just did a partial or complete sale to another sponsor, it's possible
Thanks, this is incredibly helpful.
I have an informational interview coming up with one of the big value creation teams, could I DM you for more insight?
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