PE Post MBA w/ 0 YOE in Banking
Hey monkeys, I dabbled with internships in undergrad for Wealth Management, PE (search fund), and IBD, but ultimately decided to go into Tech Sales. Financially, that’s been a good move and I’ve been able to enjoy my family more (wife and two kids), which is big to me since I missed a lot while in the military.
I miss the IBD/PE/VC experience though. I’m thinking of getting an MBA to transition, but it seems PE may be unrealistic to even look at now. Am I sh** out of luck?
Would it be better to go MBA —> IBD —> try recruiting for PE from IB? Instead of MBA —> PE?
I’ve also thought about looking at MBA programs that place best in the DC/Arlington area for firms like Apollo, Halifax, and Pine Creek.
I'm not going to opine on whether or not you could or couldn't hustle and actually get this done (tl;dr is it will be a fucking insane hail mary outcome and absolute grind if you are able to pull it off) but I can give you a 100% guarantee that in your situation, it is not worth it, PE is not it
Thank you for replying.
When you say “PE isn’t it”, is that due to work-life?
It's just too late to start. You would almost certainly need some sort of financial training before going to PE, most likely through IB. Because you're a vet, it's possible that you could finagle your way through essential pathways because you guys look after your own, but most likely that would be another 2 years of grueling IB as a post-MBA associate which is already tough without the challenges of actually wanting to succeed on the job unlike most worthless MBA associates who just clip the paycheck for a couple of years WITHOUT the added many hours of technical study outside of work required.
Then on top of that you would probably be joining as an Associate, or a Senior Associate at best (but still one who is basically functioning as an Associate so that you learn general PE process dynamics, but they gave you the Senior Associate title to throw you a bone because you'd be old as shit at that point). Keep in mind by then you're still not clipping great pay but you'll go a month at a time on a live deal without seeing your kids while working for some dickhead VP who doesn't actually care if you succeed.
THEN if you survive the associate years, you still have a grueling set of 10+ years to get MD, which I imagine puts you at like, idk, 45, 50 years old? before you start clipping carry checks. And you're basically about to die by then, so why did you do all this in the first place? Just spend the time fucking your wife and playing catch with your kids while you make bank in tech sales or go to consulting where you have an extra 20 hours a week but still clip $4-5mm/year as a senior partner once you get there (which, by the way, you could do by the time you get VP in PE......)
Basically, if you decide to do this path anyway, despite reading the above, then you are an absolute fucking psychopath, in which case, hey, you've found the right spot!
Yeah I just started my MF analyst stint, so take this for what it's worth. This would be a near impossible move that doesn't make much sense financially, professionally, or personally.
Your WLB to pay ratio is probably already higher than it will ever be in IB or PE. Even being a vet, you'll probably have a better chance at winning the lottery than getting a post MBA PE gig unless it's at some random search fund started by two guys with no PE experience and an SBA loan. I don't think that's what you want.
You'd essentially have to start in banking and likely make less than you would if you switched jobs or rose up the latter at your current firm and once again your WLB will be significantly worse if you're at a reputable bank.
Then, if you do get the chance to jump to PE it'll be at a LMM or MM firm at best, and then you'll have to face the decision of having potentially (not guaranteed) better WLB than you are in banking, but make less than or on par with a 1st year IB analyst at an EB. And you'd be at the bottom of the totem as far as seniority at said PE firm so you'd be starting from the bottom again. Which means at every step you've taken since getting an MBA you have taken lower rank, pay, and WLB.
And the above scenario is at best a 4 year plan and a bad one. Either job hop around tech or plan to become a career banker, but going to PE doesn't make much sense. I personally think you and your family would suffer by making the career decision to pursue PE.
Great points — thank you for sharing! I agree, 2 years in MBA + 2 yrs of IBD to MAYBE get a MM PE Associate role with no carry and low — to if any — bonus would be a tough one to swallow.
Possible, but for smaller PE firms
I did it, but at a LMM firm. The WLB is fine and the pay is still meaningfully better than what my pre-MBA career would have led to by now, but still trails behind banking and consulting. I'm basically in the position that was described above (already early/mid 30's and haven't made VP).
SBed the above but just to chime in again... stay where you are, PE is not worth it, both due to the arduous path and terrible WLB. Many post-MBA IB/PE folk end up settling in corp dev or something similar, and you probably make the same in tech sales.
Grass is always greener.
Hello! Person who did this checking in! My trajectory: MBA -> a year or two in MBB doing due diligences only -> a pretty good PE house. Idk what the classification would be according to this website, maybe UMM?
I've advised a handful of other people to do this as well, at least 1x followed this exact formula with good results. The trick is to accept two things.
Number 1: you need to cleanse your palate with a consulting or IB gig, and build some of the skillset you need for PE (i.e. either commercial due diligence or modelling). I picked consulting because the lifestyle / hours were easier. Once I had a few due diligences under my belt, I put in CDD / PE experience under my MBB job description, set myself as "available" and recruiters started knocking. Note, this is esp. easy in Europe, although that other person who did it, did it for a US UMM fund.
Number 2: you will start as an associate or senior associate and it'll take you 3-4 years to be a VP or Principal. You need to accept that between now and the time you will be leading others in PE there will be about 7 years (apply to bschool this year; start mid-2023; finish MBA mid-2025 and start with MBB; enter PE mid-2026; take 3-4 years to be Principal aka mid-2029 to 2030). You have to be comfortable having someone with fewer years of experience be a Principal or Director above you. This never really bothered me as much tbh, but it has rankled some folks I know. Especially since your consulting cohort will begin taking on management (as opposed to individual contributor) roles about 2 years after they start there.
Best of luck to you!
Very difficult to make this shift. However perhaps your years in tech sales could enable you to flaunt your SaaS and tech domain knowledge to make a transition to a VC, CVC or maybe a growth capital shop that focuses on investing in tech companies with products similar to what you sold before. An MBA and then a hop to PE is a real long shot and Carrie’s a lot of risk. Tailoring your CV to speak to your years of tech sales and then selling that to VCs takes no risk. I would do the latter. Still difficult but more risk adjusted than doing a full MBA. If you do choose to do an MBA have your employer or GI Bill cover it and do a weekend MBA. You may not get to a PE job but you would perhaps be able to leverage the MBA in a variety of ways and enables you to make a pivot. Why are you fixated on PE tho? It’s not rainbows and sunshine and you already likely know that from your search fund days.
definitely possible and if worse outcome is you go into IBD for a year post MBA and pivot to PE
Why go to PE and not be a career banker within IB or the Sales &Trading side?
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