PE shops that give juniors outsized responsibility with upward potential?
I’ve been recently doing some reading and finished Barbarians at the Gate (KKR LBO of RJ Nabisco) and King of Capital (Story of BX). One thing that really stood out to me was that so many of the major players were under thirty. It seems that almost all really successful people in PE took responsibility/ownership relatively young (Orlando Bravo of Thoma Bravo or Scott Stuart of Sageview are other examples). As someone who will be at an EB and is considering PE as a career path, I’ve come to the conclusion that I probably want something more entrepreneurial in nature rather than going to a Megafund or maybe even UMM fund and getting locked in to a certain promotion schedule and path. What are some unique funds that give juniors a great deal of ownership (high operational involvement, innovative investing opportunities, etc.) with potential for strong individual upward trajectory? A few firms that stood out to me as potentially fitting in this category are BayPine, ZMC, and Shamrock. I’m very interested to hear what everyone thinks.
Edit: I clearly realize that the same wealth won’t be created nowadays in comparison to the birth of one of the biggest asset classes, but I’m more interested in places that can lead to an interesting career with some atypical financial upside in comparison to established funds.
K1 gives juniors a ton of control - have seen associates basically run a process and then subsequently take over portfolio responsibility. I assume it’s a function of average deal size and a pretty big fund - basically requires this structure.
Wouldn’t want to work there for other reasons but have always been amazed how much power the associates have
I think it’s important to note that in the 80s/90s PE was still a cottage industry. That created a lot of opportunity for junior people that largely doesn’t exist today.
Pretty much this. Industry has matured significantly over the past 10 years and its become much tougher to create meaningful differentiation given the proliferation of new firms and dry powder. I still think there are pockets of innovation but I doubt the firms you've noted will give you the same opportunity like Orlando had going after the software industry. Joining a smaller, younger fund and finding an underserved industry niche or strategy that you can own once you've established yourself would be more in line with emulating that.
These days, the most likely situation for this to happen would be a newer / start-up fund where you are the only junior person
Like others have said, PE was young and very different back then. I'm in the exact same position as you, and we'll never be half as successful as Orlando Bravo or Scott Stuart by following their footsteps. Not to imply that this is easy/likely by any stretch, but for us to achieve that kind of success, we need to take significant risks and somehow catch the next big shift on Wall Street, whether that's crypto (I don't think this is likely) or growth equity (likely already too established) or something else.
I'm personally planning to strike out on my own in entrepreneurship (software) because of a tech-y background after an EB stint
How did you come up with your preliminary list? Curious how you can tell from the outside
Join a firm that's on their first/second fund. It'll be leaner on the junior side, giving you the opportunity to make a name for yourself and will give you the opportunity to have more autonomy after a couple years.
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