Post-MBA transition from REPE (Hotels) to corporate PE (Ideally Generalists)

Understand this isn't common. I'm certain on the transition: appreciate any tangible/serious insights on pivoting!

Context: Currently in a top MBA program (within M3). I have 5 yrs of experience: 2 yrs of IB (product group across sectors in MM) & 3 years in REPE (Lodging specifically; so niche given real operating model); also worked at a leading shop, whose portfolio was a Blackstone target).

I largely came to MBA to transition to corporate PE (ideally UMM/MF; direct investing preferred generalist, but exposure to TMT or consumer (despite some pullback)). Given unique background and market dynamics I'm willing to step back into a very Senior Associate role (think long game)

  • What concerns should I hedge against for my background?
  • What type of shops would you target?
    • I need build the right foundation & work/learn from someone who is highly competent -> strengthen my skills and deal experience + credibility in PE; shop with a good track-record 
    • Who can appreciate the nuances that come with investing in hotels ->intersection of RE and a capital intensive consumer facing business)?
  • Clearly sector-specific; but generally what key areas of diligence would you expect to be different? (think of each hotel as a portco)
    • We evaluated management / market-specific geography / brand diligence / customer profiles / industry trends / competitive landscape / pricing capabilities / etc. 
    • the only area that I could think of is truly different are legal & some financial considerations: operating costs tend to be relatively stable; model largely driven by Daily/weekly/monthly expectations on Demand and Average Daily Rate (think seasonality, market-specific, & macro)). Most of our acquisition did not have pre-existing debt
  • How can I make myself more competitive beyond networking?
  • Is there anything else I should consider to better position myself?

Additional Context:

- Identified a ton of real (quantifiable) value creation opportunities that we executed on (opportunistic pricing / management company realignments / brand changes / etc.): resulted in $XXMs of EBITDA and margin growth

- Lodging was one of the hardest impacted industries; lot of lessons learned + got promotion during time of layoffs

- Candidacy supports multiple diversity boxes (if that even matters anymore)

- MBA Internships in traditional PE have largely been NA; working on free-lancing and ad-hoc projects for GPs through semester

- I'm willing to put in the work; let me know if any questions

1 Comments
 

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