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First, people from the BD side will most likely never move to the investment side unless they are young and a total rock star, but I have never heard of it happening. It is a totally different skill set and people on the BD side want to be there due to the freedom you can have and the emphasis on relationship building. The BD people are true sales guys.
Comp is good. Especially at the senior level. I would say an Associate at a large AM or GP probably gets 100k base with commissions. When you start to move up the chain is when you really begin to eat what you kill and can make some great money if you are good at what you do. Usually the comp structure is some sort of % of assets raised spread out over the funds life’s, so basically like an annuity. You can imagine that these numbers get pretty high if you are in charge of a large fund raise. I have also heard of MDs and principles getting carry, but that would depend on the firm. All in all a senior guy at a top shop probably makes $1m+. But, these guys are unique and there is not many of them. They also all know each other.
The best part of the job is probably the work life balance. If you produce, you can pretty much do whatever.
thanks. is this the same for BD people who aren’t doing any IR but solely deal origination/sourcing? heard that they are comped from base + bonus as well as carry when the get senior associate plus. not sure how true nor what the range for this is. any insight would be appreciated.
ahh you mean BD as in deal sourcing. I know that this is an emerging role, especially in the middle market. The junior comp is base plus bonus where the base is similar to IB but bonus obviously much less. Maybe there is commission involved? I just know that it is hard to drum up deals this way.
I am not sure about transition to the investment team. Firms like Riverside and TA associates have build out and sophisticated deal sourcing teams, but I am unsure if they use that as a pipeline to staff deal teams. Sorry.
But I will say it is not a bad way to kick off your career especially if you are at a top firm. You may not be underwriting investments but you are still in the PE mix, around smart people, etc.
Understood, thanks for the insight on this. Would be interested to hear if anyone else had either firsthand insight or 2nd/3rd degree insight as well.
Thanks!
I was previously at a direct sourcing group. Feel free to PM me any specific questions.
bump to see if any additional insight.
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