Q&A: Associate at MM Private Equity fund
Hey WSO, I’m a first-time poster and longtime reader. I have some downtime on account of MLK Jr. Day and wanted to take the time to give back to the community and provide some insight on my career decisions I’ve made along the way.
- Non-target LAC (e.g. Little Ivies)
- Interned at BB in Operations
- Everything since has been the result of a ton of hustle and preparation (and luck), not to mention friends and mentors who have spent countless hours advising and pushing me forward
- Started my career in asset management and pivoted to investment banking / corporate M&A. Currently an associate at a $4B middle-market fund.
Q&A
I’m happy to answer any questions about my experience: breaking in with a non-target / non-traditional background, the recruiting process (IB / PE), on-the-job advice, and reasons for switching careers, as well as anything else I might have forgotten. Fire away!
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This year has been "off" for a number of reasons (COVID, WFH, increased deal volume in Q2-Q4) but generally, I'd say that sprints have been 14-16 hour days (slightly better than the 9 am - 2 am sprints from IB). Once we're past the initial IC meeting and have done the lion's share of our work (analysis, DD, etc.) the workload is more confirmatory (tying up loose ends raised in IC) and/or administrative in nature (legal, funding, etc.). That's when the workload drops down to a more reasonable 10-12 hr/day pace (60-hour week). To your questions about "common", we're in the business of doing deals and in a market where capital is cheap and plentiful, speed to close is often a differentiator. We are ultimately beholden to the seller's timeline. Other monkeys feel free to jump in, but generally, I've felt that late summer and December / the New Year have been a bit quieter vs. the rest of the year.
Any advice on how to do well in IB without killing yourself? Hit 115 & 96 the last 2 weeks and don’t want to do it again. Any advice on pe recruiting? How did you know you’d like PE?
Advice on doing well in IB: I found a combination of working smarter and not harder and also knowing when to sprint. Working smarter for me meant making sure I was on the same page as my mid-level when working on decks or models. Take the time to make sure you've laid out the decks and know exactly which analyses you need (and the questions you're trying to answer w.r.t. your analysis). On knowing when to sprint, personally, I knew that I could only do a 9 - 2 am stint 3-4 days in a row before I was falling asleep standing up. Any more than that and I was useless. Communicating this to my mid-level was key and allowed me to catch up on sleep and still hit our deliverables. People are much more reasonable and understanding if you communicate and spend time building rapport. Long hours are definitely the norm in PE, marginally better yes, but it's not a huge difference. The trade-off for me was that I feel more ownership, not to mention financial alignment to my deals in PE.
Advice on PE recruiting: (1) Find a good group of friends that you can study with. This industry is still very much an apprenticeship-based business and so much information is passed along from person-to-person. (2) Practice, practice, practice. Practice walking through interview questions on corporate finance and LBOs. I would answer questions and explain them to my mom (non-finance) and make sure that she could understand the concepts. Practice your modeling and time yourself. You should be able to put together a quick form LBO in 45 minutes or less. Take practice tests and time yourself (there are always old case studies circling the Street). Practice in full business attire (you'd be surprised how much pressure a crisp tie adds when you're building a model under test-like conditions). (3) HHs. Be nice to them. They can be a little arrogant and mean but it's par for the course. Just keep smiling and be polite for they hold the keys to the kingdom (for now). Work to establish a relationship with them early and do your best to come across as confident and competent but humble enough to be coachable. (4) Network. There seem to always be spots for analysts at PE firms based on alma mater or banking group. Reach out to your respective networks (i.e. the associate at the firm) to see if you can align yourself appropriately.
How to know if I'd like PE: I didn't! There's always a risk trying something new. You can theorize and postulate until the cows come home but you're never going to know until you do it. I spent time in asset management and moved to IB. I spent countless hours chatting with professionals in the industry and formed my hypothesis that PE would be my next step over a few years. Eventually, you just have to do it Hope that helps!