Edit (12/04): May have jumped the gun. Got thrown into a multitude of live deals this past week and have had zero time to answer questions. Will get to those below by EoW, appreciate the patience. Thanks, all!
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Howdy, everybody. Hope you all are enjoying things.
Nearly three years ago, I made my first post(s) on this website, including a narrative about my non-traditional path into the PE space, followed by a proper Q&A regarding my role. Some fantastic discussions immediately followed, and I more-or-less became a regular on this site - for better or worse! I think it's time for a check-in.
My rationale for wanting a follow-up Q&A was facilitated primarily by a couple of things:
- The questions I received last time were phenomenal. Not only was I (hopefully) able to provide insight for some of you, but I learned a couple of things myself. This was my first peek into how great this website can be.
- Significant professional and personal changes have occurred in the past couple of years. I think I'm now able to offer a fresh perspective on some things and can continue to help some of you out.
I'll keep the context brief, but you all know me. Career-wise, I've moved firms, roles, and locations. I had a fantastic opportunity presented to me a while back - after determining it was both logistically feasible and trajectory oriented, I made the jump. New firm, new team, new verticals, and... new problems. Don't worry, we'll elaborate on some of 'em, ha!
If you care about anything personal-wise, I am in a good spot. I now wear a wedding ring, I am the proud father of a cat + dog, and am getting ready to buy a house. Thanks to all of you out there who have wished me well over the years, don't think I forget 'em.
It's your turn, let's hear some questions! Anything regarding sector outlooks, day-to-day tasking, interpersonal & networking advice, statistical info, etc. As long as I can answer, I will - as always, do not ask me for NPI or PM me to solicit info, please!
Would like to articulate some of my gratitude to Pat & the WSO team for creating this website, as well as all of you for constantly contributing. Ask away, folks!
Thanks for posting a q&a. Curious to hear what changes have you seen historically and what is your new role like now?
Will be answering these periodically (+ chronologically), so am beginning w/ this one. Some great questions from everyone, just have been slammed this past week and the timing was bad. Appreciate this question, it's a great baseline and provokes some good thoughts.
By far the most impactful changes that I've witnessed stem internally, primarily from me feeling more comfortable within my role. I'll be the first to admit this took a bit - if you look back on my original post(s), the imposter syndrome was etched in there. It's an ebb-and-flow process that takes time to even out, mainly by just getting reps in throughout this field. I slowly was able to ease into my surroundings, finding myself talking more at meetings, being more proactive with questions and deadlines imposed, all of that. There wasn't a specific key point that I remember becoming confident, but even comparing myself now to who I was when I wrote that post, the differences are clear.
If that's the change you were aiming for with your question, then that's the spiel. As for changes I've noticed industry-wide, you could probably guess plenty of them. A lot of us were riding that post-COVID spike in 2021 - valuations were through the roof, private markets fundraising was tip-top, and all the jazz. For better or worse, being employed by megafunds kind of allows you to bridge the gap during significant market downturns, but I certainly wasn't immune - both in my former and current roles. I can't speak to a ton of specifics, but I consistently think about the luck I encountered during my transfer - I formerly dealt strictly with real estate and infrastructure, which we know is down over 20% YoY. North America seemed to hold onto plenty of fundraising (as opposed to Europe / Asia), but I can look at my former group's iteration funds and see it's tanked quite a bit. Contrast that with my current spot and the numbers are holding steady with a small positive increase - investors still seem to favor those big-bucket funds around the >$5B market. My team is doing well and so am I, but we'll see how it holds out.
As for what my new role is like now... it's good. Good, but different... it's weird. That's the right word.
Being moved from SR-ASO to VP is by no means a golden ticket to authority - it ain't moving from that faux-hard-lined 'junior' to 'senior' level. I still report to dozens of people, still have bosses breathing down my neck, and by no means can order people around to do my constant bidding. I knew this coming in and didn't expect it... ESPECIALLY from an external point-of-view (which I will cover comprehensively when I get to comment two below this one). I am fortunate to have accumulated a vast network throughout my years in this space, and plenty of people knew my name before I showed up at the office - my past credibility spoke to the fact that I wasn't a dweeb. But as an external hire, I had to prove myself and will need to continuously prove myself to those who haven't worked with me for years. I don't take any pride in shouting orders at my analyst team, don't expect my associates to do all of my bidding, or anything similar. I expect results and effort, but I have tried to take the initiative to work with people, rather than yell at 'em. Seems to be working so far, as my team puts out good work and they generally seem to like me. Or, they hate my guts and are being nice to my face, who knows?
I'll expand more on this in later questions, but that's the gist of it so far. I look forward to embracing this new role and being able to operate a little more to my liking, hopefully efficiently and positively. Thanks for your great question, lookin' forward to answering many more. Cheers.
Ah, the big one. I trained for this: my therapist has asked me before! Kidding aside, it's a good one to analyze and requires a deep look back over a decade.
To adequately answer, I'll briefly discuss my low points - something I have done countless times on this site, as I believe being honest with yourself and demonstrating how you went from Point A to Point B is important to be laid out. It's not pretty, but to be honest - that's just life. I am a username and an NYC avatar to (nearly) everyone on here, but like everybody else, I am a person. I've struggled with plenty of shit, as has nearly everyone reading this, I'm sure.
All of my success has been attributed to improving my mental process, in dozens of different ways. No matter how you cut it, all roads lead back there. I'm not a particularly talented person, and I am not smarter than a single one of you reading this comment. I crafted my success by harnessing my experiences and realigning them into a productive manner, answering key questions such as: what am I good at? What am I not good at? How do I analyze past success/failure and reboot it into something that will make me marketable? Sounds cheesy, but it's really like that. Again, any way you cut it.
For context, take my (UG) college experience. I wasn't anybody. I was a frat-star-underachiever, who prioritized booze and socializing above academic work, physical upkeep, and mental health. I was afraid to take leaps, afraid to apply myself in any capacity, and allowed whatever depression/anxiety to spiral, thus aligning my thought process to basically say: "you do not deserve good things." My grades sucked, I was anxious and angry, the whole nine yards. While I managed to land a great job out of college (by some miracle), it didn't mean anything. I had a lot of external factors going for me - degrees, friends, employment, and whatnot, but internally I was miserable. Instead of making this productive, I furthered this downward trendline by turning to substance abuse and reckless spending. On the outside, I looked put together. On the inside, I was the shell of a man.
As mentioned previously, there's no preset turnaround point where I had the typical hit-rock-bottom-and-get-your-shit-together pivot point, but after two years (postgrad) of suffering in every mental way, I just realized I couldn't live like this anymore. I started small - I got myself a therapist. I started going on walks for exercise. I started forcing myself to wake up early, cutting the drugs out, selling things I didn't need, and focusing on rebuilding myself and who I was. During this time, I turned inward (aided by my therapist) and focused on one thing above all: inputs. When I say that word, I mean those intangible things that allow you to receive outputs, the tangible things people see. I focused on acceptance of who I was, what I had at my advantage, and what I had at a disadvantage. I focused on eating and drinking well, consuming things in moderation, and reading goals to myself every day. Just the little shit, that then creates success in external fields.
Exponential growth immediately followed. I went back to school, but with completely different priorities and mindsets than I had previously. I figured out I was good at talking to people, excellent at making connections, and had plenty of technical skills that could aid me in the roles I wanted to work with. I challenged myself within - during my MBA, I went to every single class. Every single fucking class. Did I need to? No, but I did it to prove to myself I could. I went to every networking event, made every phone call I could, and followed up countless times with emails, and calls. I accepted any and all invitations to chats, even to firms I had no interest in working at. I did this to tell my old brain one thing: fuck you, you can evolve. And evolve, I did.
The intensity of the 'fuck-you-brain' has certainly devolved with time - as I learn more and feel more comfortable, I can lay off the gas pedal a bit. This brings me to my second point which I believe has helped my success, which may seem shockingly simple: common sense. When I say this, I mean figuring out what somebody actually wants. As I mentioned, I didn't have an M7 MBA education. I didn't have a million dollars raised on a startup I did in high school, didn't spend thousands of hours doing community service, because I didn't need to. I approached every interview with a common-sense perspective, leaning heavily into the Venn Diagram of: a) what this firm wants in an employee, and b) the skills that I possess that make me a candidate to fill it. It's that simple. It sounds so much easier said than done, but I changed my mental scope to answer those two questions, and boom - I got hired at a company. Not just a company, at a good company. I don't say this to brag, but this mentality has worked for me my entire life. I was promoted faster than anyone entering the firm in my class, was allocated significantly higher flexibility in how I could operate, and was the pledge-class-president equivalent of the guys I came in with. I hope this doesn't come across as me trying to brag - like I said, I'm not smarter than anyone here. I just played into marketing skills the best I knew, then I figured out what worked. That's it. I thrived from there.
I've attributed the 'fuck-you-brain' and 'it's-just-common-sense' to every aspect of my professional and personal career trajectory for as long as I can remember. I am comfortable with who I am and comfortable with the decisions that I make on a day-to-day basis. I have a long way to go, but I can only hope that my past experience and credibility speak for themselves and how I went from a 1.2 GPA to being the fastest-promoted SR-ASO that my last iteration has ever seen. At the end of the day, it's really just in your head. I don't know why half of it works, but that's the truth. I'm happy with where I'm at now, and see no reason why this won't continue.
Thanks for reading my word vomit, and thanks for the excellent question. This is barely a percent of what I could elaborate on, so I'm happy to spew out more 'wisdom' or whatever you want to call it. It's worked for me, and I don't see it stopping any time soon. In this industry, I know one thing: if you want it bad enough, you'll get it. The ride is bumpy, but man... that landing is smooth. Cheers.
Curious how you're handling moving locations at the VP level, both from a personal and professional standpoint. Feel like it's hard having to rebuild professional and personal circles after early to mid twenties? Any tips on how to navigate that change are welcome.
Another good question here, and probably the number-one thing I considered pre-move. Our departure wasn't a quick process whatsoever, and I think like half a dozen times I found myself wanting to pull out. The 'unknown' aspect of it was daunting and hit us both in ways it hadn't before.
What I mean by that is while we both had moved cross-country before, it was generally a clear-cut step-up, with minimal considerations of what we'd be leaving behind. For my big moves, it's pretty simple - college, first big-boy job, great MBA program, then great post-MBA job. Boom. All of those make perfect sense for moves and left me feeling that I was doing the 100% correct thing. My wife doesn't have an MBA but has moved the same amount of times for career advancements. All of our moves before this one have been as single people in their twenties with that 'yearning' feeling for more. The dynamic changed this past year.
We had really established a good life for ourselves in our (then) current area - we both had plenty of friends & dozens of close contacts nearby we could count on, grew to love the neighborhood and what it offered, got our first dog here, yada yada yada. The idea of leaving all of that behind is something to really grapple with, and I was honestly just having a hard time uprooting seven years of adjustment and relationship-building off a whim. The more I overanalyzed it, however, the more I realized we were both just looking for an excuse to stay. She received an internal transfer in her firm, kind of a diagonal promotion if you will. I got this fantastic offer that I couldn't turn down - comp, structure, committee oversight, and proximity to key people really led my charge. We've never been people to shy away from an adventure, so we just said fuck it. Been here about six months so far, and can't complain.
So there's that, from a personal perspective. But from a career perspective, it's weird - to say the least. I mentioned this in prior comments, but I've been fortunate to accumulate a well-established network throughout my years in this space, and it felt like this was the reward for all those miserable hours I spent over-networking in the past. I had multiple contacts at the new firm before I ever stepped foot in the door, as well as plenty of contacts within the financial space overall who resided in the city. My wife got super lucky and was able to reconnect with her former collegiate mentor, who just so happens to be an EVP in the TX office. That was the good of it all, but clearly, there were (and still are, to an extent) challenges when moving at this level.
The biggest one is simple: your brand name. While it's not ideal on a personal level, I really do get it from the other side. Some new guy from another group just waltzes in here, and now I report to him? What's his story? Did he get pushed out of his former group? Anybody got info on what deals this guy led to close? Huh? Anything?
You see where I'm going. I knew this from the get-go, but in those first couple of weeks, I found myself missing the rapport and trust I had established with my former juniors - guys who knew me on a professional and personal level. Obviously, all of this new team immediately showed formality + respect, but it was clear they were trying to get a sense of who this guy was. I can't blame 'em, and I was doing the exact same thing; keeping an eye out for who seemed to be 'in the know' on things, figuring out the informal flow of the office, how the culture compared with favors and deadlines, the whole nine yards. It was an adjustment period, and it ain't fast at all. I'm still doing plenty of recon work to this day, as it can only be to my advantage. It's just a smidgen of a culture shock when transferring, especially at this mid-career level.
However, I've begun to find my groove here very easily, and suspect that anybody else will be able to as well. Without brown-nosing, I've made an effort to talk to my guys and engage with them above the standard 'required' level, as I think it really goes far. It's just a delicate balance of not being an overzealous prick, but also not letting juniors get away with shit that you know wouldn't fly with another VP. The balance is dictated by the people, so learning the people themselves has to be the first task. I'm doing my best!
So, that's my personal rundown of what I've encountered so far. As for navigating this 'rebuilding' process, my only recommendation is to observe, listen, and be patient. People will be naturally skeptical of literally anybody who comes from anywhere. It's human nature - you and I both do it too, even if we don't realize it. By keeping your mouth closed in the beginning, you can begin to pick up on the dynamics of workplaces and ultimately utilize that to everyone's advantage. It's just not a quick process, nor a perfect one - a funny anecdote that I can tell is when I got a little too hot on an analyst once. A 'learning lesson', putting it nicely:
It appeared to me that he had put his name over the top two others' work, which I didn't take too kindly. I approached him with my concerns, and I'll admit... probably could have been nicer about it. Yeah... REALLY should have been nicer about it. Turns out it was me who read the fetch data report wrong, and he was the original author of the entire section. Felt like shit after that, but that's an example of something that's on me and I had to own. Apologized to him personally, and bought him a couple of drinks that night! Fast forward, he's one of my brightest and best guys and we'll constantly talk MLB and other shit. One of the new folks that I look forward to seeing every day - just an example of how I want to lead my team when able.
Looks like I'm rambling again, but I hope this was helpful. I will continue to evolve and am thankful for the support I've had around me. As I've said a hundred times, it's not quick, but it works!
If you could restart the whole thing what would you have done differently, What is the strategy you would have utilized to excel, what sacrifices did you have to make?
Piggy backing off this/maybe this is the same question. What factors made you become the fast promote?
How large of an impact does internal politics play in your role from your experience? Any advice on dealing with people in the office or putting up with annoying / insufferable personalities? I just started in ib in a small group, and my group is relatively chill, but have heard it can be annoying in larger funds and such
How has your comp progressed from your Associate years to now?
Going into SA recruiting pretty soon for all the MFs...what areas of the industry/key trends within the industry do you suggest I do further research on in order to best prepare myself for being evaluated for business acumen. Any article, book, or author recommendations would be greatly appreciated as well.
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