Hi guys,
Did a summer internship in IB at a top 3 (GS,JPM,MS) and received a return offer.
I have now interviewed with a small pe fund and they told me that they liked me and will get back to me soon but that it is looking promising.
What should I do? Join a top3 bank for the name on the CV or directly go to pe but at a small shop?
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How small are we talking?
I would say adequate or dare I say beyond expectations and enjoyable.
In general, LMM PE firms will not have nearly the same development/training programs and opportunities as large banks. Most of the small firms don't even hire analysts, because it's not worth it, unless they are strictly used to cold call. Assuming you're looking to do PE on the investing side, I would do banking to get the foundational skills and then see what you want to do with life. Some realize they like (or tolerate) banking and stay... some hate it and transition to PE, corp dev, entrepreneurship, etc.
From a purely careerist standpoint, my thinking would be as follows:
Look at recent exits from your bank and compare to the fund you’re looking at. If you’re in GS TMT and have an offer from Vista and know you like enterprise SaaS investing, why not take Vista? If you’re JPM M&A and have an offer from New Briar Lake Rock Tree Capital Partners (latest fund size $250mm), leaving your bank probably doesn’t make sense from a strictly career standpoint.
Obviously culture and group matter a bunch here, but if the PE shop is “less prestigious” than the median exit of analysts at your bank, that should inform your decision. You can probably go from GS /MS/JPM to a ton of great funds, but couldn’t go to a ton of great funds from a small PE shop. If you really wanted to, you could probably go from GS/MS/JPM to the small shop in a year or two. Location, culture, group, family, WLB all factor in here too, of course. Just my 2 cents and how I thought about my decision in a somewhat similar situation.
When OP said small, I'm assuming he meant very small so not comparable to a BB.
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