Seeking advice from people who have done MM IB -> MM PE

Hey all,

Have a couple calls scheduled with some past people I've connected with just to gain insight into title, but wanted to post here to see thoughts as well. Some background:

I just finished up summer in NYC at a small boutique - talented seniors, lots of exposure + decent deal activity, and I love the people there, but definitely little to no brand recognition. Work here is primarily in LMM to MM space and there are some exits to MM/UMM PE. I honestly went into the summer with rerecruiting in the back of mind, but never got around to it especially as work picked up second half of summer and with my full focus on securing a return.

My end goal is to end in MM/UMM PE, definitely no MF aspirations. I go to a school where people place into IB and PE all across the street, so there are definitely warm connections to reach out to whatever my goal ends up being. There is definitely a lot of opportunity for learning and reps with where I'm at, so the plan is to gain that experience and sweat out PE recruiting when the time comes.

On the rerecruiting note, I realize most processes are probably also done by now - the two places I have warm connections at are definitely more recognizable names, but also far from locks for PE placements (both large banks with big BS + continued focus on developing IB but lackluster M&A presence in the US). Is there a material difference in attempting something here? I don't want to reach out asking about FT opportunities/put in interview prep if I'm unsure about what my direction is.

Also have thoughts about lateraling down the line, like a year into the job, so I have more time to build out connections at places that genuinely do have a material step up in PE exits. But that's still some time away - wanted to know if anybody has been in a situation similar to this one, and if anyone who has been in the industry for a while has any insight into how to approach this.