Should I leave VC for an MM PE?
Current position: Recently promoted Associate at a €100-200M AUM VC in Western Europe. Pay at our firm has always been below market avg, which is the reason Im looking for other opps. TC: €60k + 10% bonus, carry possible one level above me which is probably 2 years away.
Offer: Associate at a US mid market PE that is opening a new office in Western Europe, which I would be joining. $1.2b AUM (new fund is $800M). Focus is B2B industrials and distribution. TC: still negotiating but it's going to be around $90-$110k + bonus, carry possible one level above me which could be ~2ys.
Yes (assuming you're indifferent about VC/PE)
Ive never worked in PE so no idea if Im indifferent or not.
I would definitely try it out but I'm hesitant because if I don't like it then I'm not sure how easy it would be to pivot back to VC.
I'd definitely make the move if you want to try it out. You have VC experience and it shouldn't be too hard to go back to another small fund like your current spot. Try something new, if you hate it you're not closing the door on VC.
I also think PE is a better place to be in a recession if you see the market going down in the next year or two. Much longer investment cycle.
Thanks for the replies so far. Any other opinions?
I guess also depends how much you like VC vs. PE? PE sometimes can be completely different, so unless you have a real interested in experiencing it, the move might not make sense. If you just want more comp maybe try to go to another VC place if you want to stay within the industry
It's probably worth taking the job, you got hired given your regional expertise, yet you likely don't quite have the technical abilities given the VC background. That's not a bad thing, it just means you likely got a little bit of a backdoor into a role that you normally wouldn't be qualified for. $800M is a pretty significant fund and your comp is way higher. Even if you don't end up loving PE, you'll build a much harder skillset than in VC. If you were at a name brand VC or even a really solid one, I'd say stay where you are, but 100-200M is still pretty small. Below market comp is also not great.
As long as you like the people and don't think you'll hate PE (just given the more modeling/financing/banking type of work), I think it's worth it to broaden your perspective, if nothing else. It could also give you an entryway in US based buyside roles if the brand name is known in the US.
My work history chronologically is: 2 years in boutique tech investment banking (at 2 firms), 1 year at an early stage startup as a founder's associate (failed) and then ~1.5 years in VC at my current place.
As I mentioned, I'm not that happy at my current place due to low comp + average team so would ideally jump to another VC. Ive done some interviews with other VCs but haven't managed to get any offers so far which is why I'm exploring other options too including PE.
I'm a bit concerned though that if I do PE for X years it would be difficult to pivot back into VC as it could seem like I'm not really committed to the space/ job hopping, i.e. IB 1 --> IB 2 --> Startup --> VC --> PE --> VC. In short, I don't know what kind of story I would tell headhunters/VCs regarding my career path.
Will most likely look like PE —> GE
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