What kind of carry can I ask for as an associate at a 100MM fund that only has 2 partners and myself?
I am paid under market around 150k all in
10% or 5% too much? lol
I really enjoy the experience but if I'm not getting compensated on a cash basis I would want economics in the fund
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1) what are your hours and where do you live? If you're making 150k in LCOL city working 50 hrs a week, then you might not be as below market as you think.
2) that being said, with a total of 3 people, they should be able to pay you more assuming 2% AUM without giving you carry.
3) It might make sense to understand what your promotion timeline might look like and what the levels of carry would be, but I would be surprised if they gave you carry right now, and certainly not 5-10%. Is the firm trying to grow AUM?
4) Might be worth considering lateraling to another fund. That's what I did.
$150k is honestly not too far off from market for a sub $100M fund, especially if you're in a LCOL area. If you're in Manhattan that's a slightly different story, but even then I wouldn't expect much more than $200k all-in.
As far as carry goes, small chance you're getting 5-10% of the carry unless you're a founding member of the firm or had a significant hand in raising money, ie, you brought in some major LPs to the fund.
A VP at a small fund would likely get somewhere between 100-500bps. I think the most you could get would be 100-200bps or 1-2%. If I were you, I'd be happy with 50-100bps, really just as token carry to show that you're getting some economics in the fund.
The real money comes when you hopefully get promoted and the fund hopefully raises a 2nd larger fund. If the next fund is $300-400M and you're a VP in the next ~3-4 years, that's where you could ask for a few percent and have that money start to be significant.
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