Trouble with VP - Need Advice
I joined a respected PE shop about a year ago and am working in a niche vertical. Because the vertical is niche/specialized, I work with the same VP and MD on every deal. It's really a 3-man team: Associate (me), VP, MD.
I received a fantastic year-end review and things were going great. But unfortunately, the original VP left. He got an amazing opportunity that came with a large promotion and nobody blamed him for leaving.
Enter New VP. He has great credentials, I like him as a person, but it feels as if we are butting heads. These are the issues:
- He "plays down" quite a bit. Eg running models, doing the entire deal screen rather than looping me in
- Previously, we were a laid-back group and would not get caught up in minutiae when were just taking a quick look at a deal, but this VP is super in the weeds from the get-go. So I have pushed back on certain requests saying "we don't really need to do that at this stage" and I think my tone has rubbed him the wrong way.
- Previously I would present certain parts of a deal to our Pre-IC, but that doesn't really happen anymore.
- Previously the old VP and I would discuss deals, he'd ask my thoughts, and coach me through ways to think about deals (I came from consulting, no prior investing experience).
- Previously, old VP and I would catch up and get to know each other. But with new VP it's much less friendly.
Let's assume this is partially my fault by being a little bit cold in the beginning. How can I salvage the relationship and make things work? It has only been a few months so I think there is still time.
I don't want to leave the company because it's an amazing role and the pay is great. I just want to have a better working/personal relationship with the VP and get my old trajectory back.
This is a tough situation. A new VP coming in and changing the dynamic is definitely uncomfortable, and it's likely they'll have to adjust to your firm's culture, but kudos to you for recognizing your potential part to play in it as well.
Given your goal of developing a stronger working and personal relationship I suggest you set up time with your VP to get to grab coffee / lunch and get to know them on a personal level. Ask questions about their impressive background, why they came to your fund, etc. to show you respect them and want to learn from them. They're probably just trying to prove themselves as the new guy and I've bet there's a decent chance if you're friendly they will appreciate it and it will help you build rapport on a personal level. That rapport will be important because it's much easier to have a harmless intellectual disagreement on the value of a certain piece of work when you have a foundational relationship with someone built on mutual respect / trust.
It's also possible your VP is just a hardo and the above won't work, in which case you / your MD will need to have a more direct conversation with him about roles and how the firm works, but I'd go the soft route as laid out above first and see if that works. Good luck.
You should ask to informally catch-up / get some feedback on how you're doing. If he has any decent managerial instincts, he'll ask about how you've found the working relationship, at which point I would tactfully raise those concerns. Wouldn't come at him guns blazing, but ask if there is room for you take on more that you'd been doing before (ie. presenting at pre-IC, aligning up front on what key requests to complete are, being looped in on specific things, etc.).
Some of this may be a trust thing - he's a new VP who needs to prove himself and he's never worked with you before, which can bring out the control freak in some people.
If he's not receptive to feedback / tries to big boy you, might be worth a conversation with the MD at the 6 mo. mark / whenever most natural.
I think you hit the nail on the head regarding trust / proving himself. Hopefully this will partially go away with time
Sounds like he's busy trying to prove himself by being much more hands on and taking more ownership over deals to show he's capable of being in that role. You should sit with him deliberately and remind him that you're there to support him through whatever deals he's working on and make sure he knows you're a capable and willing resource and that you're not there to compete but rather to play bat for the same team.
If that doesn't work then yeah, raise the issue to seniors who probably knew and trusted you prior to this guy joining saying that you feel like you have more capacity. Don't directly mention the VP as they'll get it given the VP is supposed to staff you appropriately.
But I do think it's more of the former situation I mentioned. Make an effort to create a good relationship with this guy rather than assuming he's just not as good as your previous VP.
I'm in this boat but the opposite -- work with the same VP / MD and hate it because the dude outsources literally everything, like dude can't even write his own exec summary or email, and creates an abhorrent amount of unnecessary pages which I end up doing. Pushback and reviews are helpful but only go so far in a small firm, and while possible it depends on how it'll affect your working dynamic. Outside of these two individuals, my firm is very chill and my fellow Associates are all pretty happy. Tough thing is that I've tried to get re-staffed for diversity but now I'm "their guy."
I'm not offering a solution, just commiserating. My only way out of this situation was going to business school, although this was already part of my plan.
He's new and trying to prove himself. Normally, this sorts itself out after a bonus cycle or two. Give value and get value - get to know him. You want to be his ally - you know the institutional dynamics which should be very helpful to him.
Depending on the relationship with MD, can keep him copied but wouldn't recommend that for now. You don't want to alienate the VP. "we don't really do that at this stage" - can be "Happy to do that. Separately, can we sit down for 10 mins to align on approach for this stage of the process?" And then you tell him what your firm's (not your) approach is, what else you may be working on and why this may not be time well spent. Don't tell him he's wrong. And be smart about giving him some institutional nuggets in there - position it as a win / win. Put yourself in his shoes, he probably has no idea about how your shop works, is trying to prove himself / can't fuck up, and then gets a somewhat insubordinate reply. You of course didn't mean it that way - talk to him informally, get to know him, build a relationship. He's not trying to box you out of presentations - maybe juniors at his old shop didn't do it. Tell him politely you'd like to keep doing that for your professional development etc. Be polite but don't be scared either. Happy medium my friend.
If it doesn't get better, then go work for old boss :)
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