Want to get into PE but dont know where to start
Hi Everyone,
I’m new to WSO and looking for some guidance as I explore a career change. I currently work in fintech and hold a “Head of” role at my company, where I oversee commercial lending operations, partnerships, deal-making and financial operations.
I’m considering transitioning into high finance, with a goal of eventually working at a hedge fund or private equity firm. While I’ve gained valuable experience in deal structuring, scaling financial solutions and managing partnerships I’m unsure of the best way to pivot into these fields.
I’m 29 years old, and I wonder if it’s too late to make this change. I’d appreciate advice on the following:
- What steps should I take to position myself for roles in PE or hedge funds?
- Are there specific skills or certifications (e.g., CFA, financial modeling) that would strengthen my candidacy?
- How can I leverage my fintech experience to stand out in these competitive industries?
Any insights, resources, or stories from others who’ve made similar transitions would mean a lot. Thanks in advance for your help!
Yes its too late
It's never too late. Try lateraling to an IB or MBB, or do an MBA and then go into IB (but make sure you go to a top bank). From there, find your way to a small fund.
This path is totally doable but the only thing I’d say is unmarry yourself from the endpoint necessarily being lateraling to a small fund. Often just staying at your bank / MBB will be a better move and already a huge accomplishment.
Why do you want to do this? I just don’t understand the jump. I’ve worked in Fintech and have no real motivation to go the PE route. It’s a great way to learn how to invest in and operate a company (possibly the best way) but this just seems like a bad idea at 29. I know it’s never too late but if I were you I’d keep compounding on what you have, which is a really solid start. PE doesn’t give a fuck about your fintech experience unless you’re an exited founder going the operator track. You’re gonna spend 5+ years doing the MBA and IB pivot working horrible hours as a 33 year old only to do the same thing in PE. What’s the goal here? Because if you model this pivot out, it hardly seems like a positive ROI.
To answer your question (and this may sound silly), the main reason I’m considering PE is the money. I’ve done well in fintech and hold a leadership role now, but I’m looking at paths where I could significantly increase my earnings. Idk I'm just feeling a bit lost right now and think I'm not doing enough.
I get what you’re saying about the grind of doing the MBA and IB pivot at 29, and honestly, that’s part of why I’m trying to figure out if this is even worth it.
Your perspective’s really helpful, it’s making me think hard about whether this pivot is the right move or if I should just double down on what I’ve already built in fintech. If you were in my shoes and wanted to maximize income, what would you focus on?
How much do you make?
Put another way, I would say you are looking at 400k all in after 4y of MBA+IB, and I would put your chances of this at 40%.
All this calculus changes if you have something about you — for example if you’re connected, target school + super impressive career so far career so far, etc.
But it doesn’t change that much unless you have a connection handing you the job and even then that is not likely to carry you through increasingly narrow funnels of promotions.
Getting to PE without doing MBA+IB I chance at5%.
Getting into IB without MBA I put at 20%.
Getting promoted to VP in PE, regardless of how you get in, I chance at 0.5%.
Look I hate to sound like I’m shitting on a dream of yours I’m just saying you’re current situation I think high chance is better than signing yourself up for this in the terrible market we are in. There are a lot of unemployed strong IB+PE folks right now, and after them unemployed less strong IB+PE folks, and then weak IB+PE, and then just IB, and then some MBB/corp dev/people like you, and it’s just a shrinking amount of seat
But if you are currently unhappy with current and projected comp, then maybe an M7 MBAis a good call, and you can play it by ear. Banking is a good way to make a lot of money for you, or anyone. Like millions a year in your 40s is possible. Down the road when the market is better , maybe PE, but there are only a small set of situations in which the PE grass is always unequivocally greener than banking, and yours is not one of them.
Hope this helps and regardless you sound like a person who is likely to be highly successful.
You're probably better off targeting VC/GE with a fintech focus and eventually maybe parlaying that into a privates role at a HF.
I’ve also been looking into VC or growth equity since those might align better with my fintech experience, any advice on where I should start though?
Go work in an early or growth-stage rocketship fintech startup and understand how to grow a tech company. That will do you best for VC. For GE, you're better off going IB I think because it's more finance-heavy than VC is. Consider an MBA either way. Both of these options are miles better than trying to gun for PE, which I think you should strongly consider not doing.
Guaranteed too late. Save yourself the journey
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