"What industries should we invest in?" - PE interview question

By way of background, I've been working at as an analyst at a generalist "no name" IB for a couple years and have started to get serious about either moving on upstream to a bigger IB or to LMM PE.

Obviously going to a different (better) IB would be "easier" but I am getting some traction in my PE recruiting through referrals and relationships. I'm still not likely to have a lot of PE opportunities so I want to make the most of it.

The question "what industries should we invest in?" / "what industries would you invest in?" I'm not quite sure what a good answer is. Seems like a "no real wrong answer" as long as you back it up.

I got the question once and answered based on some experience I had working with a couple companies in the space I knew a decent bit on (industrial subsector) and mentioned working with those companies but wondering if there is a better framework to think about answering this.

I know this question may seem straightforward but after 2 years of doing sell-side IB work at a generalist firm, researching different industries for pitches and CIMs, most industries are growing and would be a great investment! (/sarcasm)

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