Hi, I'm a graduating senior and incoming analyst. Wanted to hear about mistakes you have made and lessons learned the hard way from a career in private equity / finance in general. Not neccesarily scared to start full time, just don't want to mess anything up I don't have to. Appreciate the help!
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Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
Quickly off the top of my head:
Assume everything you put together is fucked up in someway no matter how small of a task, whether that be a Working Group List - triple check every single phone # and email, a simple comps output - f2 everything for your EV builds, check your factset estimates to make sure they make sense cuz they can be wrong (confirm w/a research report, latest IP deck for mgmt estimates etc) to sanity check your shit then do it again. In models, take a step back and make sure everything from top line volumes->revenues->cogs->Opex all make sense (ie theres not a double negative on a cost line in your formula, your sums are capturing every row, debt isn't going negative, etc) and your IRR isn't 672% or something. Be a freak about lining up your axis's on charts in a slide, your text boxes are perfect, your line spacing is consistent, and every word makes sense, those 20-30 extra minutes of review will help you find so many things and will give you goodwill with your VP's and save you an hour or two a night which goes so far.
Echoing the guy above on version control, I sometimes go a little overboard on v'ing up my work, but avoiding a disaster where you spend 2 hours updating a model and accidentally fuck somehting and #REF it will make you want to jump off a bridge if you don't have a recent draft saved, truly nothing more demoralizing than that.
Make an effort to build the camraderie with your class, venting about shit once the seniors leave at night truly makes you feel like you're all in it together, and when you're in a bind having your buddy the cubicle over lend a hand is a godsend.
Trust no one
I would say find 1-2 people you can trust, typically either right below or above you, no farther.
Imo, I would add you need one senior you can trust to advocate for you when layoffs/reviews/etc go down and maybe you are on a rating border.
Manage your career proactively and adapt as you go. All the folks at higher levels do this.
Sure, it’s all about how you position yourself, manage the perception of yourself, and navigate the political environment of your situation. Also important is stepping back from your role and even current job/employer to ask yourself if what you’re doing and where you are will get you where you want to go. A lot of times people think if they just work harder or make their immediate supervisor happy they’ll get ahead….and they might….but I’ve found the most diligent workers often would benefit from stepping back mentally and looking at the big picture, and then doing something about it.
Personally it’s frustrating to realize that the worst people are the most inclined to “manage their career” and climb the ladder while the folks focused on doing good work get stepped over…and later stepped on. The good news is that when diligent people develop their awareness and learn to navigate the politics, they generally do get ahead, and they make the better executives in the long run.
It took me a while to realize that once you learn the skills toolset of your space, the rest is how you interact with people and position yourself. Very very very few people at the top are indispensable in any way, they just know how to play the game. And, further, whenever the folks at the top say “just work harder” what they really mean is “just work harder FOR ME”….no thinking person should ever blindly work harder without looking at what it will get them.
In short, you have to create and search for your opportunity and then take a chance, and not wait to be rewarded….because that day may never come. I lost a few years like this and now I am hyper focused on always understanding how to make a situation work for me. And I’m honest, I think you should too. Think about your situation realistically and look at what your opportunity is and how you can leverage yourself to what you want. As an aside I’d also say that building alliances and quietly stacking the deck in your favor is a much more reliable way to get ahead than engaging in showmanship or engaging in zero sum competition; leave your ego out of it.
In my view you don’t want to be the fastest gun in the west because you will inevitably get cut down. Even if you really are the best, someone is eventually going to shoot you in the back. That’s your ego talking, convincing you that somehow you’re special when most likely you’re just another cog in the wheel. You know who you never hear much about in the old westerns though? The wealthy cattle rancher who quietly employs all the cowboys, the guy who is building an empire and buying up all the land while all the little people compete with each other for baubles and bragging rights. Play for keeps.
…..and that was a much longer answer than I’d intended
Not directly but second hand: Don't quit on your worst day. Push through and make a clear headed decision once you're on the other side. Longevity in this space is often about just getting through the tough periods, not necessarily always being perfect. And always have a good attitude. This goes a long way early on when you're still learning / not adding much value.
Always remember who you work for. You definitely don’t work for your VP. You don’t work for your Partners. You don’t work for your company. They might review your work, they might pay you. They might benefit from all the amazing hard work that you do. But it isn’t about them.
You work for you.
When you’re double and triple checking your work, it’s because you are a detailed oriented professional. When you bang out presentation comments, it’s to learn how to effectively and attractively synthesize information. When you stay up until 2 AM modeling, it’s to become technically proficient. When you work 3 weekends straight to get an M&A deal closed, it’s to add a win to your resume and deal sheet. Even when you’re handling random bullshit asinine tasks, you do it to develop mental fortitude, patience, and resilience.
You work to make yourself better, stronger, faster, smarter, more capable, more skilled, more valuable, more adaptable. You're just using your company as a resource to get mentorship, deal experience, institutional capability, learning opportunities, client relationships, etc. Always, always, remember that everything you’re doing is for you, and do it to the best of your ability because it’s you who will reap the reward in the long run. Go get what’s yours.
Analyst 2 you should be a f*cking motivational speaker or a Navy SEAL. Inspirational.
It is bank holiday in UK and I am working, but this reminded gave me perspective as to why 🙏. Thank you.
Thanks Associate 2 in PE - LBOs. I hope one day I can slide you my resume and join you in the sun.
Never forget you work for the King.
As stated above by multiple posters, I cannot stress enough the importance of honing your attention to detail, especially at the beginning of your career. The less simple mistakes your Associate, VP, etc. have to correct, the easier your life will be.
Additionally, providing context when speaking to anyone internally or externally is incredibly important, and a lot of people tend to struggle with this. Before diving into the details of topics that people have varying degrees of familiarity with, you should strive to set the scene -> What's the background? Where did this task originate from? Whose been involved to-date and who will need to be involved moving forward? What does success look like / what is the ultimate end goal?
On a related note to the above - it's inevitable that you'll make mistakes (as we all do!), but I am a firm believer that you should aim to knock it out of the park in any aspects of your role, or even life itself, that are within your control. This encompasses not only attention to detail, but your attitude, work ethic, coachability, etc. If you have a firm grasp on this concept, I can assure you that your time spent at work will be much more fruitful.
There's a lot of gems on this thread already, but hope this was helpful. Good luck!
Put a 2 minute delay on your Outlook Sent items. So anytime you forget an attachment/accidentally send an emai to the wrong person because you are exhausted, you've got a chance to catch it.
A few things come to mind:
Good luck