What Now? The Existential Question of a PE Associate
Did my 2 years in MMIB. Coming up on 2 years in MMPE. Was average / below average over both jobs, didn't get a promo in IB and being pushed out from PE. What have folks in similar shoes done? Product management, biz dev, investor relations? Portco ops work? Startups? The universe of potential opportunities seems huge, but uninteresting. So - what now?
doesn't sound like you have much room to be picky here chief. AI is coming for your below average corporate soul.
Definitely can't be picky. Wonder if I just lateral to another experienced associate / sr associate program to keep cashing checks for a few more years before going to industry. Or go direct to startup/industry.
Go to b-school or go to industry. Those are really your only choices. It is up to you to determine what you find interesting when looking for industry roles. Sounds like you just didn't care about IB or PE and that was probably a contributing factor to your performance. Nothing wrong with that. The deal grind is not for everyone and that is okay.
You don't think it's worthwhile giving another go as an associate 3 at a different shop? There have been some additional circumstances that I do actually think could be solved with a move (poor fund-wide deal flow, poor portco performance, etc).
Absolutely do not go to business school, mid-level hiring is fucked rn and it's easier to lateral from a relevant role v. coming in cold from MBA. If you think you're long-term ngmi in PE / investing, I'd try to land a lateral role to milk cash comp and then line up a corp dev role with decent equity upside (PE backed or otherwise)
I'm sure there are openings / places that will take a 2 and 2 UMM PE associate, particularly newer LMM funds. That being said, is that really what you want to do? Why do you think an extra year of PE is beneficial?
Wherever you go, you can't really coast. Your reputation at that point will be shot and sure there are dynamics out of your control at your current shop but 2 extra independent sources (banking and potentially new PE firm) confirming that you are a below average performer is not great. It is a small world and the PE world is even smaller.
I think you just need to figure out where your interests are and then come up with a plan. If that means you need to stay in PE an extra year while you get bschool applications together, then so be it. Just an example.
Its clear that you don't really have an idea on what you want to do / where to go, and that is the first step.
Why are you content with below average?
I'm truly not content with being below average. It's a combination of losing steam due to internal/external factors + perception that have driven below average performance reviews. I think it could make sense to give it one more shot elsewhere before throwing the towel in on investing. It's always easy to leave...
Sounds like you’re just going through the motions. Do you even like your job? If the only way you could continue investing meant you only made $80k/year would you still do it?
Then you don’t love it. Figure out down to the task level what parts of the last six years have you liked the most, and find something aligned with that l
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