What Should I Do With My Life?
I'm really struggling to figure out what path I should take.
I have spent about a year and a half in IB and really dislike the work. I am a much more social guy and while I can be analytical I don't love the granular detail of IB.
I like the idea of LMM PE because of the upside and idea of owning businesses but I am scared of it becoming IB 2.0.
Real estate could be lucrative but just doesn't seem that exciting to me.
Wealth management would be cool because I like the social nature, but also don't know how I feel about the lower upside and just watching other people's money.
Would love to start or buy a business but I don't have any ideas and feel too young.
Really just struggling to find something that I am actually interested in that has the opportunity for wealth creation that I am looking for. I am a social and likeable guy, graduated from a top Ivy, and have the IB experience. But just have zero clue what to do next.
Spent 6 years in finance. 3 in IB and 3 in PE. Overall, invaluable experience since it taught be how to be professional, think about business fundamentals and risk/return.
That being said, finance (unless you have a real outlier outcome) is no longer a path to significant wealth creation early in your career and freedom.
I’d encourage you to develop some sort of operating skillset to compliment your finance knowledge and then go start a business.
Your finance career will give you immediate credibility, access to financing and a network of potential investors.
If you are able to develop real operational know-how and edge in an industry you’ll be able to be super successful no doubt. Particularly if you apply the same work ethic you developed in IB/PE.
In my case, I’d also been drawn to e-commerce for some reason and I have a similar personality to you (very social, more strategically minded less concerned with super granular analysis). I’ve spent the last 12 months learning in-depth everything about it and I’m about to raise some capital.
I’m now genuinely engaged with my work which I think will be the biggest asset going forward.
I like Chris Williamson’s quote. If you are ok at work you hate, imagine what’d itt’d be like working on something you are obsessed about.
I like the idea of building operational experience within an industry. The only problem is I don’t know which industry to choose because none of them are super interesting to me.
Heakthcsre does seem cool, but is also so insanely vast that I’m not sure how much experience would carry over if I ultimately switch niches of healthcare.
You start by experimenting. You don’t find out what you are interested in by thinking about you.
You need to go out and talk to people and do desktop diligence.
Try things and follow your raw instinct. Your brain knows what kind of thinking/problems/industry you like but it won’t be conscious or apparent until you get out there and try things.
Best way to go about it is talking to people after you hone in on a hunch
RE switching within healthcare, it can be helpful to know a bit about what happens in other niches. Just as an example, maybe you try something in proper pharma. Then you decide to switch into consumer health - doesn’t always need all the regulatory approvals, usually people pay out of pocket instead of with insurance - but knowing the limitations of FDA and CMS coverage means you now know what barriers are lifted. Or say you switch into providers/services - these people are prescribers and you know some about drug approval timelines, marketing, etc.
Same boat as you brother.
We have to find something that’s analytical and not granular. Social but not pointlessly so.
I do think part of your 20s is about putting down sweat and time to work towards your ideal lifestyle later.
Maybe you’d like secondaries / co-invest roles? Upside of PE pay (with a discount on bonus) and better WLB than a natural next step in PE.
I totally agree about paying your dues now. In my head, the PE Partner life and job description is aligned with what I think I would be good at (managing relationships, fundraising, strategy oversight) but I don’t know if I am off the mark here
Capital raising / co-invest
You also sound well-suited to B2B sales, business development roles in PE, or corp dev.
PE will usually be more stressful and granular than IB. Remember in PE you are in charge of the entire deal, including FDD, Legal, Tax, SPA, as well as the forecasting/returns and the IC memo. On top of that you'll have 2-3 portfolio companies that you will do a bunch of admin work for (quarterly valuations, bolt-ons, etc)
Thank you, this is very helpful. Curious if in PE I would feel more engaged than IB despite the greater level of detail due to the feeling of ownership. Do you actually feel like an owner in LMM PE or do you feel disconnected? In IB I struggled to feel like the work mattered that much and didn’t feel like a relevant skillset to being an owner. Thoughts?
Also, how do you think about the level of granular detail in PE vs starting a business? Which path better suits a more social individual?
A few different questions there
The work in PE is definitely much more intellectually engaging than IB, you have to properly think about competitive positioning, the market dynamics, the founders/management team dynamics, the value-creation plan post-acquisition, very detailed financial models, etc etc
Sounds fun, but with tight deadlines and a stressed out VP, can be hell
Look at any random set of successful entrepreneurs, how many are coming out of PE? Many people in PE say they want to be entrepreneurs one day, but PE actually makes you quite risk averse. in terms of whether it is worth starting a business, that is ultimately a decision you have to make yourself
Will also say that people in PE will tend to be less social and more type-A than people in IB.
You’re really really early in your career and don’t have to have it all figured out. Do the job where you’ll learn the most. PE is a miserable gig a lot of the time, but you do learn an incredible amount and it’s the finishing school that banking was supposed to be, but never was.
If you’re so burned out that you don’t have the will to keep slogging through PE, find a corp dev / FP&A / strat fin role, but optimize heavily for working with people you respect and like and can learn from. This early in your career, it’s about accruing skills, knowledge, polish, and peers and mentors who can become the foundation of your network.
In essence, you haven’t completed your professional education yet. Find a job that will close gaps in your skillset / professional toolkit and focus on learning / improving before worrying about where your career will land you in 20 years.
I’m in the same boat as you brother
pick something and commit, the paradox of choice is worse than picking what appears to be a "not-so-optimal" path but treating it as your life craft
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