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July 31, 2026
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Based on the username looks like you’re coming from consulting - is the PE role for investment or ops team?
Good question, I should’ve clarified. Yes I’m coming from consulting but it’s for the investment team.
Gotcha, I guess for me the main question is your level of familiarity with running a full financial model (typically Asso responsibility) and the general PE business model / value creation? Assuming you’re already good at PowerPoint, diligence calls, presenting decks, etc.
Yeah that’s fair. Definitely more familiar with the commercial due diligence pieces. I have studied and feel comfortable with the 1-3 hour LBO tests but don’t know how much that actually translates to on the job modeling capabilities. Do you have any recommended resources for that?
If you're joining UMM / MF PE they'll likely put you through some form of standardized training that covers modeling so as long as you've got a good grasp on standard LBO modeling you should be fine and can learn more nuanced cases as you go. You can go out and read investor letters and books and whatnot to develop a better investment framework which obviously helps if you're aiming to stay in investing long-term, but like 90%+ of the Asso job is just executing on what you're told (modeling, making decks, doing dili calls, interacting with bankers / mgmt / lawyers, etc.) so there's really not a ton to prep for beforehand imo. VP's job is heavily focused on workflow / process management so to the extent that you take on more of that role over time that's good for promo but also not something you can prep for.
I would invest the time in getting on par with your IB colleagues in excel modelling and 3-statement analysis. I would also read the business papers every day to track PE activity, so that you have a very good sense of the current investment themes before you start.
I came from consulting like you, wondering how to get up to speed.
The day to day modeling - don’t worry about practicing ahead of time, it’s a learn on the job thing.
GMAT - if you want to go back to school, this is a perfect time to be anal about getting a 750+. I used a month off to get a 790 (super easy if you just treat it like a month long DD project sprint to the finish line, I’m not that smart, just had such high pattern recognition after 300+ hours of GMAT work in a month).
Otherwise just chill. Cumulatively I took many months off work (vacation, told my staffer to put it where the sun don’t shine, quit my job super early) and had the best time of my life (no joke) in many different ways.
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