When to Lateral out of PE?
Just to lay it out: I'm in my upper 20s at a MM PE fund as a 3rd year associate. Long-term, I don't need the $10M house or private jets but would like to get to a job where I could have a decent WLB (45-55 hours, 60+ fine during live deals) and make a stable income ($500K) with some sort of upside (carry? equity?).
I've been doing some soul searching and it seems like, at my level, lateral opportunities are bar-belled when it comes to compensation / hours. It could mean lateralling to a 40-50 hour job with pretty substantial pay cut doing something like corp dev or lateralling to another PE firm pushing 60-90 hours and making close to that $500K figure in the next 1-2 years as a VP. Therefore, my thinking is to grind in PE another couple years (though not ideal) and then lateral to a higher title / pay range.
Any thoughts? Also would appreciate any other paths that could make sense for my objectives (growth equity, VC, sovereign wealth / family office, etc.)
Edit: Someone brought up that I didn't mention what kind of work I'm interested in which is a completely fair point. I actually enjoy the work involved in private equity (thinking strategic levers to expand value, diligence into market / business model / growth drivers, highlighting investment merits and considerations). What I don't like is unpredictability of hours (any weekend / holiday can be blown up in a moment's notice) and, depending on who you're working with, how partners sometimes get so in the weeds (running at every deal hard instead of triaging).
Probably doesn't help but I'm personally hoping to move to long only AM (a la Wellington) after MBA stint, though I'm in my early/mid 20's at an UMM so slightly different from where you're at in your life.
Post MBA I believe pay is $350-400k and upside potential for low 7 figures if you can make PM (know its extremely hard) but only working 50 hours a week or so.
Your answer is private credit within a PE platform (source: my job)
You hiring ? Feels like there isn’t that many PC jobs and it is hard to lateral as a snr aso
Some other options are FoF, co-invest, and secondaries. You're probably not pulling $500K as a newly minted VP in those roles but there's likely a path to get there eventually. Hours can vary but generally will be better than direct buyouts.
You’re leaving out what type of work you’d actually like to be doing. Understood on the comp and lifestyle parameters and yes what others have said around LPs, FoF, asset managers would fit that criteria. But if you don’t actually like that stuff, I think you’d just be miserable in a different way. I think you still have a little soul searching to go…
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