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Better than the best week in banking
You wish.
Ik you're joking but I think some people really think this. My brother works at a MF and he even tells me he misses banking workload/hours. Seems to vary drastically by firm though
Yeah to reinforce this I was being sarcastic. 100% varies by firm.
Like 9-2/3am mon-thurs then 9-11 fri then 10-10 sat/sun so like 105-110 hours was the worst for me. In reality there’s more volatility so 12am night and one alL nighter thrown in there somewhere
Worst weeks in PE are generally not much different than worst weeks in banking. I will say, during a live deal process in PE, you can get into a few weeks stretch that are worst than banking (consistently working 100+ hrs a week). When it rains it pours, much less ebb and flow vs. IB.
Isn’t the work in PE more stressful/your ass is on the line? In my experience in IB when analysts usually have something live they basically throw together pitch materials and send it to the associate. I’m assuming you have to be more diligent in PE?
PE deal teams are much skinnier (firm dependent) often times, associate can work with a principal/partner alone so you don’t get the checks and balances from banking (Asso turns An, then VP checks, then D checks before MD). And the work is deeper as transaction parties did the mechanical stuff, and the hours are true (not really sitting and waiting on turns)
Trying to front-run a deal and complete business diligence simultaneously with third party diligence. You spend 8am - 6pm on diligence calls with your third parties then you spend 6pm - 4am modeling everything you learned on your third party calls and completing ad hoc business diligence analysis. Everyday M-F is like this. Then you spend the entire weekend doing business diligence analysis and prepping an IC memo. This process bleeds into the next week and can last up to two weeks. This is at the junior level. The senior levels are on all of these calls, but also managing and much more involved in the financing and legal workstreams.
Way worse than anything in banking, bc there is no down time like there is banking. it's just a constant a grind through a seemingly never-ending pile of work.
Other times aren't near as bad banking. But PE's worst side is much worse than banking imo. I will say PE is just as stressful as banking, but a different kind. Banking you're always operating under a deadline which creates stress. In PE there aren't as many deadlines but you never fully clear your plate of work. There is always something else that needs to be done, although not as urgently as banking, but needs to be correct. So it's the amount of work that needs to be done accurately that creates the stress in PE.
Truth, the work is NEVER done which can feel very overwhelming at times. There’s always something you can do to push a deal forward, add value to portcos, or source new deals.
Prioritization is key or you will constantly feel like you’re drowning or feel guilty for not working all the time - I’ve been trying to work on this lately
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