Career Advice - Would you take a 25% paycut and longer hours to transition back to PE?
Fellow monkeys - I am a mid career-level candidate in sort of an odd situation where I started in IBD and then went to a traditional buyout PE shop, after which I pivoted into Growth Equity in late 2021 (in hindsight, the worst possible timing).
I've gotten extremely disillusioned with VC/growth investing and I have little to no confidence in the strategy going forward. That being said, my hours in GE have been great, typically 9-6.
Recently, I've been interviewing around and gotten an offer from a LMM PE firm that will pay me 25% less in terms of total comp (not incl. carry, my current firm has a negligible carry amount that I am very doubtful will amount to anything).
Going back to PE will likely be way more hours (expecting avg 9-10, perhaps worse), but will also offer a better progression path as the firm is still LMM and has room to grow. Staying put will incur the risk of my current GE firm possibly not even existing in 5 years from now.
What would be the right move here? Keen to hear your thoughts.
I would not make this trade
I think it’s okay to take a step back to get on the right track, but I’m not sure LMM PE is the right track
also you don’t want to be in the habit of ever stepping back. Only step forward. Why not an LMM firm at a higher level and comp?
The issue is that the market is really bad right now, you can see a slew of threads even on this forum about how tough it is to land a VP-level position anywhere these days
I’m aware the market is bad now, but why make a step now? Why not grow in your role?
also the whole market doesn’t need consensus on your value. Send out hundreds of apps until you land something good
Chiming in as an SA that's up for VP in the next couple of years but also thinking of lateraling for various reasons from my current fund. This part of your post seems a bit alarmist no? Or is this a genuine risk you're having to factor in here? If things are truly that bad and you see some big fat 0s on the horizon that could realistically tank the whole place I would run, not walk, to this other job. Yes, the lateral market is extraordinarily sucky right now and the added hours + pay cut will blow, but I'd personally rather be stuck somewhere with some degree of stability and try to get to somewhere better from there than be waiting around on a sinking ship waiting for the "perfect" opportunity to get off as the lifeboats go by. Plus the closer you're working there as a mid to potentially senior level guy, the more I imagine a bad impression from said blow up could reflect on you somewhat no?
Perhaps a bit alarmist. But I think there is a risk of this happening. There's been too many shitcos bought at 30-100x NTM revenue (not EBITDA, and none of which are my deals fortunately) in the portfolio and I don't see a clear way out of it. This is also one of the reasons I'm strongly considering to jump ship.
Those multiples are so far outside anything my fund would pay for an asset so that's already distressing... and seeing how growth for most companies across the board has been muted, I'd seriously consider the offer if I were in your shoes. I like all my risk to be tied up in my PA, not my day job.
As a college student joining growth equity, I'm wondering if you're comfortable sharing the approx AUM of the current GE shop you're at. Thank you!
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