ASO to VP jump: Difficulty as a new hire vs. promotion?

Obviously getting promoted is going to be the preferred way to get to a VP seat (especially one where you'll be set up to do well out of the gate, i.e. one that you want). But for a few of us, that's not possible to achieve. In my case, the pipeline from ASO to VP is long, my boss and I don't see eye to eye on a lot of things and I don't think I can count on him for a promotion rec, and frankly I don't think this is the place for me long term anyways.

So as I look to the job market in 12-18 months, what do my prospects look like going from a Year 3 ASO to a VP? This is specifically in asset management coming from an UMM institutional firm. What steps can I take to best position myself as an external VP candidate? One option is taking a step down in firm strength in exchange for the VP title. So going from a ~$15B AUM firm to, say, a $1-3b AUM firm. Just trying to gameplan and see what sort of roles I should be realistic about getting given my current role and experience.

And yes I am title-driven, mostly because I'd like (but don't need) the VP title on my resume before switching over to do my own thing, for signaling purposes.