Career Choices: RE Equity vs Debt Fund vs Operator
Currently recruiting for the buyside and fortunate to be deep in the process with REPE firms, debt funds, and operators / developers (cast a very wide net in my recruiting).
Would appreciate if some of the more experienced members of this forum can opine on how I should be thinking about what bucket to pursue. The firms are all of a similar tier / level of recognition (not the actual firms, but think Oaktree RE Equity vs Fortress Debt vs CIM). Aside from team-level fit, what should I be assessing? What are the differences in long-term career prospects in each bucket?
I don't have a clear preference at the moment. Just know that I'd like to strike out on my own someday, and that there are many highly successful entrepreneurs in all three. Any guidance would be appreciated.
It really depends on what you mean by "strike out on your own". If you'd like to become an operator/developer, the more cradle-to-grave deal management you can get under your belt the better. If you'd like to start your own fund and become a capital allocator, well then showing that you've climbed the ladder, understand the intricacies of fund management, and developed relationships will suit you better.
It may sound weird, but IMO there is not a huge difference between an associate role at any huge corporate type shop. As I understand it CIM's investments team is pretty silo'd from the development/project management side. At the end of the day you'd be doing pretty much the same work at any of these places. I would focus more on which team you like, what current strategies and investment theses they're pursuing, and what their current dealflow looks like.
Gonna disagree with above commenter partially. Development is pretty different from the debt funds and equity funds.
At a developer, you will still underwrite deals, do due diligence, put together IC memos, make market calls, etc. But then the actual development starts and you’d have project management responsibilities.
Whereas at the others, it’s only the first responsibilities I mentioned. Working at developer is a much better path to Entrepreneurship in my opinion.
There are so few “REPE” entrepreneurs compared to development entrepreneurs
Just to clarify - I completely agree with you. I'm just speaking to a shop like CIM or JBG, where I know for a fact that the "investments" seat is a completely different role than the "development" seat. There are huge shops that do blend the role, I was just going off the name OP provided. I'm sure he can make that determination himself.
Oh yeah agreed, I assumed he was interviewing for a development role at CIM
Who are some of the shops you know that blend the acquisitions & development functions?
REPE = God tier
Operator = cool but poor
Debt Fund = well off, but no one really respects you
any other questions?
I definitely respect someone like Josh Zegen and those at places like MRC
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