Higher Pay Smaller Company

Would you work at a smaller/newer company with a much higher salary than a larger more established company who can provide better experience but with less pay? This is in the institutional REPE world btw. 

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If this was development I'd say go small for more money 10 times out of 10, but in the private equity world name brand can a bigger deal. 

What does the deal flow look like? Small companies can have massive balance sheets, absolute stars at the helm, and the ability to pull the trigger without much bullshit, or they could be two people living out their entrepreneurship dream without actually accomplishing much. That difference is going to make a world of difference when it comes to your experience. 

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

Depends where you’re at in your career. I joined a small syndication shop in Nov 2020 after being laid off from my first job out of UG at a balance sheet lender and just got laid off from the syndication shop; in hindsight, I wish that I’d taken a job at a more institutional firm due to the clarity of job progression, defined investment strategy, better reps, and feedback from peers/investment committee. In short, I would’ve been trained better as an analyst for my next role, instead I had to teach myself a lot and deal with a lot of uncertainty/lack of direction/lack of leadership at the smaller firm. That said, WLB at the small firm was phenomenal and everyone was really nice.

 

Yes but be careful of disorganization and dysfunction. I would be slightly more worried if it’s a rich guy who woke up one day and wants to do real estate deals.

But ex-professionals hell yes that’s way better.

 

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