IB -> Startup -> Private Credit?
I am currently in a senior finance/ops role at a well funded, but somewhat stagnant Series B fintech startup. Have been here ~2 years. Prior to this I spent two years in banking at GS/MS/JPM, graduated from a top 5 school. Current role is honestly a bit too senior for my skillset and I struggle with some of the "blue sky" work. I think I'm somewhat burnt out, but more than anything I'm tired of spending so much time on misguided "new product exploration" work from our founders. It feels similar to a pitch you know you won't win in banking, only that at least 20% of the time you still end up building the product/feature after meh feedback from customers. I went into tech to "build" something, but now I have some doubts about the value and worthwhileness of what we are building.
It's a B2B credit product, so a large part of my role involves underwriting other startups. More than anything this has made me bearish on tech and VCs, but it has piqued my interest in investing--I thought it wasn't for me while I was in banking, but am now reconsidering. I really like digging deep into a business and their financials. I've also raised multiple credit facilities and enjoy the negotiating and structuring work that goes into the process. Friends have recommend I look into VC/growth (and these are the headhunter inbounds that I get), but honestly the more time I spend with VCs, the less I want to be one--the industry (even still) runs mostly on FOMO.
Hence the interest in private credit--I want to look real businesses that are generating cashflow and value. It doesn't feel like that much of a leap given banking background and credit focus in my current role (i.e. I even write credit memos, go to a credit committee, etc.), but it's still kind of a 180. I'd be fine basically starting over as a first year associate if necessary, am fine with the hours (I'm at ~60/week in current role), and fine with going back to a finance culture.
Curious to get some thoughts here. Is this move even possible? Am I crazy for considering this?
I’ll let more senior people weight in, but in my experience the biggest hurdle non traditional (RX/Levfin) people have when breaking into private credit at the associate level is the lack of structuring knowledge around debt. At least on my team we’re super lean so the associate needs to be well versed in docs structuring/negotiation.
You'll be competitive for Associate 1 positions so long as you can nail the interviews (ie what makes a good credit, modeling, accounting, etc). Legal docs and structuring is more important for a senior associate / Junior vp (but certainly is an added bonus to come in with some experience here).Biggest hurdle in the current market is a) finding a shop that's actively hiring (deal flow is still down given lower quantity of event-driven financings despite the recent news headlines about growth of private credit), b) proving to the firm that they should hire you over someone coming directly from Lev Fin/other credit shops, c) proving that you will grind on Day 1 and will climb the learning curve quickly.
Your network / referrals will be important here so you can get in the door for interviews
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