Small startup PE FOF fund worth joining?

My background:

Non-finance-related Masters and undergrad, Non-target school
CFA charterholder
4 years corporate IR experience in F100
Ultimate goal is direct PE funds.

I recently got an offer from a small startup PE FOF fund (expecting $100mn AUM in the first year and $250mn+ long run). They got 2 co-founders are banking veteran, 1 compliance, 1 finance, 1 investment manager. As team is small and it's a startup with pending license, my offer is pretty flexible, covering IR, fundraising, deal sourcing and work with investment team. Given my background is the least kind that a PE/VC/IB big names or mid-sized funds would consider, I am thinking if this can be an opportunity to break into industry.

The hesitations are 1) small startup fund with no track record, hard to raise fund and source good deals; 2) the two partners seem unprofessional and lousy to work with.

Anyone can give advice that if this role will be helpful for a better exit op to larger shops?

2 Comments
 
Most Helpful

You list two hesitations. The first is hard to comment on - that's all about what your personal risk tolerance is because you're right, with no track record it may be difficult to raise capital and source good deals. How difficult really comes down to the quality of the leadership and that's where I think the red flag is. If you already think that the partners are unprofessional and will be lousy to work with, and you haven't even started working with them, then steer clear. That feels like the kind of thing that will only get worse once you're there. I'd give this advice no matter what the job or company.

 

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