Just curious, at what level are you expected to be able to run the full life cycle of a deal.
I'm am the only person running all corporate development activities within my company (publicly traded mid-cap company). We have a few deals that I have been leading from initial outreach all the way to close.
I was wondering what level I should expect within at PE/IBD roles, if I were to transition.
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This highly depends on the fund that you move to. When I worked at a MM regional PE, I've seen Senior Associates to VPs run their own deals with some assistance from junior-level staff.
I'd assume that it is unlikely for anyone below VP level at MFs to do the same.
I'd say a good rule of thumb is VP level, especially if you're someone on partner track. If you can't then you'll likely stall out at VP and exit to something else.
Definitely VP. That's basically their job description
Varies by size of the firm, but I'd echo the above that the ~VP level is where you have to start proving yourself to be able to lead things E2E. In general, my feeling is that to move up the ranks you need to be an all-star at your given job title and start showing the ability to do the function of the next title up as well.
Depending on your YOE in Corp Dev, I'd imagine it would be tough to come in too much higher than an Associate/Senior Associate level unless you have prior PE experience. Running a deal in corp dev is somewhat different than PE. In my experience it's more about working cross functionally, leveredging a larger pool of resources, getting sign off from the right people etc. You're not answering to an investment committee, managing capital calls, finding the right lenders, coraling all the appropriate 3rd parties, conducting the right business dilgence, returns profile, legal, and all the other things that go into managing a really tight PE process. Even if you're great at your current job and could make the transition to PE, few are going to trust you until you do it in-house. Just my 2cents though.
I appreciate the feedback, its good to hear the perspective from someone within the field.
I will caveat, with my experience (maybe mine is different from the norm) while we do leverage internal functional teams for diligence there is some overlap on some of the workstreams you mentioned that are PE specific.
I'm not sure if this will change your perspective but just wanted to provide some additional insight.
The problem is, even if you are doing the exact same quality and depth of analysis that a PE firm is doing. I mean identical process. They're never going to give you full credit for that. Unfair? Yeah, but it's just the way it is. A caveat if you have prior IB experience, then they'll likely give more weight to your experience.
Yep, I agree.
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