Banking Analyst vs. PE Analyst

I have been presented with the following situation. What would you do with these choices. I have offers for analyst positions from a highly prestigous boutique in New York and a small start-up private equity firm on the west coast. The pe firm has just started several years ago and has aum of under 300 m, but there is great potential to get in the door early there as the firm grows. What would you do?

 

Agree with Bateman. If we're talking Lazard or something around that level, then the PE firm would have to be extremely promising in order to be equal or greater than your exit ops post-Lazard. Are these guys starting the PE firm ex-star bankers or PE managers that left a top fund to start their own? If so, that would classify as promising. If not, you might not want to take the risk that the fund stays ~300 AUM for years.

 
Best Response

I was in the same position but chose chose the PE job over a BB due to the entrepreneurial nature and intimate deal experience of my group.  Granted I took the job a little over two years ago at the height of the LBO market and have been rewarded but in this current market I may have chosen the more stable opp at the BB as the current state of the debt markets have made it all but impossible to get financing (despite all the cash sitting on the sidelines).  At the same time Im not sure I would want to work 90+ hours at a BB knowing that deal flow is stagnate and my bonus is likely to suffer because of it.

If I were you I would choose the solid MM bank and then transfer from there.  At least that way you will have a solid foundation and reputable firm on your resume.  Good luck.

 

The advice that I have always heard from people I respect (in real life, not on this board) is to get a really solid foundation at your first job before you go on to whatever. The training, mentoring and overall experience will be much better than anything any startup can give you and when you are first starting out, that is exactly what you need. In my case it was leaning towards the MBB route, in your case it is clearly the reputable boutique.

To qualify, I don't accept it as an absolute truth because I believe there could be exceptions but by and large, it is very good advice. When you start any demanding job (not just on Wall Street) you instantly realize the standard of work required by professionals and it takes some time to get up to speed (~6 months maybe). No matter how much of a great student you are, no matter how many internships you have had, nothing really prepares you for the FT working world.

 
sleepymonkey:

How hard would it be to go from a MM PE fund--> MBA then apply to a KKR/BX?? Would that put you in a better position or working as an analyst in a BB/ Prestigious boutique?

Does anybody know the answer to this?

 

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