I’ve been with my PE firm as an associate for about a year. I’ve closed 1 platform and 2 add ons to that platform. The other day I was offered an exec position at the PortCo and was told I could keep my carry (got deal by deal carry as an associate because small independent sponsor, and this is the only deal I have carry in).
The position Would be a mix of M&A responsibility + execution of strategic initiatives. Let’s say I take it, how hard would it be to recruit back to the investments side of things either as an associate or VP after an exit?
Exit is expected in about 1 year so I would sell it as one year of my associate program investing, year 2 was doing really well and management recognized my contribution and asked me to join them.
No idea, but this sounds like an awesome opportunity. Hope it works out well for you.
Everything I’m about to say is just my opinion. I don’t know you and you’re the one that knows best on what decision to make.
In my mind, I’m hearing the following; 1) early in career, 2) opportunity for highly visible/senior role, 3) experience in the operational side/growth of a business, 4) maintain equity and have a direct influence on it’s outcome, 5) not such a long commitment that you’re stuck in. That all sounds like a great opportunity to me. Worst case scenario? You learn first hand the running of the business, it’s challenges, and it’s growth. Best case scenario? Upside seems almost limitless. If you perform well, you could be placed in similar more senior roles, become a trusted partner, etc.
On returning to the investment side, I don’t see why not. You’ll have deal team and operating/industry experience? The decision will have to make sense with your goals and next career steps, but I’m having trouble seeing how it would hurt you.
Good luck and keep us posted on your decision.
Thanks for the advice. I ended up taking the offer to join the portfolio company.
Would echo the above thoughts - has your firm indicated if anything would follow this role / is your associate program two-and-out? From the outside, this looks like a huge vote of confidence from your current shop
Thanks for your response.
My firm’s response was more open ended. If you exit and don’t like the role or new investors then we can discuss you coming back as an associate. They wouldn’t guarantee a slot and in full transparency I’m not sure it’s where I would want to stay in the long term anyways, which is the reason for my concern about the ability to sell this experience to another shop if I try to come back to the investment side.
More than a vote of confidence from the PE firm I work for, it felt like a vote of confidence from the management team at PortCo who has had more direct exposure to my work with them
Sounds compelling and yes I think you can come back to PE after but you may have to come back as sr assoc. rather than vp. With 2 years of investing and then portco role I think would be slightly less risky, but either way I think can be done assuming this market holds up. Could also do b school after if you wanted as another way back in.
Take a step back though - what do you actually want to do? If long term is too hard, what are the 5 year goals at least? If you can do some soul searching on what you want to do first, we can be more helpful. And I think the answer will be more clear for you.
I really dont see a downside to this at all. Like not one. This would look positively by any shop assuming they invest in that specific vertical
I think it's a great opportunity. It will give you optionality to re-enter PE on either the investment or operating side. Also, you can control more of the outcome to drive value for your carry. As an experienced PE professional I would love to have a couple years of portco operating experience under my belt.
What are your long term goals? Investor? Operator? Is there a way to consistently do both? Sounds like a great opportunity and would open up many doors.
I'd imagine if you do well your track would be more likely young sponsored backed CFO than paper pushing associate/vp. I would think PE would be a good safety net and opportunities would likely still exist...but if you succeeded I'm imagine that's the last think you'd want to do.
Feels like recruiting to another PE firm could be tough given weird mix of too much and yet not enough experience, but if it goes well I'd expect an easy path back to your fund. More than that though, if it goes well and you're, what, 26, 27 with a PortCo exec role and successful exit on your resume, the world of sponsor-backed platforms should be wide open for you. Seems like a great opportunity
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