IB Associate to HF?
I realize that it’s hard to make it to the buy side as an mba associate but am wondering if anyone on here has made the jump. Some background - I am a first year associate in a BB FIG group. My goal is to get into a HF or family office. I am open to MM or SM funds.
To those who have made this jump -
How did you go about recruiting?
Did you cold email or go through HHs?
Would it help if I’m willing to take a pay cut to get my foot in the door?
I’d love any advice you’re willing to share.
Can add perspective here. Speaking to alums who did no finance then MBA to IB then to L/S fund (it does happen but you need to be more proactive in reaching out to people). Not as structured recruiting as an IB analyst where Headhunters are actively reaching out to you. Also being in FIG limits opportunities, the best groups would be M&A or TMT (an exception would be LevFin for going to a Credit/Distressed Fund).
I made the transition post MBA out of top M&A group. But it wasn't easy. I reached out to my network, cold-emailed, and used my bschool's alumni job board. HHs were of limited help.
In the end, I got offers at a few places and chose to go to the fund where I'm at now (been here for 5-10 years). Looking back, stars aligned for me and I got very lucky. I'm sure that you can go to a smaller fund that is looking to pick up talent on the cheap. But given how hard it is to scale a fund and the average lifespan of a typical fund, my sense is that you will kind of float around from one small fund to another...in which case, your "temporary" pay cut to break into the industry becomes a permanent pay cut...
Are you at a MM or SM?
SM.
I am praying your last comment doesn't turn into reality for me. Fingers crossed.
Don’t.
Why do you say that?
Job security as an analyst sucks (one blow-up, ur PM hates you, u get effed by the market at the wrong time, etc)
Risk-adjusted Pay sucks. It’s declining. Fees are compressing for a reason. Hedge fund performance is awful.
Hard to create a long successful career here.
A few people in my MBA class did it as second / third year associates. They fell into a couple of groups
1) Extremely differentiated niche knowledge set and transaction experience that was sought after (think, biotech operator turned biotech banker and a fund looking for an analyst who knows how to run biotech deals or rocket scientist turned tech banker who and a fund looking for a technical space / rocket analyst)
2) Move into small funds that pay less than banking and have poor job security with the hope they can trade up
3) Networked hard and took a couple year step back in their careers to get their foot in a good fund and start over with the other banking analysts turned hedge fund employees
The third is actually the least common I’ve seen, but there have been a few. The second is by far the most common - people hear “buyside” and automatically think riches and a better life but it’s often not true. Several of my friends (and myself) fit into #1 and that’s the second most common I’ve seen. But it requires a good background pre b school, killing it during your associate years, and a bank that allows you to build expertise and not just move logos on a slide.
how about:
Army combat vet turned banker that knows how to build and train an army in third world countries that give up in less than a week of independent fighting
any funds looking to invest in that domain? (im very good at overseeing the waste of billions of us government dollars)
Also have moved a ton of logos around slides past few years.
could i fit in group number 1?
I know you are being sarcastic but....vets are the fourth category. My best friend from my associate class was a decorated combat veteran. He spent his entire career in the Navy and then went to bschool.
When he decided to leave banking, he reached out to other vets on the Street. That network is tight. Through that, he got some interviews at some amazing Tier 1 funds in both HF and PE that are usually not accessible to the typical post-MBA candidate. People really respected his experience (he is also a likeable person). Eventually he landed offers at a couple or places but decided to do something non-finance related.
Another vet in my associate class left banking and is now a partner at one of the best VCs in the world. Definitely not a path that is open to the typical post-MBA associate.
Vets do amazingly well and seem to know to pay it forward to other vets. Truly admrable. I have so much respect for you guys.
Are you talking about Green Berets / MARSOCs
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