Lateral move into operations side of PE

STOP.

If you want to do a lateral move, don't do a PT MBA.

The larger HFs do have operations teams. Are you sure that's what you want to do, though?

by operations side are you referring to increasing growth/cost cutting for targets or actual operations for the pe fund...

what kind of position are you talking about? most of the guys i know who are on the operational side are like FP&A, Controller, COO/CFO, marketing (business development etc). They had awesome connections and some relevant experience. Most PE firms outsource IT services except for the mega funds. I've seen a CIO - Chief Information Officer a few times as well. but then again they've had financial service type backgrounds.

also sounds like a highly specialized role. id cast a much wider net.

In most PE firms there are two main divisions: “Investments” and “Operations.” The “Investments” division leads the investment process from origination to analysis to execution of deals; they usually focus on the deals and technical aspects and don’t know as much qualitatively about the industries they invest in. In the “Operations” team, “Subject Experts” are hired from various industries to make sure the management team of each portfolio company can operate effectively, improve profitability, and so on.

I am looking for ways to break into the Operations side of PE as defined above.I think I have a really good understanding of both Healthcare and IT industry.

Any ideas ??

I'm interested in this too. Basically, operations and growth management for the portfolio (or target) companies. NOT internally at the PE.

I keep hearing about modeling skills and quant jocks from banks going into PE, but rejuvenating a flagging business takes a lot more than math skills. Industry experience, marketing, and the sort. How does one gun for those gigs? Thanks.

It's pretty tough.KKR's team is basically a bunch of top notch HBS/Stanford, McK guys. BX's have been in significant roles at major F500 companies, or McK guys. PE ops teams are generally pretty small, and as you can imagine, the top firms can really cherry pick their talent.

Fair enough. I doubt McK's experience, while very prestigious, is truly all that meaningful in making a difference operationally (that's never their goal at all) but I understand that PE is all about elitism and networking. I genuinely wonder how that helps in actual company turnarounds, but c'est la vie.

I think KKR , BX are clearly out of the league for guys from average backgrounds... Such firms are more likely to pick folks from similar backgrounds. Not because rest of the world is not good , but its just the way it is. But I think there should be a decent opportunity in MM PE space and specifically for funds targeted towards emerging markets for people of non-traditional backgrounds... If anyone has any information to share , it would be very helpful ...