Hey Everyone,
Hoping someone within this community can give some valuable input on my situation. I'm currently going into my 3rd year as an Associate at a very small PE firm ~100m AUM and I wanted to get an idea as to what fair/competitive compensation looks like for someone in my position. For reference purposes, I am currently making 72k and I receive a 6k bonus whenever we buy/sell a company, which typically equates to about two bonuses per year on average but for 2019 zero deals have closed. Any input would be helpful!
Thanks,
Where is it based? 72K for a senior associate is extremely low. Are you participating in the carry pool?
Chicago and no. I am going to have my performance review soon so that's why I wanted to get an idea of what is fair/competitive for someone at my level at a small fund.
Gotcha. I am in a similar size fund for 3+ years. I've been trying to ask for a market comp for 2 years and have not been successful. So after trying, I am looking for new gigs. I think you should too.
For reference do you mind disclosing what your comp structure looks like so I can get an idea? If not, no problem.
Happy to, PM me. I hate to see ppl got taken advantages of.
That is a very small firm. I think it’ll be hard to benchmark given the size but that still does feel light.
Yeah feels a tad low from what I've seen
How many people are at the firm? What is your background? My gut instict is that $70k is way too low.
Even for a $100M fund in Chicago, You should be at a minimum in the low to mid $100k range and probably even a little higher.
Given your current pay, it's going to be tough to double your salary, but you should be in the ~$150k range all-in.
My only caveat is, if you're in less of a PE firm and more of a VC/Growth equity firm where you're doing 10+ deals a year, then maybe that makes the 6k a deal bonus make more sense, but either way, you should be well into the $100k range all-in, even with the small size of the firm.
Interesting compensation structure
I don't know if it's an industry truth, some firms will do that, especially if there's a sourcing component to motivate analyst and associates to find more deals. I know 1/2 VC/GE shops that have this model, but many do not. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it isn't an industry standard model, but many firms incentivize based on sourcing production for juniors.
Do you mean Fund size or AUN. Fund size of 700-800M would imply a larger total AUM, probably in the $1B plus range. In this case you would start to get into market comp territory for associates, so ~$250k all-in, probably less in growth equity vs PE. Analyst salary can vary widely, but I think of it probably as a slightly lower all-in package vs banking analysts.
That is horrible... Look elsewhere.
That is cringworthy low. You should at minimum be making $120k base
Interested to see if you had the review yet OP?
Had the review and in regards to my performance for the year the VP and Partners were very pleased with how well I performed in the 2nd year and only had positive things to say which was giving me hope that I was going to get a decent raise.....then came time to talk about comp and it was all down hill from there...they wanted to boost me from 72k to 75k base with a 6k bonus on each deal we close (2-3 avg. per year); so all in ~87K. I was prtty disappointed and pist at that which was obvioius to them. I eventually just negotiated a structure in which I sign on for 1 more year with them and get a 15K signing bonus upfront and my base stays at 72K. Still not the greatest outcome but I figured I would stay one more year to get 3 years of experience under my belt and then move on to a bigger firm hopefully.
Great you squeezed a little out of them, but if all you have to do is pay $15k back, I would definitely start looking elsewhere. $15k is peanuts compared to what your all-in as an associate should be. One quick question though, is this your first gig out of school? If so, you may be an associate in title, but functionally and experience-wise you're still an analyst. That would make a lot more sense as to why you're making sub - $100k all-in.
time to jump and at least triple your salary.
THIS.IS.YOUR.YEAR.
Seriously, with the year just wrapped up this is a great time to leave. Repeating what everyone else has said here - OP is getting absolutely hosed and I would leave with no hesitation (unless you're somehow only working like 30 hours a week). Might as well go into banking with that comp. A 3k bump is a slap in the face and tells you all you need to know about a future at the firm (even banking analysts get larger base bumps for literally just existing).
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