Secondaries / IR Career Post-IB?

The below is based on my personal experience and YMMV.

1. Senior fundraisers are generally comped either with a base salary and a % of dollars raised or a traditional base / bonus / carry structure. You’ll see the commission structure more commonly if you’re at a placement agent or if you’re working for smaller firms raising capital for one off deals/projects, generally from HNW LPs. At your institutional funds your senior sales team usually isn’t paid based on a direct commission percentage, but indirectly the bonus piece of their comp will be tied to targets.

2. If you’re aligned with the fundraising/capital formation team then mid-six figures should be attainable (3-5 will be more common then 5-7) and this is also attainable at a placement agent. However, this is going to vary a lot by shop. Some firms respect IR/BD and others don’t and that will be reflected in comp. Also, the purely IR guys who sit in more of a reporting/client service role aren’t going to be comped as well. Neither will traditional corporate IR.

3. I’ve seen people succeed from both backgrounds. You don’t need an investment background but the guys that really crush it are fluent in the product(s) they’re pitching. The investment team should be focused on, you know, investing, so a good sales team is equipped to take prospects through the strategy at a high-to-medium level and save the PM’s time for late stage deep dive sessions. It’s a role that requires breadth.

4. I’m speculating, but at the junior level when you’re still an execution resource there is probably comparable turnover to what you see in other roles. At the senior level you may see more longevity with firms, assuming your successful, because these are 12-18 month sales cycles and you obviously want credit for the tickets you close. An old timer explained his moves to me once by saying that after a few funds are successfully invested (at good returns) capital becomes easier to raise. His view, as a pretty highly comped fundraiser, was that he delivered the most value to firms earlier in their lifecycle and after a certain point it made sense for him to move on to the next platform. That said, in an industry like PE it could take the first 10-15 years to raise and invest 3 funds.