Thoughts on my strategy to achieve my (perhaps Sisyphean) goal of transitioning to Infra Private Equity post MBA?

Hey everyone,

My goal is to eventually work in direct infrastructure investment (akin to BX's new infra fund), however, my background is construction engineering and capital investments advisory at a Big 4. I was hoping to lay out my strategy here for critique. Please know that I am under no illusion that this is a common path or will be anything less than a grueling effort given my less than stellar work experience and the reputation of the business school I am planning on attending, so please do not sugar coat your opinion - if this is a "fish climbing a tree" situation, please let me know.

Current State:

  • B4 Advisory in NYC
  • Gained admission to Columbia FT MBA class of 2020
  • Waitlist: Wharton worth aggressively pursuing?
  • GMAT: 770 (Q51/V44) just including this as I know some firms use it as a qualifier

Plan:

Pre-MBA (next 8 months)

  • Leverage existing network to schedule informational interviews ("IIs") with professionals in industry
  • Attempt to work out a "pre-MBA internship" to start the ball rolling on deal experience
  • Study for June 2018 CFA Level 1 exam is this worth doing? I don't have the work experience to qualify at this point

MBA

Fall/Winter 2018
* Continue extensive networking and take advantage of NYC location for more IIs
* Recruit for IB summer internship to get even more deal experience, target firms like Macquarie, SocGen, etc who do a lot in infra is this the right way to go?
* Take CFA Level 2 Exam in Dec 2018
* Apply for CBS Value Investing Program

Spring 2019
* Attempt to do an in-school internship at a PE firm

Summer 2019
* Internship (hopefully doing well enough to gain an offer)
* Take CFA Level 3 Exam in June 2018

Fall 2019
* Shake bushes on Infra PE contacts to see if there is a potential FT job for me (assuming all things up to now have been successfully completed to make me an attractive candidate)
* If yes, pursue Infra, if no, recruit FT IB in infra space and attempt to make jump down the line (which is a whole other kettle of fish as I understand there is NO pipeline post-MBA as there is for analysts)

What do you guys think?

*Am I being stupid?
*Is the CFA worth pursuing?
*Would Wharton give me a better potential than CBS? I guess I am putting some stock in the potential for IIs and in-school internships while in NYC to beef up my profile.
*Any suggestions for additional things I could do?

I really appreciate any and all feedback, and please don't hesitate to be totally candid.

Hope you guys have a great New Years,
JD

 

Hey jhd311, I'm here because nobody responded to this thread after a few days...maybe one of these resources will help you:

  • How to transition from Technology Consulting at a Tier 2 into MM Private Equity? Hi Everyone, posting on a throwaway account (as I routinely post in the consulting forum with my ... Strategy Consulting to PE has routinely been discussed in detail. I'm fully aware of the Ops ... I'm open to hearing feedback (no matter how harsh) and diligently working towards my goal in steps. My
  • Consulting or Infra PE, best way to transition into PE? regards to the ease of transitioning into PE later on. Both with regards to what position would prepare me ... As my long-term goal is to break into the PE-industry, I am wondering what offer I should accept with ... the best, skills-wise, for a PE-job, but also with regards to the name/brand of the firm. In my
  • Discussion on Pros / Cons of Lateral IB if goal is to break into Private Equity reading various posts, including the PE recruiting FAQ, and have heard many of these analysts in my ... lateralling worth it if one is to transition into PE. To clarify, the goal is NOT a Megafund but any decently ... it impossible to make it a black/white answer. But I'd really appreciate any opinions on this ...
  • What should be my path to achieve my startup goals? ex-MBBs and the like. Judging on my interests right now, I want to end up at a VC sometime down the road, ... at working a solid role at a startup, after which I can begin my other transitions. Career goals ... I absolutely love entrepeneurship, and the idea of solving problems and optimizing service to grow ...
  • Overview of Infrastructure Private Equity about day-to-day job in infra PE If any of the areas after my post remain unclear, I am more than happy ... hard to estimate the amount of infra capital they manage. Deutsche Asset and Wealth Management (on ... details. Fundraising To give you sense of the scale of infra PE s
  • Why My Greatest Achievement As A Goldman Sachs VP Was Quitting something more. But none of those applied to me. I lived well below my means on Wall Street and had a little ... I should want to be, and by all accounts I was crushing my goals. Except they weren't my goals ... rest of my life, I couldn't point at something and say, "I am 100% certain that I w
  • My Private Equity Recruiting Process Wall Street Oasis Private Equity Interview Course I think was probably the most important part of my ... incredibly selfish to not give back and write about my experience. To give you a little bit of background ... there are a lot of demands on your time/life, so it is perfectly reasonable to wait to<
  • More suggestions...

No promises, but sometimes if we mention a user, they will share their wisdom: dazzahc R J Sundance mnakhoul

I hope those threads give you a bit more insight.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 

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