Run for President?
I've seen a surprisingly large number go back into investment banking, often times at their old firms.
moneymogul:
I've seen a surprisingly large number go back into investment banking, often times at their old firms.
Never seen this ever, not sure what fund you're at but even those not in PE (i.e. VC/FoF/Corp dev) associates have told me they would rather work any other job than go back to banking.
Answer is: Totally depends. A decent number continue onwards because at the carry level, it's a cushy job that's hard to f*ck up at. Even if your fund closes, many of the partners have made enough to retire. Senior advisor and CEO/CFO of a portfolio company make up a bit more of the PE guys who leave. Lots more at the junior level go on to HFs or MBAs.
Some start their own companies, work in cushy jobs in family offices or just hop onto 5+ board of director seats and go into half-retirement.
I’ve seen a good amount of mid level PE folks move back to IB, typically into M&A/Lev fin
They generally realize they work at firms where they’re never going to make GP partner money and conclude it’s actually a better path to be in banking
The non PE tracks you reference don’t have a chance at getting back into IB
SirTradesaLot:
How many "exit opportunities" are you guys looking to have defined for you? There needs to come a point in your career where you make your own opportunities,
::golf clap::
People need to stop asking for their lives to be laid out for them. Uncertainty is not a bad thing, folks. In fact, I'd argue that uncertainty is a necessity at some point if you're going to truly have a successful business career. Otherwise, you'll just be a mindless drone, incapable of making your own decisions and staking your own claim.
To add, if you do PE for a few years after a stint in banking, you'll be around 27 / 28 years old, you ought to be ready to face some uncertainty at that point. I have a good friend of mine who did two years in PE after working in banking for three years. He took about three months off and is now working for a growing oil & gas fracking company and is absolutely loving life. He embraced uncertainty and is in a great spot right now.
I appreciate what you both said here - albeit I am seeing this five years later. However the point of these forums are not to determine people's career paths but rather inform them of opportunities they may not be aware of...since you know...most of them are either first or second year bankers or...even more likely...are in college.
SanityCheck:
Never seen this ever, not sure what fund you're at but even those not in PE (i.e. VC/FoF/Corp dev) associates have told me they would rather work any other job than go back to banking.
I've spent a couple summers at BBs and lots of networking events. Not at a fund, just met associates and VPs that went into PE/HFs and ended up back in banking somehow. More common at lower tier firms, but I met one who did an analyst stint at a top firm several years ago, 2 years at a top PE shop, then spent a couple years at an HF since he didn't want to go to b-school and I'm assuming fizzled out and ended up back in banking as an associate. Wasn't brave enough to ask why for obvious reasons.
SirTradesaLot:
How many "exit opportunities" are you guys looking to have defined for you? There needs to come a point in your career where you make your own opportunities,
I totally agree but I was just curious what the "norm" is or if anyone ever leaves PE... I know at this point it is the carrot at the end of a long stick for me. Preferably Growth Equity but I was just curious if anyone knows anyone and can share
how common is it for the more senior VP/MD kind of guys to do the "half retirment" and sit on some company boards?
You could search LinkedIn past employment, if you're interested in specific funds.
I just checked out the one I am joining, most people stayed in PE, one went back to their old firm after getting an MBA, a few others were in HSW, a couple entrepreneurs. Pretty much what I expected,
Life, liberty and the pursuit of Starwood Points
bump. Can anyone provide some additional insight into this? Many PE associate programs are 2-3 years and out. What do most high-performing associates do after?
Look at the skills most people have - deal experience, management experience, financial and accounting experience, deep networks in all of these sectors. Then look at where those are most useful, and there are your "exit opps".
Honestly I feel like after spending a couple years in private equity you have so much experience, qualifications and connections that you're pretty much set to do whatever you want - corpdev, banking, C-level roles, board director, entrepreneur, consultant, investment management, etc.
At that point in your life you should be having opportunities come up all the time anyways, given the connections you have, and if not it's pretty easy to hunt them down. You're an asset, go do whatever you want.
"Real numbers" don't mean anything in this case, because where you go in your career is based on your own individual circ*mstances. Even if one was able to find numbers that said "x% of people in PE go into corpdev" that doesn't mean anything to you individually if you don't have any connections or opportunities come up in your individual network to get you into that role.
This isn't like banking to PE where one can be like "x% of BB banking analysts get jobs in PE" where it gauges your possibility as a BB analyst to get into PE. The real world doesn't really have career tracks like that; banking and PE recruiting at that level are pretty much exceptions. So people who are in those recruiting channels start thinking of a career as a set of hoops to jump through, and use threads like this to gauge their probability of being able to jump through them, and try to figure out what the next hoops on the career track are.
In reality your career is based on what you know and who you know. I don't need "real numbers" to back up that obviously true statement.
An old friend of mine is a VP at a big (but not 'mega') fund. He was just telling me a couple months ago that if he wanted to leave PE (he does not) he could go run biz dev at a company, go to a hedge fund, go do corporate strategy ... same stuff mentioned above. But the people asking "what are the exits from PE" are mostly people who probably won't get into PE, I'm sure.
prospie:
An old friend of mine is a VP at a big (but not 'mega') fund. He was just telling me a couple months ago that if he wanted to leave PE (he does not) he could go run biz dev at a company, go to a hedge fund, go do corporate strategy ... same stuff mentioned above. But the people asking "what are the exits from PE" are mostly people who probably won't get into PE, I'm sure.
The problem is that most PE associates won't make it to VP. The "what are the exits from PE" question is very relevant at the associate level, maybe not as much at the VP level.
HedgeKing:
The problem is that most PE associates won't make it to VP. The "what are the exits from PE" question is very relevant at the associate level, maybe not as much at the VP level.
I'm a little surprised to hear that about "most," but I'm not informed enough to argue that.
prospie:
An old friend of mine is a VP at a big (but not 'mega') fund. He was just telling me a couple months ago that if he wanted to leave PE (he does not) he could go run biz dev at a company, go to a hedge fund, go do corporate strategy ... same stuff mentioned above. But the people asking "what are the exits from PE" are mostly people who probably won't get into PE, I'm sure.
so because someone is asking about paths after PE...
means they wont get in?
lolwut
I don't think 2-3 year PE associate is qualified to be a Board member at a well-established company. VP level experience is where one start to get observer rights and maybe Board seats.
why would you not just go to medical school or something if you washed out....going back to banking sounds so miserable
Related Topic
Private Equity Funds of Funds Exit Opps - Any good? (Originally Posted: 08/21/2008)
I am interviewing with a boutique PE funds of funds shop. I wanted to ask what are the exit opportunities from a stint in a PE FoF boutique? Can you move into a PE firm or I-banking after it? What do you guys think? Would appreciate comments...
Tough to speculate but I do have a friend who was doing FoF for awhile and he has had great exposure to partners at various funds. At this point, you should take any respectable job offer you can as it is pretty ugly out there and will likely continue to get worse as the industry consolidates.
junkbondswap:
Tough to speculate but I do have a friend who was doing FoF for awhile and he has had great exposure to partners at various funds. At this point, you should take any respectable job offer you can as it is pretty ugly out there and will likely continue to get worse as the industry consolidates.
I second the "respectable job offer" motion. Not only are they harder and harder to come by, I would think that you couldn't ask for better exposure on a constant basis to potential future job opportunities.
Good luck.
"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so."- Ronald Reagan
Related Topic
Private Equity Placement Exit Opps (Originally Posted: 10/02/2014)
Looking to speak with someone directly with previous IBD experience working in Equity Placement and their career projector y, exit opportunities, and intellectual engagement with their job.
Feel free to inbox me directly, any insight you could share would be great appreciated.
-WotW
I don't have banking experience, but I do deal with agents a lot and count some as close friends. I know people within large bank shops have been able to move around, say into banking at times (this may be an exception). I know one guy has interned for a client. Others have joined PE/HF shops to do IR. Some of gone to do FoF or become consultants.
Hope this helps (know this is general). I think there is a thread somewhere on placement agents and potential career paths...
I used to do Asia-Pacific PE (kind of like FoF). Now I do something else but happy to try and answer questions on that stuff.
So i am one of these junior ex-pe guys and know a bunch of colleagues who have left. Pretty much spot on whats been said. A few just move around to different pe firms. Several do really cool corp dev gigs in industries they love (e.g. sports or entertainment). A large number (incl. myself) go to bschool. After bschool people either usually go back to their old shop, another p/e shop, go into a structured "mba corp dev" program (e.g. an oil and gas company, cargill), a privately sourced corp dev opportunately, or more commonly nowadays - a startup. Ive seen a lot of guys go into biz ops or strategy roles at fast growing startups. Ive seen some go into consulting (MBB) post mba too but those are less common and i dont know the rationale.
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