![]() You're funding young companies where growth is the core focus, not mature companies where financial engineering and operational optimization often presents the value in the deal.Īs such, the greatest value at the junior level (both to you and to your employer) is making sure that every deal that exists is a deal you know about. VC has dramatically less of a quantitative element (there's really only two mandatory parts: market sizing, and cap table / ownership / exit analysis). Well, as your career unfolds, you move to a sourcing function. That makes sense, because in PE at the junior level you're looking to learn the quantitative elements of the deal process so you develop a foundational skill-set that serves you well as your career unfolds. ![]() People on here (rightfully) talk down on PE associate roles where a large portion of the work is sourcing. If you can't put high-caliber deals on the table, you won't ever get anything into the portfolio and thus you won't ever get paid. ![]() Sourcing is the lifeblood of every senior investment professional. after three years as an associate out of undergrad you might switch to another fund to gain the Principal title / or after five years as a Principal somewhere without getting a seat as a partner, you may switch to a firm about to announce a new fund as a partner there). ![]() Switching between funds typically happens when someone doesn't see as clear a path to promotion as they want (i.e. If that's true, then basically every two years, you know you can hop into a role at another fund or startup with more pay and the exact set of responsibilities you want. You should be seeing (and being asked for help filling) job descriptions for your portfolio companies, your friends at other funds' portfolio companies, and even roles at other funds. Why? Because you are so knit into the community that not only is your access to dealflow stellar, but your access to career opportunities is as well. If you're an associate, you shouldn't ever really have a concern over your career prospects if you're doing your job correctly. Associates are primarily focused on sourcing: getting out into the community to advance the fund's brand and maintain/boost dealflow. Analysts respond to partner requests for industry research, deal diligence, portfolio company support, and board meeting prep. The analyst program is the best place for someone undecided to learn and grow. It's increasingly hard today to get into an analyst program without returning to the firm you summered at or accepting an offer from a competitor during the incremental hiring period at the end of the summer before senior year. If you're still figuring out what the broader world of finance is and how your personality, preferred style of work, natural inclinations, and interests all fit into it, try your hardest to get a prominent banking internship. They don't have a problem fundraising (currently $1.5bn AUM, and for their model, they have zero problem raising whatever size they want for the next fund), have a hefty management fee to spread across a fairly lean team, and the lifestyle is pretty amenable. It's a good firm with some solid portfolio companies. To sum it up: if you have enough real datapoints that grant you an informed opinion that growth equity or PE is something you want to pursue in the long run, give Stripes a real hard look. later stage toward buyout, earlier stage toward VC), but you don't have the foundational banking experience that signals to any financial services employer that you have a baseline that qualifies you for at minimum a lower-level role in their firm. ![]() Your skill-set isn't as fungible you can move to different firms doing the same thing or to something within one standard deviation (e.g. The downside of a position like you'd have at Stripes at the junior level (whether an internship or analyst role) is that you lose the marketability and transferability mentioned above. You get paid well (on an absolute basis), develop a core skill-set that's immediately marketable and transferable, meet a lot of influential people, and learn from experienced professionals all around you. That's the one real beauty of the banking analyst program. It's more than fine to be undecided some of the smartest kids looking at the industry know that they haven't yet figured out what their ideal working environment, industry of interest, and specialized professional skill-set for the long haul is. If you are undecided about your long-term path in finance, a junior year summer analyst position here isn't your smartest move. You need to know what your real career interest is. It's a well-regarded growth equity fund in New York. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |