I'm part of a search fund as an associate that will be raising a second fund after a successful exit. I have no equity, but my goal is to stay in PE long term. I just got an offer from Bain as an associate and I wonder if I could better leverage this MBB opp into PE #pe #searchfund
Agree with D here - but my opinion is PE experience > MBB experience if you want to stay in PE... leverage that into a top tier MBA down the road, and go back to PE
This is flat out wrong, almost no search funds are well respected enough to give you the prestige bump you’d want to get into a top MBA. Even though search funds offer “PE” experience the OP would be way better off by doing 2 years at Bain and then 2 years in PE before going off to business school
What's the Search Fund's status/prestige level at?
Bain will be better for a traditional PE role than working at a search fund. The search fund experience, even in the investing side, isn’t true PE as you’re likely supporting the searchers/CEOs in a Corp dev like function. Plus you’re probably working mainly in the LMM/MM space. It’s not a bad role, but if you’re looking to go to a brand name fund, the Bain name and training will take you farther.
What training exactly are you referring to? Running CDDs and maybe some strategy (most likely transformation work) in a consulting shop doesn’t get you ready to manage an entire transaction lifecycle in PE.
No, but neither does “investment” team work at a LMM search fund. Banking is the best path; however, at the Associate level, some PE firms hire a number of consultants from MBB, look at Golden Gate Capital’s team page. Bain works closely with PE firms on a variety of diligence items and while junior consultants aren’t getting direct PE experience, they have a general understanding of the process and might be working on some of the more detailed pieces of PE analysis during their time. Also, Bain trains people well and it’s a signaling effect of working at a prestigious firm. Again, depends on what the OP wants, if he/she knows they will never want to move beyond smaller transactions then stay at the search fund. In terms of keeping options open, MBB consulting is a great opportunity that will open up tons of doors down the road.
You might get better responses to this on fishbowl
Nah fishbowl sucks. Finance community is better on Blind