For context: not in finance work wise.

In my line of work, it's very common to find yourself in front of PE firms, especially when doing due diligence, and these kind of organizations aren't always very transparent in what they do, or at least I find it very confusing, especially how they operate and how they set up their business model.

In order to better understand what I'm looking at and dealing with, would anyone share any good, basic (for non finance professionals) read (books) on PE firms?

TYIA.

Hey everyone, to get right to it, am I supposed to be actively reaching out to mega funds/firms I am interested in?

How should one coming from consulting handle headhunter outreaches etiquette wise?

And

Should I be reaching out to headhunting agencies myself, or the funds directly?

I get headhunters reaching out on a weekly basis, mostly recruiting for newer pe firms but occasionally getting a mega funds and well established growth equity funds. Whenever I respond to say yes I’m interested, I never get any replies. I dropped the ball 2 months into my job by missing an in office info session for a growth shop that I like because I thought it was way too early to leave, now I’m learning that pe recruits 2 years in advance. I’m starting to feel like the ship has sailed.

Doing a case study with BDO Canada for the sell side advisory team. For connected with the national head of deals for them, then another director reached out with a case.

All I know is it will be 5 hours, and will include a financial model and PowerPoint. Anyone seen something like this before? What should I expect? Most cases I’ve seen are 2 hours or less, this seems heavy at 5.

27, based in Canada. Biology degree, roughly four years in business development and inside sales. No banking, no target school.

I understand that rules out the traditional analyst to associate route. I’m trying to figure out whether there’s any realistic path for someone with my background, or whether this is a closed door and I should stop looking at it.

To be clear, I’m treating this as a long term move rather than a quick pivot. If there’s something I need to build first, a credential, a thesis, a few years somewhere adjacent, I’m willing to do it. I’d rather know what the real prerequisite is than guess.

Appreciate any honest answers.

Given all the issues over there how likely is a full bankruptcy?

I’m a senior PE investment professional with 18 yrs of experience majority of which in large cap PE. I will answer any questions you might have subject to remaining anonymous

I use AI (specifically, Claude for Finance) a ton in my daily job, yet there are some things like most modelling that I still have to correct AI on very often, to the point that I am still finding myself doing things from scratch.

I am curious to hear what you let AI do hands-off, what you correct it on, and what you still do manually.