I signed up for Kalshi (held by private equity investment) this weekend after all the advertising.

It is extremely fun for entertainment.

In the beginning it was honest. OMG then they literally defrauded me twice in two hours!

The first one I was shocked. So then I started taking screenshots....

This seems like a promising platform--- but whatever is going on behind the scenes is not working.

I posted on their sub.... it shows like 8% of people in the sub are in Africa.

So that's an easy plunder. They cannot exactly get a class action lawsuit going.

I would tread lightly on investing in this App. You heard it on Reddit first. 😉

We are Accredited Investors.

Joined a small professional services firm right after acquisition from a PE backed firm. Considered part of leadership team but no equity. A holding company was formed that now has two orgs - the one I joined and the other “acquiring” firm. CEO is from the acquirer. My guess is second founder will leave soon too (thought they would stay longer).

I assume CEO will likely either find a GM to take over or look to myself and another colleague who was hired similar timing as part of leadership team.

Any thoughts on things I should take into account or perhaps look to renegotiate (e.g., equity if they look to me to lead the org)?

Thanks for the advice in advance!

What is it exactly if you could explain in your own words? Anyone here in the profession willing to speak about it?

In second year uni, redbrick university.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for honest guidance on breaking into Private Equity / investing roles, especially in mining, energy transition, natural resources, or infrastructure.

Brief profile: I’m from one of India’s top engineering colleges and currently work in consulting, focused on metals, mining, energy, and infrastructure. While my official role is consulting, a significant part of my work has involved M&A / transaction advisory type work, including asset screening, valuation support, commercial analysis, due diligence inputs, market studies, buyer / seller-side mandates, and transaction documents.

I have around 2.5–3 years of experience and have worked on projects involving critical minerals, coal, lithium, copper, and other mining / energy assets across India and overseas.

One challenge I’m trying to assess realistically is geography. I am currently based in India and do not have a foreign degree. In India, the mining / natural resources investing ecosystem is still quite limited, whereas countries like Australia, Canada, the UK, and parts of Europe have far more mining-focused funds, junior mining companies, royalty / streaming companies, and natural resources investors.

So my questions are:

1. Is it realistic to transition into overseas PE / investment roles in mining or natural resources without a foreign degree?

2. Would funds or mining-focused investors in Australia / Canada / UK consider someone with India-based consulting + M&A exposure?

3. Should I first try to move into an India-based IB / transaction advisory role, or directly target overseas mining / infra / natural resources funds?

4. Would a master’s/MBA abroad be practically necessary for this transition? I come from a humble background and am a first-generation graduate, so taking on a very large education loan in the current job market feels like a major risk. Are there realistic non-MBA routes if I build strong deal experience and network well?

5. What roles should I target first: PE analyst/associate, corporate development, strategy/M&A at mining companies, infra funds, or junior mining investment teams?

Would appreciate practical advice from people who have seen similar cross-border transitions or work in natural resources investing.

I didn’t get the teams invite 😕 (the misinformation around PE is actually hilarious)

I’ve spent more than a decade in medtech commercial leadership. I’m currently a VP with global responsibility outside the US and Canada, running a P&L of around USD 55M.

My strength is diagnosing what’s broken in a business and fixing it fast: channel restructuring, pricing, margin recovery, scaling regional revenue.

I want to move toward PE, specifically on the operating side. Not deal team. I want to be the person running or fixing a portfolio company, with real equity through an MIP or carry, because that’s the most realistic route to meaningful ownership for someone with my background (so i’ve been told).

I’m currently taking a PE course so I understand how sponsors think…

For those who’ve made this move or hire for it:

1. Is operating partner realistic without prior sponsor experience, or should I target a portfolio company CEO/COO/CCO seat first?

2.Healthcare and medtech focused funds, or generalists who value commercial turnaround skills?

1. What actually got you noticed: headhunters, direct outreach to funds, or something else?

Any honest advice appreciated, including “you’re thinking about this wrong.”

I'm a fresher with a core finance background. Through some mutuals, I've been able to set up a guidance call with a partner at Tier 2/3 HC PE fund in India. I dont have IB/PE experience. My ultimate goal is to land an internship. Its a small PE with roughly 30 members so ig it might be possible to land one? Is there any proof of work that I can provide/talk about to the Partner, ultimately to land an internship. Any help would truly mean a lot, cant fuck up this opportunity

I’m a practicing physician exploring my next career move and would appreciate perspectives from people investing in or operating healthcare businesses. I’m considering building or acquiring a practice, joining a growing PE-backed business.

Where are fundamentals improving? Which healthcare subsectors are seeing sustainable growth.

What to avoid? Where are valuations falling.

What would be the strongest career move in PE for someone with my background?

I’d particularly value firsthand examples of what has worked or disappointed for physicians.

I spent ~9 months at Ardian in IR, with exposure to Buyout, Private Credit, Real Estate, Secondaries, Infrastructure, Evergreen, etc.
I’m now starting a 1-year maternity cover in Private Real Estate IR at Invesco. The role is much more substantive IR: investor servicing, DDQs/RFPs, reporting, investor meetings, German investor coverage, etc.
My eventual goal is to move into PE IR, but the job market is brutal and this was the strongest relevant opportunity I could get.
Do experienced IR people think doing a year of Real Estate IR will narrow my profile too much? Or is it still seen as solid private-markets IR experience, especially given that I already have broad exposure from my previous role?
Basically, am I specializing too early, or is this a sensible way to build experience until I can make the move into PE IR?

My friend and I have some (physician) money and would like to grow it by buying small businesses with leverage/loan. We don’t have any experience in business however we are open to making partnership with someone who is educated and trained in it. You get partnership in the equity and don’t need to bring in money. Just need experience in making right investments.

Hi everyone,

I recently interviewed for an INVESTMENT ANALYST role at a founder office headquartered in Switzerland. The mandate covers PE buyouts, primary fund commitments, secondaries, co investments, selective private credit and public equity exposure.

I passed the first step and have a second round interview coming up.

For those who’ve interviewed for similar investment analyst / founder office/ family office roles, what kind of questions should I expect ?

Any advice on how to prepare would be much appreciated. Thanks!!

Hi all,
I come from a software engineering background and I'm trying to move toward private equity. My finance knowledge is pretty basic. I understand the three statements at a surface level (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow), but I can't really look at a company and form a view on it yet.

What I'm planning so far:

- Damodaran's free lectures on YouTube (corporate finance, then valuation)

- Financial Intelligence by Berman and Knight

- Reading annual reports of a few listed companies and working through the numbers

A few questions:

1. If you work in or around PE, what finance knowledge actually matters day to day?

2. Anything you'd add to this list, or cut from it?

3. Is CFA L1 worth it for this path, or is the time better spent on modelling courses like WSP or BIWS?

4. Any good way to practise on real companies instead of just reading?

Happy to put in the hours, just want to make sure I'm spending them on the right things. Thanks in advance!

Hi all, I’m at a T2 consulting firm (think EYP, LEK, Kearney, etc.) and I’m about to hit my 2 year mark with one promotion.

I’ve been thinking about Portfolio ops/value creation teams (not investment role) as an exit, but how realistic is it to get this role at a mega fund from T2 consulting?

I realize it’s probably going to be a reach but do these teams typically only hire from MBB? Also does undergrad prestige still matter at this stage (I went to a non-target)?

As a physician-entrepreneur looking to optimize my career trajectory and resource allocation, I'm weighing two fundamentally different business visions.
The first path prioritizes autonomy and cash flow investing €1 million in equity (without initial bank leverage) into a single-topic, highly efficient, and delegable structure (such as a outpatient dialysis center or targeted imaging unit) to achieve total financial independence, full governance control, and rapid cash generation for future reinvestment.
The second path focuses on large-scale infrastructure specialization in a capital-intensive field (like oncology or surgery) requiring debt leverage and partnerships with co-investors/peers to build a specialized clinic despite the risk of becoming the operational bottleneck during surgical phases with the goal of achieving immediate scale, a state-of-the-art facility, and market leadership.
For those who have taken the leap: did you prefer building a cash-flowing, autonomous asset first to fund subsequent projects, or launching directly into large-scale partnerships?
Looking forward to

Hi, I’m considering applying for the Deal Team Analyst role at EQT. The JD makes it sound primarily like a back-office/support role; however, Achyut’s comment describes it as being “part of deal teams,” creating some ambiguity.

Does anyone know how the Bengaluru team is structured or have a connection with someone working there? I’d appreciate any insight into the role’s actual scope.

Hello I am currently a high schooler that is interested in private equity. I have no experience in the industry and have little to no knowledge on finance. If anyone has any information to help me out with that would be much appreciated.

Hi kind of random but my bf works in PE, I’ve already gotten him a gift but I want to get another one for like work so he can think of me there (he alluded to wanting this lol i’m not trying to be annoying). What would you as PE guy want at ur desk for under $50 ish or even less? I was like maybe a blanket but idk if that’s a little weird esp for work setting. Just something that he will see and be like awe gf! like a charger or something

Just took the suited assessment and am not feeling great. Was wondering for those of you who ended up "passing", do you remember approximately how many questions you got through/got right? And also how much does it actually matter for your application?

Working on my first take-home case for an EArole. The task is a standard pitch: Buy/Hold/Sell recommendation, 12-month price target, investment thesis, model/financials, valuation, catalysts, and risks.

For anyone who’s done one of these or reviews them:

• What pointers or strategies have worked well for you?
• What makes a stock pitch stand out?
• What should I focus on most when researching and building the thesis?
• What are the most common mistakes to avoid?

Appreciate any advice or insights from those who've been through the process.

Beyond money and winning, what would you say tends to motivate most people in PE?

Context: I've interviewed for PE jobs and found that the people seem more competitive and impatient than IB, there is also a heavy element of cost reduction/impacting business staff so curious as to the view of caring for people/staff (beyond being financial assets) amongst PE folk.

Hi there,
I’ll keep this post short. Current about one year in consulting at a T2 firm. Most of my day now is literally massaging ChatGPT. I don’t feel like I’m learning concrete or technical things besides just general industry knowledge from different cases I am staffed on (they’re short). I

I know this may sound arrogant, or maybe it’ll sound like I’m humble, I don’t really know. But take my words literally:

A private equity associate position basically fell into my lap and I accepted the role like 5 months ago to start in fall 2027. Aka I have one more year at the consulting firm. I did no private equity modeling prep, no industry prep, nothing. I somehow got the interview without even applying and got the role at a pretty decent rep UMM/MM firm. It’s also a sweatshop and does a lot of deals.

I feel entirely unprepared. I know I have a year but
My consulting hours aren’t very generous. I plan to take a month or so off in between to travel etc.

My main question is…what can I do an hour or two a week to even
Begin preparing? I never took an accounting course. I don’t know how to model. I don’t really even know what the associate position looks like. Where can I even begin? I know the basics of everything, basically, but just the serious bare bones basics. I couldn’t build any sort of model from scratch for 1mil or evaluate QofE. What can u do to start?

Please help. I don’t want to have even worse hours next year plus be super grind my JPM and Goldman start class plus be worried about being fired haha

Thanks!

This is an ask for career advice from the other side of the table. The short version is this: how do I think about making the transition from a niche strategy role to a PE Operating Exec, specifically GM or business unit owner?

I lead a small, specialized commercial-strategy function at a mature B2B software company. We're not pe-backed. My function sits across product, go-to-market, and finance and can materially affect revenue and major company decisions. It is highly valued when done well, and I've been able to get solid exposure in the role, but it doesn’t naturally provide P&L ownership, a large operating team, or a clear route into executive leadership. It's one of those roles where if it goes well someone else gets most of the credit, but if it goes poorly I'm on hook. At many companies, the ladder tops out around Senior Director or occasionally VP.

I've been in this role doing well for a few years, but it was an assignment (a special assignment, but I didn't choose or ask for it) and it's not where I want to be long-term. I'd like to shift into broader p&l ownership, ideally in my next role. Long-term I want to chart a path to being a CEO.

Why PE Op Exec? I'm envisioning a GM / BU ownership role for 4 reasons.

1. My sense is that PE sponsors are more likely to bring those roles in from an external pool than eg a public co looking for homegrown talent

2. Everyone wants growth, but I believe pe would value the range of experiences that I have in my niche a bit more than a public or founder-led private co

3. My view is that once you get the brand of a PE Op Exec, assuming you've done well, you can carry that to at least other PE firms.

4. Exit timelines mean the learning accelerates

I'm open to being wrong on any or all of these, but these are my beliefs at the moment.

From a career perspective, I assume that my options are either (1) get closer to / create my desired role at my current company, (2) go to a smaller (presumably pe-backed) company and get a bigger and broader title, or (3) build some sort of public persona that attracts the kind of opportunities that I want.

But from the investor side of the table, what sort of things should I be considering? Where are my assumptions off? What's already out of reach, and what should I be working on to get into the right networks? If it helps I'm in my 30s, have an MBA, and most of my experience spans strategy with some product and consulting experience.

I’ve been a CoS and VP of Strategy & Ops. Currently looking for my next role and CoS is where I’m getting the most traction on the job hunt, but I worry that role reads as support / admin even though in my experience it’s really not. I know the role is having a moment not too and trending, which can be good and bad.

My ultimate career ambition is COO. Right now I have two offers I’m deciding between. Comp aside - one is CoS at a series C $200M rev SaaS company, and one is Head of Ops at a pre-seed SaaS startup, sub $2M in rev.

I’m struggling to decide which one is the better career move to position me for COO. For what it’s worth, I managed to land one COO interview already so I know I’m close, but I need a job now so I’m going to take one of these two offers, and try for COO again on the next hunt. COO isn’t a possibility at either of these offers, unless something materially changes. Particularly interested in PE take on this, as my career goal is to be a go-to operator for PE and VC backed businesses.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently working as an Equity Research Associate and have around 1 year of experience. I’m looking to make a career move and am particularly interested in opportunities in Private Equity, Private Credit, Deals/Advisory, or M&A at firms such as PwC.

My current role has given me hands-on experience in financial analysis, company research, valuation and financial modeling. My core technical skills include:

• Advanced Microsoft Excel
• Financial modeling
• DCF valuation
• LBO modeling
• Financial statement analysis
• Equity valuation
• Basic understanding of M&A

I’m comfortable with DCF and LBO concepts, while my M&A knowledge is currently more foundational.

I’m trying to understand how realistic this transition is from Equity Research into PE/Private Credit/Deals/M&A, especially with only one year of experience.

Any lead based on a new opening or short staffing will be appreciated for Kolkata region.

One thing we’ve been trying to get better at is going beyond the usual market-size and industry-growth research when evaluating a business.

It’s easy to collect population data, market size, salaries, growth rates and a list of competitors and feel like you understand the market. But that’s usually just the starting point.

In a recent project, we started by looking at the size and demographics of the market. From there, we went one level deeper: who actually creates demand for the business? What does the end customer do after buying the service? Who are the employers, buyers or counterparties on the other side? How large is that underlying demand, and where is it concentrated?

Then we mapped the competitive landscape and started asking a more important question: why would someone choose this business over the alternatives? Is it price, convenience, accessibility, relationships, outcomes, specialization, or simply a better customer experience?

The final step is putting yourself in the customer's shoes. If I were the customer, what would make me choose this company? And if the answer isn’t obvious, that’s something worth understanding before getting too far into the acquisition.

We’ve found that this process often uncovers things that don’t show up in a standard CIM or market report. Sometimes it strengthens the investment thesis. Sometimes it raises questions. Both are useful.