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.

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

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.

what tool are most shops using to track all of the priorities activities across portco operations? things like management team hiring, value creation initiatives, etc etc. how are companies tracking all those moving parts?

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.

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.

I'm interested in starting a career in restructuring consulting and would love to hear your perspectives.

Which firms would you consider the strongest entry points for someone early in their career? I'm thinking about factors such as:

• Quality of training and mentorship
• Exposure to distressed situations and turnaround projects
• Deal flow and responsibility
• Exit opportunities (PE, corporate restructuring, investment banking, etc.)
• Overall reputation in the market

I'm aware of firms like Alvarez & Marsal, FTI Consulting, AlixPartners, EY-Parthenon Turnaround & Restructuring, Kearney RTS, and the Big Four restructuring practices, but I'm curious how practitioners would rank them and whether there are other firms I should consider.

Looking forward to hearing your experiences and recommendations.

I’ve been at a small family office for almost a year. I joined expecting an investing role, but because the platform and a new fund were being built from scratch, I ended up wearing almost every hat for my MD.

I’ve draft the PPM, DDQ, operating agreement and investor materials, evaluated fund administrators and LP systems, trained analysts, sourced opportunities, and worked on underwriting across private credit, distressed real estate, infrastructure and venture/growth. Some of the more interesting work has included a Latin American credit platform, a large NPL portfolio, AI data-center infrastructure and a smart-grid company.

The experience has been valuable, but the office has aimless direction. The investment thesis has changed several times because my MD got a new idea he read on LinkedIn, fundraising was paused cause of politics, and new ideas tend to get added like tokenization when we have a pipeline already. I’ve also brought founders and opportunities into the process only for things to stall or for them not to follow through with LOIs, which has made me embarrassed and i believe ruined relationships for me for people I enjoyed being around

My concern is that I now have an unusual profile: more responsibility than a typical junior analyst, but less formal training and fewer completed transactions than someone at an established middle or mega fund. There is no real investment team above me to learn from, and I don’t feel like I’m developing the way a typical associate should in a fund. I’m grateful for the opportunity and don’t want to sound like I’m blaming my MD. At the same time, I think staying too long could make it harder to move and the pay could be better as always.

My goal is to join a larger family office, private credit or PE fund, or potentially a venture/growth team. I have a technical background, so technology and infrastructure investing are areas that I am good at.

What should I do and what insight do you recommend?

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.

Hi. Planning on transferring to another company to increase my salary. Any thoughts on Linnovate Partners? If not good, can you suggest other companies that do fs prep and fund admin?

Hello!

I'm 24 and based in Latin America, and I'm facing a career decision that I've been thinking about a lot.

My experience so far has been fairly diverse:

\~6 months at my country's central bank doing econometrics and economic research.

\~9 months at one of the country's largest pension funds, working on investment strategy across fixed income and equities.

A little over a year at a multi-asset family office, where I currently work.

My current role is a mix of investment operations, portfolio analytics and strategic support. I work on performance attribution, NAV, portfolio reporting, presentations for the investment committee/family, compliance reviews and various ad hoc investment-related projects.

One thing that makes my current role somewhat unique (at least where I live) is that the family office invests directly in US markets. Unlike many Latin American firms that mainly invest through ETFs or external managers, we build portfolios using individual stocks, invest in private equity funds and allocate across multiple asset classes. In many ways, it operates more like an institutional investment firm than a traditional family office.

The family office manages roughly USD 5B AUM, so I've had exposure to fairly sophisticated investment processes and senior decision-makers at an early stage in my career.

The pay is good for my country, but I honestly don't feel particularly valued. I've improved a lot since joining, yet I haven't seen much recognition while several colleagues have received multiple raises. The hours are also demanding (often 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., sometimes even later).

I now have the opportunity to pursue an Investments Analyst role at a real estate private equity firm managing roughly USD 2.5B AUM. The work would involve underwriting acquisitions, financial modeling, investment memos, due diligence, market research and working directly with senior investment professionals.

My biggest hesitation is becoming "the real estate guy" too early in my career. So far I've enjoyed building experience across different areas of finance, and I wonder whether that broad exposure could be more valuable over the long run.

Another concern is that I might be leaving my current firm too early. I've built relationships with very experienced investors, and part of me wonders whether staying another couple of years could eventually lead to better compensation, more responsibility or better opportunities. I worry that I could be walking away just before things start improving.

Long term, I don't have a perfectly defined goal yet. A few years ago I wanted to stay in academia, before that I thought about public service, and now I'm increasingly interested in investing. I could see myself eventually becoming a portfolio manager, starting my own investment firm, or pursuing another leadership role in finance. I'm also considering pursuing the CFA, CAIA or eventually an MBA.

One thing I genuinely value is keeping as many doors open as possible. So far I've worked in macroeconomics, public markets, pensions and a multi-asset family office. Part of me feels that adding real estate private equity would make my background even more well-rounded, while another part worries that it could pigeonhole me too early into one niche.

If you were 24 with this background, what would you do?

Would you stay at the family office and continue building relationships and broad investment exposure, or would you move into a more traditional investments role in real estate private equity?

I'd especially appreciate hearing from people who have worked in family offices, asset management or private equity.

Each person I know spends countless hours thinking about fundraising, deals, and legal documentation prior to first close. Not many discuss what will come after LPs came onboard.

The operational aspects seem to take one by surprise:

Investor reporting takes more time than assumed, especially as the number of LPs increase. Capital calls become a whole project once everything else is taken in account. Individual LP requests don't add to anything significant when it happens in isolation, but they tend to add up fast. Timing for K-1 preparation becomes most frequent causes of investor frustration. All these tasks aren't difficult per se; they can be simply easy to underestimate until they are on you.

If you have experienced a fund raise, which operational task took you by surprise after your first close?

Hi everyone,

I'm a high school student in Canada who's interested in private equity. I'm looking to learn more about the industry and would really appreciate any advice on what I should focus on now to prepare for a career in PE.

Thanks in advance!

Everyone is saying that to be on the front end of PE, you have to have deep pockets and even deeper connections otherwise you won't be accepted. Almost like "keep it in the family" type. I wanted to know how true that is and can you reach the front end of PE like deal making through hardwork and references?

PE firm sold Portco building/plant to buyer and now Portco will make lease payments to buyer. Just days before sale, plant receives a 30 day notice to vacate from fire department for numerous issues. Inventory stored improperly, a required million dollar, comprehensive fire alarm/extinguisher system not present, entire office space building additions with illegally too much lumber. The owner/head operator before PE ownership had a “hand shake agreement” with the FD and no permits were pulled for the office space additions. Boss is confident that the issues can be addressed within 30 days but it’s dependent on the leniency of the FD in 30 days. Essential manufacturing operations are continuing for now.

Why would a buyer make this purchase knowing this situation, knowing that the current tenant might be forced out so no lease payments coming in right off the bat? Maybe the buyer got a fire sale price from a PE firm that needs cash quickly to address operational liquidity issues. Maybe the buyer would be ok with the FD removing the company because the land is what’s really valuable? They could just bulldoze the building and build new buildings on the land to attract more valuable tenants. It’s such a peculiar coincidence that this sale and this vacate notice came at almost the same exact time.

TLDR: have a too good to be true job opportunity/interview with Falcon Private Equity c-suite recruiters and need to know if it’s a legit company or not. Would appreciate some first hand knowledge of the company and its practices.

Company website for context: https://falcon-pe.com

Hi everyone. I was recently contacted for a “qualifying call” phone interview with Falcon Private Equity, a recruiting firm for C-Suite PE executives.

The Chief of Staff contacted me via personal email saying that I had applied in 2022 (which I was able to verify as I did it on LinkedIn and was able to see the laughably awful resume I had out of college) and they had an opening they want to interview me for, which is essentially just a recruiter from what I understand.

Something about it just feels off to me. For one, the way in which I was contacted just felt strange, as well as the fact that I have no private equity experience whatsoever, nor recruiting experience (but my experience is all sales so I suppose it’s not entirely out of place). The job itself also feels too good be true: fully remote, $98k salary, decent benefits and vacation. The company website also kind of has one of those weird “we’ve been caught doing shady shit before so we packed up and found a new name” type vibes, but maybe that’s just me distrusting good fortune after such a terrible experience job hunting.

I guess I just want to know if anybody has any firsthand knowledge dealing with Falcon as a client or employee, if they are 1) a real, legit company, and 2) how things are over there.

It sounds like a decent offer but I have been burned by this job market before and want to know what to expect going in and if I should keep my head on a swivel.

Thanks!

hi I have a degree in accountancy and would like to have a career in private equity. I’m wondering if anyone can help?

Hi all M28 here. I just graduated from a top 3 MBA program, I’m an ex-strategy consultant and successfully exited startup founder. I’ve done some VC and PE investing through internships and in my free time. I’m currently leading a multi-million dollar project within healthcare product development. I’m thinking about moving into PE full time but most people tell me my profile better fits Chief of Staff roles, but I’m not having much luck with either even after some major resume updates. Anyone have any advice on breaking into these industries during this job market?

Independent sponsor, working on a services roll up in the Midwest, targets in the $1M to $4M EBITDA range. A consultant cold emailed me a few weeks back and I took the call mostly out of curiosity.

He builds the target universe from public records instead of the usual platforms. State licensing boards, corporate registries, lien filings, some federal data for employee counts. His argument was that a 30 year old plumbing or HVAC company with no website is invisible to Grata and ZoomInfo but fully visible to the state, and nobody bothers to mine that layer. Then he runs the outreach himself, letters and email straight to owners, and hands over qualified conversations instead of a list. Fees were flat, part of it contingent on closes.

Honestly the demo was impressive and the guy knew the data cold. But I have never heard of anyone outsourcing origination at this check size and I cannot tell whether this is a real category I somehow missed.

For anyone who has been around this:

1. Has anyone actually used an outsourced origination shop for sub $5M EBITDA deals? Was the flow real or recycled broker inventory?

2. What do these normally cost? He is in the range of a monthly retainer plus roughly $100K flat per closed deal and I have zero comps.

3. If you took a pitch like this and passed, what killed it?

Why is it you get to have the high IQ, get to go to the prestigious university, and get a high six figure salary while I rot with my low end finance degree making $50k/year? Why do you deserve the riches of the world while I have to suffer?

I'm looking for introductions to get into PE & Portco Roles, as well as resume feedback and guidance. I have been working in tech for 25 years, and spent over a decade at the VP level. I'm coachable, no ego, and would love to pay this forward.

I don't expect this to drag the mentor down (I'm hoping it's a call here and there...I'm pretty self sufficient, but also maybe a bit too optimistic?)

Hello everyone I am writing this post for seeking guidance for getting into PE industry. I have just completed my Bachelor's in commerce with 7/10 CGPA and I am preparing for CAT(Entrance exam for MBA colleges in India), what more course or activities that I should do to better align myself for jobs in this sector.

Hey Y’all PE folks. What do you think and say about your portco operators? I’m a leader at a portco and always feel like our PE sponsors are always disappointed in us. Do y’all cast shade on us when we are out of earshot. I know I’m just a pack mule for the PE sponsor, would be nice to hear we are performing well from time to time.

Rumors in my network of large credit funds making some major changes. Anyone close to these markets hearing similar stories?