Have 2 offers from PE FoFs at the VP level. Would be next in line to take over the strategy in a few years. Funds comparable to Alpinvest in their infancy and both have $5bn+ in captive capital (endowments, pensions, family office, etc.). Job would entail building out the FoF and coinvestments business.
I’ve been trying to break into direct PE for 6 months at same level. Currently at major coinvestments shop. At crossroads and not sure if I should decline and try to get direct job or just take 1 of the 2 and just crush.
Any advice on what to do? May not be as prestigious, but other lifestyle benefits. Any info out there on what comp looks like at this level (base, bonus, carry)? Job is in major city (nyc, Chicago, la).
IMO secondaries is pretty gash unless ur at one of the big names i.e. coller , lexington. Direct is infinitly better in terms of comp, carry and exit ops (if you would even wanna exit).
I think of FoF roles as something I’d want to do when i was 40+ years old and looking for a more relaxed lifestyle. If you are a hard-charging, analytical individual with a great deal of intellectual curiosity and interest in how to make good investments, you are far better off continuing to look for a direct investing role. In FoF, you’re mostly just trying to invest in managers or funds that you think will do well, and if you notice the backgrounds of most of the people in those industries, it’s actually pretty amazing how few of them have worked in a direct investing role (either hedge funds or private equity). So how is it that they are considered competent in making decisions on which funds to invest in? Well, the answer is implied by the fact that fees for FoF continue to get smaller and smaller as the years progress.
Anyway, I’m not trying to comment on the merits or de-merits of FoF as a career path or industry, even – but just look at the facts, namely what has happened to the fee structure and the # of FoF funds out there, and also be sincere with yourself. If you want to be a direct investor, you’re probably better off holding out for a PE role. But then again, we don’t know anything about your current background or how successful you’ve been in your pursuits so far, so I guess it is tough to say. The only certainty is that given what you’ve stated so far, a FoF role probably will take you further from a direct investing role if you are even on the map of a PE recruiting process because then you’ll have to spend at least another 1-2 years doing manager selection which you’ve already said is not what you want to be doing. So why take a job that you don’t even really want?