r/private_equity

Greetings folks, I just completed my grade 12 and i have join computer science in an well known university in india.ever since my 8th grade i am so interested in business, business development and administration and stuff like that since my father is a professor of international business and financial analytics it increased my knowledge and interests in the industry now I'm considering a Private equity related roles after my undergrad what are the skills and certification that I need to develop? Any valuable inputs will be appreciated folks

Have 12Y total exp across LMM boutiques and corp dev and have landed in Energy / Infra

Weighing up a UK investing role working for a private but government owned organisation setup to be a pseudo SWF using ‘patient’ state capital - think National Wealth Fund, KfW, European Investment Bank, GB Energy, Vatenfall / Orsted (when they had more government involvement)

As long as I actually do good deals, would I still have the option of jumping to Infra and Energy PE in a few years if it doesn’t work out?

Or would the experience be discounted due to perceptions of ‘public sector’ influence being slow with red tape and not aggressive enough.

Keen to hear views from those in PE seats on how you would view applicants with this background. Cheers

I am 29 and I am trying to get into a PE firm.
I believe I would be able to do so when I will be 33

Will my age be a disadvantage?

And is it very late for getting into a PE as an associate?

Wharton MBA & 15 years of infrastructure M&A experience. Any probability of breaking into an infra fund with my background? Or do I need to do IB/advisory?

I have only been in the US for the past 7 years so could not do the traditional pathway but I have citizenship now.

I’ve been job searching full-time since March with not much traction. Would love any advice on:

**•**	How to network in Boston’s PE/finance scene as a newcomer with no local connections

**•**	Recruiters who work with PE candidates in the area

**•**	Whether my NZ PE experience is translating the way I think it should (or if I’m missing something obvious about the US market)

Happy to share more about my background if it helps. At this point my wife has made it very clear she’d like the house back during business hours (she wfh), so any leads, big or small, are much appreciated!

Founder of an AI SaaS platform. 7 years old, crossed  $30m rev last year on track to do $90m this year. 90% gross margin, 30% ebidta margin. 

Ran for a minority recap this year. Had interest from every major fund but ended up with 2 shitty bids (10x last year rev). The universal sentiment was “we love your business but our IC can’t get comfortable with a higher price.”

We’re turning down the sheets but is this normal out there? What kind of deals are happening? 

How is the work in secondaries PE? How deep do you get into an asset that you’re taking from an LP? What’s the day to day and total comp broken down? Would love to get a gauge.

I have been talking to a lot of people who've lived through post-close integration, and one recurring theme keeps coming up is that the systems and processes get merged on paper way faster than the knowledge does. Months later, people are still saying "just ask so-and-so, they were on the deal" because the context on why things were structured a certain way, where stuff lives never made it out of a few people's heads.

I am interested in learning how this actually plays out for people here:

• What takes longest to integrate after close, is it the systems, the data, or the institutional knowledge?
• Have any tools actually helped, or is it still tribal knowledge + spreadsheets?
• For serial acquirers/roll-ups: does it get easier by the 5th add-on, or is every one its own mess?

Would really appreciate any views around where the real bottleneck sits.

I work as an analyst at a private equity.

We've begun using Claude to produce industry reports months ago.

As of last month, we've been using Claude to do deal sourcing.

Now, I'm looking to move as I see my role shrinking drastically.

Any stories at other firms?

How will the industry look like in 10 years?

Hello everyone, I need some advice related to my plan , you can be brutally honest if you want but I just want my future plan to be solid

I'm currently 20(turning 21 in 10 days ) and I'm currently in CA intermediate, I will pass CA intermediate till 2027 june ish ik , and then I will be doing my articleship in FDD(Financial due diligence)(hopefully in big 4 ,as I have a good referral) and then I will be applying for my master's in finance from uk leaving CA (in which I will show my 2 year articleship work experience as my work experience) and then after my master i want to join Private equity.

I'm looking to enter the mid-market PE space, and from everyone I'm reading, every firm claims they generate alpha through 'operational improvements' and 'value creation playbooks'.

But looking closely at the actual tech stacks and strategies, it seems like 90% of it is just standard multiple expansion, aggressively cutting overhead, and forcing a basic CRM implementation onto the portfolio companies.

Are there actually any firms out there doing sophisticated data-driven or algorithmic things to find operational alpha post-acquisition? Or is 'value creation' just a buzzword GPs use to appease LPs while they rely on basic financial engineering?

Hello everyone,
I am a Chartered Accountant from India with about 4 years of M&A experience
And currently working in the UAE

I am keen about the options I might have after Masters in Finance (MiF) program from London Business School and whether its the right choice for me?

I am 29 and I am looking for a short duration but highly impactful course - I want to be working in a Private Equity Fund in the Investments role and I currently have very little understanding about anything about this program and whether its actually worthwhile and the kind of placements there.

Can any one give insights?

Hello all, I've been part of a hackathon recently to train AI models on financial metrics. It was lead by a PE firm, but because of NDAs we couldn't access some of the firm's data. I therefore looked into scraping it from the web. But here's the catch, as you may know, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, etc cost a lot.

Since the end of the hackathon, I've been thinking about this. As an engineer and researcher, I'd like to access the data for little, if not for free. This is why I've started scraping a lot of data publicly available on the web. I've looked into scraping shady pdfs hidden deep inside websites, legal documents publicly available, even got to estimate the number of costumers of several companies by aggregating data from all stores, etc

But since I have no finance background, I'm curious to find out what metrics I should focus on...

Any help is welcome!

I’m currently an MBA student who is doing his summer internship at a private equity firm. Before my MBA, I did not do private equity. I was in management consulting and then did corporate development. My private equity firm is a middle market PE firm whose most recent fund size was a little under $1.5B. We are on our 4th fund. Last fundraise was 2023. I was informed that I’ll be receiving a return offer to join as a Senior Associate at the end of my internship and that my performance is strong. It is a well established and good PE firm, but looking at the number of partners and principals as well as how long people have been at each level, I’m concerned about long term promotion prospects here. Hell, one principal jokes that he’ll be a principal for life. Also, everyone else who is at the senior associate level has been here for a long time (minimum 3 years), and I’m worried that will haunt me when promotion time to VP comes around. Also, I know PE is supposed to be high hours, but my firm has been particularly brutal based on my convos I’m having with my friends at other firms. This is also not my first PE internship. I did two before and both of those firms were far more relaxed. Separately, I received an offer to join a newly established PE firm. That firm’s first fund is $500M and is also aimed at the middle market with a similar investment mandate. They are wrapping up fundraising and are selling me hard on long term promotion prospects and the possibility to be fast tracked since they will be expanding the team and fund size over time. A lot of the team is from another well respected PE firm. A few partners left and took people with them to set this firm up. My professors had good things to say about them (one of my professors actually connected me with them). I am thinking that switching to the new PE firm will be better for my long term career, but I was wondering what the people on this forum’s thoughts are? Is there value in staying at my firm for the brand name even if I likely will have to lateral to move up?

Part 1 - https://www.reddit.com/r/private_equity/comments/1u3d94u/comment/os3orqk/

Stupid question of the day, and hypothetical (double emphasis on the hypothetical) - if one is chatting with potential buyers and receives an offer, how long is that offer usually valid for? From research online, deals seem to usually get done within a week. However, from part 1, if the goal is to hire a banker, that takes time. I guess the process is = need to go out > find list of potential relevant bankers to help > interview bankers > interview more > negotiate terms > hire on the banker > start the process(?). Each step could take potentially weeks, just scheduling can take weeks within itself.

I can see this "hire a banker" process that everyone here recommends take many many months. By that time, if I'm a buyer, I'd think this isn't worth my time and my attention move elsewhere

Hello guys, I don't use Reddit really often but I see there is quite a community for M&A here so I thought I could ask my questions here.

I have been doing buy-side M&A for a couple of years, with good success, a couple of regular clients signed etc.

I also have a partner who is a very experienced sell-side broker, works for one of the top private advisory firms in the US and together we have starting basically doing hourly consulting work. Basically anything from sourcing to closing.

It started going okay at first, but soon we found that finding clients is not as easy as we thought. We know how to do the job given our experience, but do not know how to acquire new clients.

Are there any tips any of you can give me, maybe some guidelines I should follow when trying to get new clients. Any help is appreciated.

Hypothetical of course.

Let's say a firm starts to roll up an industry and makes 11 acquisitions and for a multitude of reasons is starting to look insolvent. The operators of the main entity see the writing on the wall and decide to take some really aggressive choices, some that involve things that are illegal in an effort to turn things around. They get caught and there are lawsuits mostly civil. They get bad press and are forced to quietly liquidate the companies at a massive loss. Maybe the senior lender calls the massive notes due? The company changes hands with no press. The vendors and customers are none the wiser but the liability has shifted to a new PE fund (PE fund 2)

PE fund 2 gets a sweetheart of a dead but assume the liability of the lawsuits. PE fund 1 is circling the drain. Investors wont fund new ideas and their best talent starts to flee. They start to wind down their investments and liquidate as much cash to the partners as possible.

PE fund two thinks PE fund 1 is healthy and has a escrow to cover potential judgements against their new company but they don't.

When these lawsuits prevail and PE fund 2 realizes PE fund 1 fucked them over hard, what happens?

PE fund 2 doesn't want to pay and their new investment is now insolvent. PE 1 is riding off into the hills with most of their cash in Personal trusts.

What happens? Any real life parallels you have seen play out?

Hi everyone,

I’m a recent finance and agribusiness graduate actively pursuing the acquisition of a 5-unit Papa John’s franchise portfolio and am looking for an experienced equity partner.

While I haven’t signed an LOI yet, I’m actively evaluating opportunities and building relationships with potential partners before moving forward. My primary need is a partner who can provide the equity injection and has the financial strength to serve as a personal guarantor for SBA financing.

One of the biggest strengths of this opportunity is that I already have an experienced operator committed to joining the team. He has over 20 years of experience owning and operating pizza franchises and has deep relationships within the Papa John’s system. He is willing to relocate to oversee day-to-day operations across all five stores, bringing extensive operational knowledge and franchise experience.

What I bring: • I will serve as the managing partner, overseeing above-store operations, financial performance, strategic growth, and expansion. • Finance, accounting, and business management experience. • A long-term vision of building a portfolio of successful franchise businesses. • A hands-on ownership approach focused on growing enterprise value while supporting the operations team.

What I’m offering: • 60–70% equity to the equity/guarantor partner. • Transparent communication, regular financial reporting, and full access to due diligence materials once a target has been identified. • A long-term partnership built around acquiring and growing cash-flowing businesses.

I’m looking to connect with investors who have experience with SBA-funded acquisitions, franchise investing, or entrepreneurship through acquisition. If this opportunity aligns with your investment criteria, I’d love to have a conversation and discuss how we could structure a mutually beneficial partnership.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to connecting.

I’m a Class A investor in a small Texas LLC real estate development deal and trying to sanity check the situation.

The agreement’s waterfall appears to be: debt/company liabilities first, then any Class B financing-related reimbursement, then Class A capital, then Class B capital, then Class A preferred return, then residual distributions. Developer/manager compensation appears to be triggered only after certain capital/return thresholds are met.

The deal is now distressed, and the GP/manager is forecasting that Class A will be impaired, meaning Class A investors may not even get their initial capital back. The developer (one of the GPs) has said that under the current structure he would receive no compensation and wants to change the structure so he would continue spending time and energy on the project.

My concern is that the original waterfall/fee structure was the agreed risk allocation. If the deal had outperformed, investors could not retroactively change the structure to reduce GP/developer economics. So if the deal underperforms, I don’t think the GP/developer should be able to retroactively change the structure to get paid while Class A is impaired.

I’m not opposed to incentives if they truly improve recovery, but it should not come ahead of, or at the expense of, impaired Class A capital.

Question: Is this a reasonable position? What would you do?