Do I pursue a career in PE or consulting before starting a fund?

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March 29, 2022

by a searcher from Carleton University in Paris, France

I have a background in aerospace engineering, after that started and ran a fishing company. (I know random.) Im in b-school now where I found a passion for finance, specifically PE/Search funds. Do I go into consulting first to gain some experience before transitioning?

What are your thoughts?

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Reply by a searcher
from Durham University in London, UK
Having done both (mid-market PE and consulting at Oliver Wyman) I would recommend doing some time in mid-market PE beforehand if possible. You'll learn how to think like an investor, how to do deals like a pro - including small bolt-ons that are very similar to search fund deals, and you'll often be seconded to portfolio companies on special projects reporting into the CEO / CFO. I've learned so much from PE that I would 100% recommend doing it for even just 1 year before doing your own search fund
I also spent time at Astorg (mega-fund), which wasn't as relevant to search (huge deals, we spent $15MM USD in professional services fees on deals, 20+ people deal teams)... so go for mid-market or lower-mid market PE firms for the search fund learning experience

My consulting experience was fun, but not really relevant to search funds. You'll spend a lot of time on strategy projects for large corporates (large banks, oil firms...) which prepares you well for joining the strategy team at JP Morgan / Shell, but not for M&A or searchfunds. You'll also do a lot of commercial due diligence work which feels very "academic" - you're writing a market report on the market size and porter's 5 forces. Over and over again as these projects only last 2-3 weeks. Consulting is a great career path, but I wouldn't recommend it to learn searchfund skills
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Reply by a searcher
from University of Pennsylvania in Long Island City, Queens, NY, USA
Also agree - you don't necessarily need the PE/Finance background to be a good operator. It sounds like you have most of the tools in the toolkit to get you going and fine-tune a thorough search process. Networking with members in your business school program as well as sites like this one, as well as having targeted discussions with experienced searchers/operators/fund managers should do the trick. The rest will involve taking the chance on an opportunity and climbing the learning curve, but luckily the search fund community seems to be open to assisting new searchers and offering up best practices.
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