The value of moving over to the buyside (from banking or consulting) has heavily deteriorated over the past few years
1/ Investment banking salaries are now on par, if not higher, at a lot of shops vs private equity firms. Every single bank increased salaries during the '21-22 period, but private equity firms did not follow. Base salaries are now lower at the Associate / VP level, even at the top PE shops vs elite boutique IBs
2/ The saving grace in terms of comp for PE used to be carry. Now that the exits and liquidity has slowed down materially vs 2010s, that carry is turning into real cash much slower than expected. There is also just a big question mark around how much of carry will ever become real, especially at underperforming funds
3/ The stress level on the buyside remains much higher vs sellside roles. There is higher scrutiny on investments from LPs, especially for certain verticals like software right now. Fees are starting to compress more because of competition. LPs have started direct investment engines, and co-invest is becoming a much bigger part of the pie at a lot of firms
4/ Fundraising environment slowing down because of poor returns means that existing VPs / Principals might be waiting around a very long time before they see day of light in terms of higher carry % or promotions
5/ A lot of deals done during the 2019-2022 period were done based on peak multiples in terms of valuation. Now those PortCos are coming to roost, and you see a lot of PE firms spending their way working through workouts / turnaround issues, rather than focusing on new investments.
New York City listen to me right now if you're near a convenience store right now, any type of 24-hour store, go into the store right now and put your hand in the cash register for no reason. Their money is your money as of right now