Why private equity?

I want to move to private equity because I want to be an owner of the businesses I work on, not only an advisor. In banking, my work ends when the deal closes. In private equity that's where the work starts, and you live with the result for years. On the deals I've worked on, the part I've enjoyed most is understanding what drives the business. I like that the job combines investing and operations. You have to form a view on whether a company is a good investment at a given price, and then work with management to make the plan happen. I think my background fits as well. I've built LBO and merger models, worked through diligence, and seen how a sale process runs from the seller's side.

I want to move to private equity because I want to be an owner of the businesses I work on, not only an advisor. In banking, my work ends when the deal closes. In private equity that's where the work starts, and you live with the result for years. The deal that made this clear for me was a sell-side I worked on last year for a family-owned packaging company. The part I enjoyed most was working out what really drove the business, like which customers were profitable and where prices could go up. Then it sold to a sponsor, and I never found out whether any of that turned out to be right. I like that the job combines investing and operations. You have to form a view on whether a company is a good investment at a given price, and then work with management to make the plan happen. That means thinking about the debt, the downside and the exit from day one, which is a different question from what a company could sell for. I think my background fits as well. I've built LBO and merger models, worked through diligence, and seen how a sale process runs from the seller's side. What I'd need to build is investment judgment, and I'd like to learn that at a firm that gives junior people real exposure to its portfolio companies. So it's the ownership, the longer time horizon and the mix of investing and operating work. Those are the things I've found myself wanting more of in banking.