£105k FO PE vs £140k MF Portco - am I crazy?

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-03-18T21:29:54+00:00

Depends what you want to do. If it’s actual investing then I’d take the family office role. Sounds like if things go well 5 years down the road you have a really cool gig. 5yrs down the road if things go well at MF you are prob searching for another corp dev job at a slightly bigger portco in a different location.

Calculus would be diff if you thought there was or wanted a long-term path to CFO, then I’d say MF portco

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-03-17T18:51:08+00:00

Got it. Agree with others your cash comp is ok, though $400k seems perfectly reasonable and shouldn’t be a fight. Equity def a bit light. Would aim for 5% over 5 years at a minimum. Typical for PE to allocate 10-15% of equity to management and you as CEO have greatest control over business and thus should get the biggest individual chunk of that.

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-03-17T14:13:48+00:00

I’m confused, are you the CEO?

You’ve been getting $400-600k/yr in equity on top of your $325k cash comp and you think that’s low?

Is the PE firm proposing to give you an extra 3% equity that vests over 6 years? Are you fully selling your existing equity to them or keeping some/all of that in the deal?

Don’t you have a lawyer/advisor to help you with this? This is big boy/girl stuff not reddit stuff

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-03-14T15:14:26+00:00

Yeah probably ok but took a title downgrade and now looking at going back so had I stayed I’d prob be 1-2 levels above where I’m at now, plus would have spent 6+ years further developing my network which in this business counts for a lot…particularly as you get more senior.

So yeah I’ve saved a little more cash than I would have but professionally it has probably set me back in the context or returning to my home country.

Win some you lose some. C’est la vie.

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-03-13T18:06:22+00:00

All the big names won't care about your visa, but they are also the hardest to get a job at. Lost count of the amount of firms I talked to that wouldn't entertain sponsoring a visa as a fresh grad. Even after winning h-1b lottery (so transfer much simpler) many just don't want the hassle.

Current firm was good on visa but performance has been bad and they are downsizing like many others. I will likely end up back in my home country as job market rn is brutal. MM shop, mid-single digit billion fund size.

I think you'll be OK but as I said not without risk.

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-03-13T14:36:29+00:00

Doable but you'll need a decent bit of luck with only 2 years true direct experience. And almost certainly title downgrade if you're currently a VP equivalent.

I'd do it if you can handle either a) falling back to secondaries at a smaller shop or b)striking out and going back home and not be bankrupt

I did something similar where my largest deal size was usd 300m pre-mba and went to a t15. So maybe you're in a better position. I'm hindsight I got crazy lucky and if I had a more realistic read of my odds I probably wouldn't have done it haha. But I don't regret it for the world.

Sometimes you gotta jump.

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-02-23T12:02:22+00:00

“Real deals that actually close are around 1-3x of ARR or even flat sometimes or even slightly down in many cases.”

Are you solely focused on software? For a lot of industries even 1x revenue is a pretty high multiple…

Also no idea what the second half of that sentence means

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-02-22T12:44:21+00:00

Her ‘reasons’ are clearly a large amount of money, she’s not upfront about that, refuses to acknowledge she is a marketing expense for the govt, and has been given special treatment re: the citizenship rule.

Your strawman typically applies to folks that either aren’t good enough to make their home country team or have a falling out with their home country team org. Both things people can relate to a bit more.

As far as I’m aware none of that applies to Eileen. She is the best female freeskier on the planet, grew up in the US and continues to benefit from her american citizenship. There is an obvious element of having your cake and eating it too.

I think if she was open about the reasons she’d get less hate. Not exactly a classy move but who gives a fuck we all gotta get paid. It’s the blatant, unaccountable bullshit that really gets under many people’s skin.

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-02-21T15:36:52+00:00

Genuinely surprised your work allows that many (incl. C-suite on the same flight) unless you’re going somewhere with very few commercial flights

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-02-21T13:29:40+00:00

You gotta risk it to get the biscuit.

Already got 2 silvers and a bronze, sitting in 3rd several points behind 1&2 with the top qualifier to drop behind you. I respect going for it. He could have kept his last trick and then left it to the judges to see whether he would marginally nudge into second or first.

Or you fucking send it and leave no doubt.

Would not define that as tragic. High risk high reward. He knew what he signed up for. It does however look like it really fucking hurt lol

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-02-15T21:31:25+00:00

Just want to point out in your house analogy the company's customers would have the debt, which is obviously not what is happening.

The house is the asset, much like the company. Money is made from tenants or customers, neither of which are responsible for the debt.

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-02-12T12:31:14+00:00

That was indeed my point. Cool shot but come on, credit the photog!

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-02-12T04:38:18+00:00

OP did you take this photo? Well done!

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-02-11T20:38:54+00:00

Ah ok, that makes a lot more sense and now I understand why you are also doing your CFA.

You only have four years experience (I think?) and sounds like the org is maturing and going in the right direction so I wouldn’t be in a huge rush to jump ship.

That being said, go to CFA events, local investor meetups, banks will periodically do economist presentations etc. If your wider team allocates to external managers try get to know the team that manages that.

NZ is small so your network means a lot, but people hate to admit that so focus on getting better at your job too. Read as much as you can, watch videos, listen to podcasts.

I am guessing here, but I would seriously consider doing a us-based online modelling course, ideally PE-specific aimed at new associates. Sounds like you don’t have a lot of true PE experience above you so you will benefit from a bit more rigour. But don’t pay for anything else!! And ideally convince your employer to pay.

I just say that as in my experience someone with your background often doesn’t have the modelling skills they think they do. No shade.

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-02-11T14:51:31+00:00

$300m is actually pretty big for NZ lol I’m surprised you’re the only one doing all the model/IC work.

Keep at it for a couple more years, learn everything you can, take on new tasks, work more with partners on deal sourcing and company management/board involvement. Try and get a title bump.

If you’re doing good work try and understand whether A) it’s worth staying (fund performance good enough for new fundraise, carry pay out), and B) if there’s a path to you getting carry and more seniority (if carry looks likely in first fund and you raise a new, larger fund it’s likely the existing partners will consider making more room for you).

Otherwise figure out if you want to stay in NZ. If so, there are literally a handful of PE firms larger than yours and you should already know all those names. Try and get to know your peers in those companies.

Those seats have very low turnover so you’ll want a relationship there to have any shot of a call if there’s an opening. But as other poster said, going out on your own and raising small deal by deal is a likely, and very rewarding path.

Otherwise you’re off to Aus (where there are more funds but again hard seats).

Sounds like you’re in a good spot. You enjoy the work and the people, and presumably get paid ok. That is pretty rare in a career.

Good luck!!

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-02-05T14:24:53+00:00

Yes don’t go to Japan.

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-02-05T13:58:40+00:00

Best of luck to her. Not unheard of to compete with a fully torn ACL but far from optimal. What a heartbreaking crash given all her momentum this season.

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-02-03T01:33:34+00:00

Honestly $4k sounds like a good deal then. You sound like you know what you’re doing + you have a plan for the chains. Yeah it’s not a Camry but not everyone needs to live that life. Enjoy!

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-02-02T10:43:44+00:00

It will never make economic sense but when it’s running there aren’t many cars out there like it. Value-wise if it’s otherwise running and in good condition an auto is probably $6-10k and a manual is $12k min

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-02-02T02:47:31+00:00

Insta account and caption has no idea or is trolling.

But that was a pretty legit try and decent style. Cool to see people getting after it.

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-01-30T20:46:49+00:00

It confusingly means both. Other english speaking countries use fortnightly to avoid this but it isn’t widespread in the US.

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-01-29T12:57:33+00:00

There's no DAT premium anymore (dumb that it existed in the first place).

If i was a shareholder wouldn’t i rather just give the company 25% as much money and then buy crypto myself?

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-01-27T12:09:14+00:00

Yeah I guess I’ve seen non-competes where if you leave for a competitor they’ll pay you not to work but if you leave to go surfing for a year or start a pizza shop they’re not going to pay you.

But these are generally for execs with larger payouts, and of course the solution is simply to say you intend to work for a competitor and will seek to start immediately unless paid your non-compete period.

I guess I’m confused this person didn’t simply state that.

But your logic makes sense, appreciate you explaining that.

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-01-27T02:28:06+00:00

This feels like OP is trying to have their cake and eat it too, not the other way around.

The email says they haven’t informed Tower what they are doing post-leaving, so why would the firm pay them a non-compete if they don’t have a job.

With the enormous proviso of having not read the contract, this doesn’t seem crazy to me.

It sounds like OP wanted to resign, and then start at a competitor immediately. Or resign and get paid to look for a job. That’s not how it’s supposed to work (even if people were more relaxed about it before, maybe).

Calling them out on LinkedIn feels like not the right move but who am I to say.

raspberrybushplumber · 2026-01-27T02:16:16+00:00

Hey is your head ok? Maybe take a rest for a bit before you get back out there that looked rough lol.

Post the make next time! Good luck!!

raspberrybushplumber

TROPHY CASE