Private Equity - M&I

While M&I was originally dedicated to investment banking, we started covering private equity from very early on as well – so there are dozens of articles and interviews related to PE here.

The finance industry will never recover its former “glory,” most likely, but at least if you get into private equity you can still laugh at poor bankers shoving their pitch books at you.

Get everything from how to break in, to interview tips and case study templates, and even information on different groups and regions below.

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Growth Equity

Growth Equity: The Child Prodigy of Private Equity and Venture Capital, or an Artifact of Easy Money?

Over the past few decades, growth equity (GE) has gone from an afterthought to a major asset class for huge investment firms. Some argue that GE offers the best of both worlds: the opportunity to fund innovation and growth – as in venture capital – plus the ability to limit downside risk and invest in […]

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Healthcare Private Equity

The Full Guide to Healthcare Private Equity, from Careers to Contradictions

When you hear the words “healthcare private equity,” two thoughts probably come to mind: Wait a minute, isn’t healthcare a risky/growth-oriented sector? Why do PE firms operate there? Don’t they need companies with stable cash flows? In most of the world, healthcare is either government-run or a mixed public/private sector. Are there many private healthcare […]

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Private Equity Regulation

Private Equity Regulation: 2023 Changes and Impact on Finance Careers

Private equity was viewed as a “lightly regulated” industry for a long time. Only wealthy individuals and institutions could invest, so governments cared less about PE firms than commercial banks and brokerages. But that is changing as of 2023, as the U.S. government has become more aggressive about regulating all “private funds” (private equity, hedge […]

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Private Equity in China

Private Equity in China: The Worst of Both Worlds?

As with investment banking in Hong Kong, I can summarize private equity in China in one sentence: “If you’re not Chinese, don’t even think about it, and even if you are Chinese, it’s best if you have great connections within the CCP and want to stay in China long-term.” I could stop this article here […]

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Search Fund Internship

The Search Fund Internship: Perfect Pathway into Investment Banking and Private Equity Roles?

A long time ago, hardly anyone knew about search funds or search fund internships. But over the years, they morphed into a well-known topic and then a commonly derided topic – as many people argue that search fund experience is worthless, while others claim it’s “just as good” as working in banking or private equity. […]

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Technology Private Equity

The Complete Guide to Technology Private Equity

Ever since the 2008 financial crisis, there has been massive hype about both private equity and technology. Seemingly every MBA student wants to get into one of these industries, and when you combine them, the hype tends to multiply. Over the past few decades, technology private equity has gone from “barely existing” to representing the […]

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Sovereign Wealth Funds

Sovereign Wealth Funds: The Full Guide to the Industry, Recruiting, Careers, and Exits

When you ask most people about their “career goals,” they sound something like this: Make a lot of money or gain power/prestige. Take little-to-no risk. And work normal, stable hours. If you’ve read this site before, you know this set of goals is impossible for most finance careers: you take a lot of risk, work […]

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Private Equity Exit Opportunities

Private Equity Exit Opportunities: How to Check Out of Hotel California

Your first thoughts reading this article might be, “Wait a minute, why are ‘private equity exit opportunities’ a topic? Who would ever leave this industry? And what could be better?” Good questions. But despite the hype, people do leave private equity all the time, whether it’s voluntary or forced. So, as with every other career, […]

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How to Start a Private Equity Firm

How to Start a Private Equity Firm – and Why You Probably Shouldn’t

If you search for “how to start a private equity firm” online, you’ll find results that range from useless to tangentially useful to occasional nuggets of real wisdom. That said, much of it is better than the junk found on generic websites about how to start a hedge fund. But the main problem remains the […]

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Private Equity Headhunters

Private Equity Headhunters: Pathway Providers or Unethical Gatekeepers?

You’ll almost always have to deal with private equity headhunters if you want to win offers at mid-sized-to-large private equity firms. Depending on your approach, preparation, and timing, you might get great results – or a collection of interview horror stories. And while you can find plenty of “headhunter lists” online, it’s more difficult to […]

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Private Equity Mega-Funds

Private Equity Mega-Funds: The Best of the Best?

Ask the average student or professional in the finance industry about their long-term career goal, and they’ll usually say, “private equity mega-funds.” Of course, they may not phrase it exactly like that. They might just mention the names of some large firms, such as KKR or Blackstone, and say that they’ve been dreaming about them […]

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Middle Market Private Equity

Middle Market Private Equity: The Most Accessible Exit Opportunity?

It’s challenging to discuss middle market private equity because no one agrees on the precise definition of “middle market.” Does it refer to the size of a PE firm’s most recent fund? The total amount of capital the firm has raised? The average size of its most recent funds? Or does it refer to the […]

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Private Equity Case Study Prompt

The Private Equity Case Study: The Ultimate Guide

The private equity case study is an especially intimidating part of the private equity recruitment process. You’ll get a “case study” in virtually any private equity interview process, whether you’re interviewing at the mega-funds (Blackstone, KKR, Apollo, etc.), middle-market funds, or smaller, startup funds. The difference is that each one gives you a different type […]

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Private Equity Partner

The Private Equity Partner: Is It Good to Be King?

While there’s little information online about mid-level positions in the finance industry, there’s even less information about the top positions, such as Private Equity Partners. One reason is that the people who have these jobs do not spend time writing about them online – unless they retire, get bored, and decide to become e-celebrities. But […]

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Private Equity Principal

The Private Equity Principal: Full Career Guide

Given the constant obsession with private equity, you might expect more articles and online discussions about the long-term career path. For example, what does it take to become a Private Equity Principal or Vice President? What about a Partner or Managing Director? And are the work/life trade-offs required to reach these levels “worth it?” But […]

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London Private Equity

London Private Equity Recruiting: How to Conquer the Process and Win Offers

We’ve previously covered the private equity recruitment process in the U.S. – both the on-cycle and off-cycle versions. The on-cycle version in the U.S. is a fast and fairly insane way to recruit for a job, particularly if you want time to think about the job before you start working. I had never thought about […]

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Private Equity Funds of Funds

The Private Equity Fund of Funds: Compelling Career, or a Dinosaur Awaiting the Meteor?

Everyone reading this site still wants to get into private equity, but related opportunities, such as the private equity fund of funds, are a different story. While they share some elements with traditional private equity firms, funds of funds differ in terms of the job itself, careers, compensation, and exit opportunities. There’s a lot of […]

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Direct Lending

The Full Guide to Direct Lending: Industry, Companies & Careers

Hardly anything in the modern finance industry is truly “new,” but direct lending might come closest. Private debt markets have always existed, but direct lending – a specific subset of private debt – took off in a major way after the 2008 financial crisis. As the large commercial banks stepped away from lending to middle-market […]

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Infrastructure Private Equity

Infrastructure Private Equity: The Definitive Guide

If I put together a list of the longest-running “unfulfilled requests” on this site and BIWS, infrastructure private equity would be near the top of that list. We have published a few interviews about it (along with project finance jobs), but we’ve never released a course on it, for reasons that will become clear in […]

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Private Equity Strategies

Private Equity Strategies: Growth, Buyouts, Credit, Turnarounds, and Toll Roads to Nowhere

When it comes to private equity strategies, everyone usually has the same two questions: “Which one will make me the most money? And how can I break in?” The answer to the first one is: “In the short term, the large, traditional firms that execute leveraged buyouts of companies still tend to pay the most. But […]

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Distressed Private Equity

Distressed Private Equity: The Best Place to Invest When the World is Collapsing?

Whenever a financial crisis, pandemic, war, or other catastrophe strikes, we get many questions about the “safest” sector. After the initial panic, the next question becomes: “Which areas might benefit from the crisis?” We covered restructuring investment banking previously, so now it’s time to look at its second cousin once removed: distressed private equity. But […]

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Private Equity Compensation

Private Equity Salary, Bonus, and Carried Interest Levels: The Full Guide

When it comes to private equity salaries, the first question we usually get is, “How much?” It’s a reasonable place to start, but if you want to make a long-term career in the industry, your follow-up questions should be: What about carried interest (carry)? When does it start, and what’s the vesting period? What if […]

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Private Equity Resumes and Buy-Side Resume Templates

The Private Equity Resume: How to Write Your Way into Interviews and Job Offers at the Mega-Funds

If you’re a long-term reader of this site, you probably never thought that we’d return to the topic of private equity resumes. After all, how much could resumes possibly change over time? Yes, LinkedIn has become ubiquitous, but it’s not as if new technologies have “disrupted” the way you write a resume for finance jobs. […]

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Private Equity Internships

The Private Equity Internship: The Best Steppingstone Role into the Finance Industry?

A long time ago, private equity internships were not “a thing.” A few smaller firms offered them, but you weren’t likely to complete one during university. Everyone focused on the 3rd year investment banking internship since it led directly to a full-time offer if you performed well enough. And that is still true: it is […]

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Private Equity Associate

The Private Equity Associate: Pathway to Glory, or Glorified Monkey?

A long time ago, Private Equity Associate roles were the main pathway into private equity. You’d work in investment banking or management consulting for a few years, interview around, win an offer, and then move onto greener pastures. And you can still do that. It’s just that you don’t necessarily “need” to enter the industry […]

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Private Equity Analyst

Private Equity Analyst Roles: The Best Way to Skip Investment Banking?

A long time ago, Private Equity Analyst positions did not exist. Banks hired the top students out of undergrad for Investment Banking Analyst roles, which was a nice arrangement for private equity firms: let banks recruit the “best and the brightest,” and then swoop in to hire away trained bankers. But then someone in private […]

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Hedge Fund vs Private Equity

Hedge Fund vs Private Equity: Recruiting, Careers and Salaries Compared

The “hedge fund vs private equity” question could refer to many things: Investment vehicles – If you’re wealthy, should you invest in hedge funds or private equity funds? Also, how do they invest, and how do they charge fees? Exit opportunities – If you’re currently in investment banking, sales & trading, or equity research, which […]

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Real Estate Private Equity

Real Estate Private Equity (REPE): The Definitive Guide

After investment banking and private equity, real estate private equity (REPE) generates the most career-related questions for us. The real estate industry varies tremendously based on the firm, location, and strategy – and the differences in compensation, hours, and work styles reflect that. Real estate private equity offers some advantages over the traditional “high finance” […]

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Private Equity Career Path

The Private Equity Career Path: The Complete Guide

When thinking about the private equity career path, our favorite analogy still applies: a fraternity house. Yes, we previously compared the investment banking career path to a frat house, and private equity careers are similar in many ways. But if investment banking is more like a “party/drinking fraternity,” private equity is more like a “business […]

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Leap Forward

Investment Banking vs Private Equity: Should You Start on the Buy-Side?

“All that glitters is not gold.” (The Merchant of Venice, Act II, Sc. 7) One of our most frequent queries is “investment banking vs private equity” – perhaps in second place only to “investment banking vs private equity vs hedge funds.” The key questions are usually: If you have the opportunity, does it make sense […]

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Mezzanine Funds

Mezzanine Funds: Private Equity Lite, or Top-Tier Buy-Side Opportunity?

Few terms in the finance industry cause as much confusion as mezzanine financing and mezzanine funds. Not only can the term “mezzanine” refer to different types of debt (or equity!), but it can also mean slightly different things for normal companies and properties. If you poke around online, you’ll find not only dozens of different […]

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Off Cycle Private Equity Recruiting

Off-Cycle Private Equity Recruiting: How to Win Middle-Market Private Equity Offers

What happens if you don’t follow “the path”? I’ve written many stories about readers who broke into investment banking against all the odds, overcoming non-target schools, low GPAs, and a lack of work experience. But… what next? Even if you succeed the first time around, can you win exit opportunities such as private equity? I […]

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Family Office Private Equity

Family Office Private Equity: The Best Pathway into Finance for Non-Traditional Candidates?

One question seems to come up repeatedly on this site: “Help! I’m a career changer / attended a non-target school / am 35 years old and want to change industries. How do I get into investment banking or private equity?” My normal answer is: “Network a lot and think about other fields that have some […]

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Investment Banking Private Equity Canada

How to Move from Investment Banking to Private Equity in Canada

If you want a buy-side role in Canada, do you have to give up on traditional private equity and join a pension fund instead? No! Despite comments from previous interviewees about how “small” the industry is, buy-side roles do exist. And if you want more hands-on experience, private equity in Canada might just be a […]

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Private Equity Interview

Private Equity Interviews 101: How to Win Offers

Private equity interviews can be challenging, but for most candidates, winning interviews is much tougher than succeeding in those interviews. You do not need to be a math genius or a gifted speaker; you just need to understand the recruiting process and basic arithmetic. Still, there is more to PE interviews than “2 + 2 […]

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Middle Market Private Equity Recruiting

How to Get into Private Equity from a Middle-Market or Boutique Bank

A long time ago, I realized that 98.2% of this site’s readers had the same career goal: Get into private equity. Unfortunately, your chances are quite low unless you’re at a bulge-bracket or elite-boutique bank… in the right group… with the right deal experience… with the right academic credentials… and you start insanely early. But […]

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Consulting to Private Equity

From Consulting to Private Equity: How to Make the Leap

The “consulting to private equity transition”: every consultant’s secret dream goal, right? OK, maybe not everyone’s goal, but “work in private equity” could easily be a goal for a good number of consultants. The only problem is that it is notoriously difficult for consultants to get into the industry. Not only are private equity professionals biased against […]

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Search Fund Jobs

Search Fund Jobs: The Best Way to Run Your Own Business and Work in Private Equity?

Have you ever been completely baffled? It happens to me quite a bit. Despite running this site for a decade, I still come across unfamiliar lingo and terminology. It happened a while back when a reader wrote in to ask what I thought about “search funds.” I had no clue what they were, so I […]

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Private Equity vs. Venture Capital

Private Equity vs. Venture Capital: What’s The Difference?

A long time ago, I wrote an article about private equity vs. venture capital – and many other sites not only copied the ideas, but also took direct quotes without attribution from the article. But the joke is on them: because of this lack of critical thinking, much of their information is now wrong or […]

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Canada Pension Fund Jobs

Pension Funds in Canada: The Best Way to Break into Finance Through the Side Door?

Whenever I publish an article on Canada, it seems to attract controversy. But there’s one thing everyone can agree on: The investment banking industry there is small, and it’s tough to get in even if you attend one of the top universities. But there’s also a nice “Plan B” option: Canadian pension fund jobs. They’re […]

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How to Get Into Private Equity

How to Get Into Private Equity: Step-by-Step Guide

When it comes to tricking people on the Internet, one of the easiest methods is to write about “how to get into private equity.” Not all these articles all bad; some have a few decent tips and tricks. But most guides fail to disclose one important point: Unless you have exactly the right background, it will […]

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Private Equity Recruitment

How to Get into Private Equity from a Bulge Bracket Bank and Conquer the Crazy Recruiting Process

Just how crazy is the private equity recruiting process? If you’re at a bulge bracket or elite boutique in New York, and you want to work at a mega-fund or upper-middle-market fund, “very crazy” is the best response. We’ve covered aspects of the recruiting process before, but we’ve never featured a step-by-step account from a […]

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Buy-Side Resume Walkthrough

How to Walk Through Your Resume in Buy-Side Interviews

What’s the most common mistake in any interview? Not being able to explain why you are interviewing at the company. There’s an obsession with technical questions, but a near-universal ignorance of how to answer the first question in any interview: “Tell me about yourself.” Even though I’m prone to killing people and eating their bodies […]

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Private Equity India

Private Equity in India: The Most Exciting Emerging Market to Invest In?

Hope. The foundation of venture capital. And in some regions, private equity is more like venture capital: raise money from other people, put it into a bunch of companies that have no proven track record of financial results, and then… hope one of them takes over the world. In other places, it’s less about finding […]

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Impact Investing Jobs

Impact Investing: The Real Way to Make Bank and Make a Difference?

We’ve covered a few of those “alternate” paths outside of pure finance roles before – everything from working in the government to starting your own company to working in corporate finance at a normal company. But governments can be corrupt (see: the European Union or the IRS), and even if you start your own company […]

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Private Equity at Pension Funds in Canada

From Big 4 Accounting to Private Equity at a Canadian Pension Fund: A One-Way Ticket to Earning More and Becoming a Deal-Maker?

A few of the previous interviews/articles I’ve done on Canada have attracted… a bit of controversy. By “a bit,” I mean, of course, “lots of violent and hateful comments threatening myself and/or the interviewee.” So the logical thing is to try it one more time. This one’s a bit different from previous interviews, though, because […]

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Aircraft Leasing Jobs

Leveraged Aircraft Leasing: The Best Way to Break Into Finance as an Engineer?

I have a confession to make: years ago when we first started doing interviews on this site, I never once thought about asking for a volunteer to cover “aircraft leasing.” Or, for that matter, Saudi Arabia, Nordic Renewables, and a whole bunch of other topics. But I’m glad that so many readers stepped forward and […]

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South America Private Equity

Private Equity in Latin America: How to Break in as a Foreigner without Speaking a Word of Spanish

Ah, to start from scratch. Just move to an exotic country, start a new life, and launch your new career… simple, right? But then you think about it for a second and realize: You don’t know anyone there. You don’t speak the language. You already have a good job in your home country. And the […]

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Man and question marks

Why Private Equity?

So, you’ve made it through your first few months in banking alive. Your waist is bigger from all those tiramisu desserts, but luckily your bank account has gotten even fatter than your stomach. And your bank account is set to get even fatter in the future – if you can successfully break into private equity. […]

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