Corp Dev Guy

I’ve been asked about this and have wanted to make a more general post about my career path for awhile and what it’s looked like. Yes, getting out of PE and into more of a corp dev role was primarily a lifestyle decision as my wife and I had our first baby some months ago. My career path has been very atypical for someone in the M&A industry. I (non-metaphorically or sarcastically) grew up in a middle class home - dad was blue collar and mom in the medical field. I had no idea what I was doing coming out of HS but knew that I liked learning about the stock market and had a few HS classes that helped me build a passion for business / finance. I went to a small school in a rural town and majored in finance and accounting - thought I wanted to be a financial advisor. There are a few M&A shops in my city - a few PE and a few IBs but I really didn’t know about that industry until I got involved in my school’s finance club. Ended up getting an internship with one of the independent sponsor PE shops near me, worked during school and landed a full time offer there post-undergrad. I thought it was the coolest thing ever and loved being part of those deals. However, there were some clear culture / pay issues which I overlooked for awhile but those issues made it clear to me that I didn’t want to be there forever. I was about 3 years into my career when my wife and I got married, then got pregnant (unexpectedly). It was a shock. After a few sour deals and some long weeks/months with lots of travel, I decided I wasn’t going to do this type of career with a family; just didn’t want to do that to my wife. I ended up landing a role that was a near ideal move for me - Corp dev (not M&A focused), local to us, gave me a slight bump in base salary. The biggest winner, though, is that it allows me to log off at 5/5:30 every day. Could I have grinded it out in my prior role and worked my way up to continue getting carry on deals? Yes. Could I have found a different PE shop with better comp and bigger deals? Yes. Could I have gone the reverse route and switched to IB for better comp and sell side experience? Yes. Instead, I chose to go to a really fast growing business nearby and get solid experience on the corp side for good comp in our LCOL area while I give my wife more time at home to be present with her and our baby. My prior role wasn’t crazy demanding in terms of the overall M&A space - I had the occasional 40 hour weeks and the occasional 80 hour weeks so I was averaging about 60. Most would say that’s not that bad. I agree - but the unpredictability of the firm made things difficult, and I was raised in a family where no matter what was going on, we sat down for dinner together every night. I was not interested in letting a job jeopardize that. The biggest career lesson or advice that I can give someone is to not place your whole identity in your career. I’m still very early in my career and excited about my professional development and where I will end up, but most importantly I’m so blessed to be a Christian, a husband, and a father and I consider those to be my most important titles. Your career should be a tool that you use to carry out your purpose or goals in life; it’s a means, not an end. It’s in this way that you will find true purpose and fulfillment for yourself.

@EAndkhoy The solution you are looking for is a BACKDOOR ROTH IRA

@valuedassociate Please let me know if you find out. I’m already manifesting, or whatever that means.

Is there a way to auto block every single financial advisor / guru on LinkedIn I can’t take it anymore

@lilsketch Dwayne

gun pointed at yo head, name a rock

Blowouts you say?

(2/2) Your wife signed up to be your teammate in life. She did not sign up to be your trophy so you can flex to people online about how much money you make & hate on other guys. Much respect to wives out there who stand by their husbands for their work ethic, not their pockets

Don’t be like this guy 👇 Big fan of wives staying home with kids, my wife does and we need more of it in society overall But no need to be shaming people that can’t make it work for whatever reason. You have no idea what circumstances exist (1/2)

No, we can not get this over to you by EOD. We are on stolen land

😂

This is a reminder that no one is above the law. Am I doing this right

The uncomfortable truth in this situation is that this shooting seems like it was justified, but wholly unnecessary and shouldn’t have happened. 1) It is justified in the sense that the officers very obviously had probable cause to believe their lives were in danger. They heard a gun go off right next to them while dealing with a protester who is resisting them. 2) It was wholly unnecessary because the guy was unarmed and the gun going off seemed to be an accident. They were not actually in danger. Events like this make people uncomfortable because there is no perfect “this was right” or “this was wrong” verdict that it fits into. Instead, it is “this was not right, but it also was not wrong.” The situation in Minneapolis is pure chaos. Even the most well trained agents are going to have incidents happen that the left will smear. Yes, we need to train ICE better to make them fully equipped to handle this situation, but even more so, we need to have the wherewithal to understand public outrage is going to happen no matter how perfect ICE acts. The left is causing chaos by design. They are purposely orchestrating this. Look beyond the emotions and outrage, and stand on biblical truth and facts. Yes, call out government when they’re acting badly. Hold them accountable to a standard of righteousness, but also stop allowing yourself to be manipulated by a compelling narrative. Fixing lawlessness is going to be messy. It’s like training a three year old to stop having tantrums after they’ve been allowed to do it for so long. The process is really hard and your heartstrings are tugged on by their tears. But if you stand strong, the tantrums will pass, and peace, respect for law, and order will be on the other side.

@GovTimWalz Politics aside this type of posting is extremely dangerous

Damn proud of Minnesota.

@PEoperator Congrats! Wife and I have been thinking about a lake house down the road. Nice to know the downsides which people rarely talk about

Yesterday we closed on the sale of our lake house. It was a decent financial outcome but unexpected story. Weddings, parties, taxes and The Hunting Wives are all involved. We had it for two years. Our original idea was to AirBnB it and then use it ourselves when we wanted. What happened was different. First, AirBnB is a ton of work. I don’t know what we were thinking. Just the day to day of responding to messages is a pain. Second, we never got to use it because we have a bunch of kid stuff on the weekends. Third, when we did use it, there was some punch list to do which made us dread going. Fourth, we thought we’d use it more because it was close to our house but we actually use it less. When you’re only 30 min from home, you just go home. Fifth, once or twice there was some crisis- people had a wedding there and something went wrong, a party got out of control, something broke. Anyway, the financial returns were ok. They shake out to a 20% IRR. We’ll return ~1.2x our cash at the sale (after taxes) and were able to do some tax optimization work that helped too. Interestingly, The Hunting Wives- a popular Netflix show I’ve never seen - was going to film there but the driveway ended up being too narrow. But the moral of the story is this: do not buy an AirBnB. It’s a pain and the juice is very likely not worth the squeeze. Much much easier ways to make money.

Congrats, now your daughter is flying through the windshield

@Lupraccan I guess assuming that this doesn’t include developers / builders

@Lupraccan How long could that go on for though? If they are net sellers of homes then how long until they no longer own any more homes to sell?

Is anybody opposed to Trump’s announcement on homes? Seems like a very positive law to implement but curious if there are ways this might have unintended consequences or drawbacks

Life when you realize that family and friends will make you happier than any amount of money or a prestigious job

Funny that people living in the highest possible cost of living areas are constantly on about “affordability”

@cjhazard @moseskagan You’ve never felt the touch of a woman

@moseskagan @valuedassociate Honor? I wish someone would honor me for deciding not to have a job 😂

Wife officially resigned from her job to become a full time SAHM. Very tough to name another career moment that tops this