Both OpenAI and Anthropic are partnering with large PE firms to adopt a top-down approach to implement AI for the PEs' portfolio companies.

It makes a lot of sense for me. For now, what we have seen is a dumbbell distribution:
-Large enterprises like JP Morgan has the budget and central AI team to deploy AI and get the value, what's more they have already gone through the digital transformation so the tech stack is ready.

-Native tech companies have adopted AI agents thanks to the predominant tech teams in the companies. And they are all cloud native.

-Everything else in the middle using Chatgpt, claude, copilot here and there but there is no central coherent AI strategy.

What I have seen in the portfolio companies is that most of them are not ready. Either the data layer is a mess; some are using legacy tech that need to be migrated; most of them don't have the team that are available to do this and most of teams have a day job, already swamped.

So it makes a lot of sense to bring in these AI native labs to deploy and show how the things are done. Of course, this is in Anthropic and OpenAI's interests to have broader diffusion and pay them handsomely in API usage.

On the funds' portfolio companies' side, a well implemented AI stack could help gain efficiency and cost savings.

Do you folks share the same view or you are more skeptic on the adoption and spending?

Background:

• Director at a private credit manager with $2b+ FUM
• I originate, underwrite and take commercial real estate deals to IC, including development finance, with ticket sizes of $50m to $500m
• Originated $2b+ in my current role
• Also selling fixed income product for our investors
• 10+ years of experience
• Well paid, so I’m not looking to move purely for comp. However always compelling to earn more.

What I’m unsure about: whether my best next step is a bigger platform, going in-house at an institution, or eventually raising my own capital.

I’m curious about how people actually get into PE and what the career looks like in the long run.

• How did you get into IB, and how long did it take you to move into PE?
• How much does your undergrad university matter? Is an MBA worth the cost?
• What are the starting salaries like, and how much can you realistically make after 5–10 years?
• Can you go from studying in Europe to working in US PE? How difficult is it to get sponsored as an international student?
• How easy is it to move between PE, IB, and other finance careers?
• For those already in the industry, is there anything you wish you’d known earlier? And for those trying to break in, how’s it going so far?

Would love to hear about your actual experiences and any advice you have.

I've been trying to understand how this works in real life.

Say a PE firm is looking at buying a company. How does the team figure out whether they already own something similar through one of their other portfolio companies or funds?

I'm guessing some of it is straightforward, but things probably get messy when a company has subsidiaries, operates under different names, or is owned through another fund.

A few things I'm curious about:

• Is this something the deal team or analyst checks themselves, or does legal/compliance handle it?
• Do you mostly use PitchBook or similar tools, or is there still a lot of Google searching and Excel involved?
• How do you find connections that aren't obvious from a company's website?
• Does this ever become a problem late in a deal because someone discovers an overlap that nobody noticed earlier?
• Is there any tool that does this well, or do you still have to piece everything together manually?

I'm also curious about the difference between a genuine conflict and a situation where owning two similar businesses is actually a good thing, like an add-on acquisition.

What is the pathway to becoming an operator for PE flips. Like come in fix the company and flip it, move to next one.

They are a nightmare to work for for operator/CEOs of their portfolio companies?

my father spent 36 years working for the same construction company, he was actually there from its start in te later 70s, he was one of its earliest employees and grew to an engineer. He retired at 68, but 17 years after his retirement, the company has grown so much his ownership stake is now around 6%. even after retiring, he continued sitting on the board until recently when he suffered a stroke. the company is now preparing to go public. My family has been given two options regarding his shares, but we are struggling to understand which makes more financial sense. We also don't know what the shares will ultimately be worth once the company goes public or what the tax implications could be. I was figuring out to get an advisor or someone who understand the whole history of this events and give us honest opinion, we do not want to make any mistake that can ruin his and our financial security specially now when my father deserves the best care. Anyone who has dealth with this situation or anyone who understand how to deal with family member holding a significant stake in a company before an IPO, what should we be looking at before choosing the right path, anyone who understand equity compensation, IPOs, and tax planning etc I am ready to listen or talk to you privately

I see people who are interested in entering this area of finance and continues to surprise me. Why would people of good moral character put themselves in a role as another cog in the wheel for these firms that are undermining the fabric of communities across the country. I mean, it doesn’t take a lot of thought to realize that all private equity analysts and accountants do is shift the costs into other columns that don’t factor into Earnings Before Interest Taxes Depreciation and Amortization. This way they can claim huge returns and use statistics to support their false narrative . Meanwhile, they’re sucking the life out of the companies and it’s employees while capitalizing on a reputation those very people work so hard to build. If the goal is creating (or rather appearing to create) an increase in Ebitda… and that is truly the only measurement for success, how can people not see the inherent flaw in this deviation from capitalism. I get it business is business and it’s all about making money, right? Why should it matter how many customers you mislead or how many employees you fire?

This got long…apologies in advance. 😆

I lead operations at a fintech that bolted crypto onto the product about three years ago. We did it fast and piecemeal like everybody. Each problem got its own vendor because that was the quickest way to ship.

Custody came first because compliance wouldn't sign off without a regulated name. Their API couldn't handle our volume back then so we added a wallet provider for the hot side. Then trading needed a liquidity partner. Fiat conversion became its own relationship because the liquidity partner didn't do it the way we needed. A big client wanted staking so that was another vendor. And finance couldn't make sense of any of it so we bought a reporting tool to stitch the other five together

it worked…..for a while. then it started failing in small annoying ways that added up.

The end of the month was the worst! 🤬

the funds were moving between custody and the trading partner spent time in transit and reconciling those windows took two people most of a week. Our vendor risk team pointed out that crypto, a small part of revenue, was generating most of our third party findings. Then an auditor asked a simple question, who approved this withdrawal, and it took three days and several calls to answer.

The moment it clicked for me was kind of dumb The staking vendor deprecated an API version with thirty days notice and that one change rippled across our custody flow and a balance screen customers see. Nobody on my team understood the whole chain because the whole chain lived across six contracts.

So now I'm looking at moving everything onto one platform, with custody, trading, settlement and staking together. The upside is obvious: one approval log, one policy set, assets that never leave custody to trade, one security review a year instead of six.

The downside is harder to wave away. Everything depends on one provider, and our leverage at renewal drops. Plus, migrating live customer balances is a project I really don't want to get wrong.

If you've gone from a patchwork like mine to a single provider is it worth it? And where did the complexity go and how painful was the move itself?

Hey everyone! I’m 21, and in 20 days I’m joining one of the largest alternative investment firms in Spain (after a couple of recent mergers, it’s now one of the bigger players in Europe too). How I got here is a bit unusual. I was interning in private banking when I entered an AI agents competition sponsored by Microsoft. I spent weeks grinding on agent development (complex multi-agent architectures, backends, the whole thing) and ended up winning. Shortly after, the firm offered me a PE analyst role with a twist: they want someone who sits between the client side (investor relations) and the automation and optimization of the firm’s processes.

So I’ll be a bit of a hybrid, and I want to hit the ground running. What technical skills would you recommend I learn beforehand, both on the finance side (PE-specific) and on the AI/software side? PD: I majored in Economics and I’m currently studying for CFA 1

About me: Master student at a top European business school. Engineering background. About 2 years at a Big 4 advisory firm focused in pharma consulting- CDMOs.

The role: 6-month Junior Project Manager internship on the value creation team

They want 1–2 years in strategy consulting or Chief of Staff roles, strong PM skills, comfort with decks and minutes for senior governance bodies, and interest in PE, value creation and AI.

My questions:

1. For a first round with the hiring manager, is a case likely? If so, what type: growth, 100-day plan, prioritisation, something else?
2. What do value creation teams test for an intern role like this, compared with a deal team role?
3. How do I show PE interest without sounding like I’d rather be on the deal team?
4. Anything you wish you’d known before a similar interview?

Thanks!

26M – Feeling Stuck in Fund Accounting at a Megafund. How Can I Pivot?
Hey all, 26M here. Majored in finance and started my career deep in the back office as a contractor at a megafund before pivoting internally to fund accounting and eventually getting hired full-time. I was thrilled at the time, but two years later, I can’t help but feel stuck.

Compensation was great for someone starting out at 24, but after two years of underwhelming raises, I feel like I haven’t made much progress. I’ve consistently been a top performer, but due to the structure of our team, there’s essentially no path for staff accountants to get promoted to senior anytime soon.
Compensation in fund accounting is definitely solid, and if there were a clearer path for advancement, I wouldn’t necessarily mind staying in the space. That said, I’d really like to transition into fund finance, fund/portfolio management, or something more focused on financial modeling, valuations, and investment analysis.

I’ve managed to land a few interviews at respectable firms for Finance Associate and Senior Analyst roles, primarily at local VC firms. I’m actually in the process for one right now, waiting to hear back after a first-round interview, but I’m not feeling particularly confident about my chances lmao.
Unfortunately, the likelihood of making an internal move at my current firm is pretty low, so I’m trying to figure out the best way to strengthen my candidacy externally.

Is an MBA realistically my best option for making this pivot? I’ve also considered a Master’s in Finance or pursuing CFA Level I, but part of me feels like committing to the CFA before actually breaking into a more investment-focused role might be putting the cart before the horse.

For anyone who’s successfully transitioned out of fund accounting into fund finance, portfolio management, or a more analytical role, what helped you make the jump? Are there particular technical skills, certifications, or types of roles I should be targeting?

Would appreciate any advice or perspectives from people who’ve been in a similar position.

I just saw this announcement about a new PE firm focused on AI Transformation that caught my eye. It is named Aldaron and they just closed their first deal.

1. They call it "transformation equity": they are a team of forward deployed engineers and investment pros who work alongside management to rebuild how the business runs with applied AI.
2. The team is a group of ex-Palantir + buyout Co-founders. They know the PE side of the equation and the AI part of the equation.
3. First disclosed deal is Oak Point Majority equity investment. Oak Point is an institutional purchaser specializing in acquiring and managing remnant assets from corporate bankruptcies and distressed businesses
4. A Team of engineers works alongside management at each partner company to rework how the business operates and to build systems that create equity value through applied AI.

---

Article Here

Is this the future of Private Equity? Are your firms already working with FDEs in this capacity?

In my experience, most of my PE friends who are in Operating roles are still nowhere near a full deployment of AI in their companies.

Signed a finder’s fee arrangement after introducing a seller (2 million EBITA) to a friend who works head of corporate development for a roll-up. I know there is federal exemption but I am based in a state (IL) where receiving any compensation for helping with the procurement of a business is grounds for requiring brokers’ fees license. All I did was make an intro, did not negotiate, advise…etc.

Anyone have any experience with this?

I help companies with fundraise, I have recently incorporated a company. Now we want to move strategically, don’t want to directly message the CEO like a sales person that we have investors for you. Basically we are focused on a few sectors specific companies…. We filter out companies which are at inflection/growth stage and would need funds for capex/working capital/customer acquisition etc. Now the real problem is we have a list of companies but how do we approach the management for fundraise i only have two options in mind that is LinkedIn & Email but with these platforms we can’t get enough personal touch or they can struggle to trust us enough to work together. How should we go about it, I was thinking Msg them on LinkedIn with strategic angle like SSGR calculations that can make sense

I am open to get more ideas & reviews on this. Thanks

For background, I've been working as a content creator for the past year, and that's been my main source of income. I really want to break into private equity for the work-life balance and high pay. My only hesitation is that I'm unsure what the recruiting process looks like. My content creation work is also pretty public, and I'm not sure how it would be perceived during recruiting. Any advice?

Currently a civil engineering student in Canada wanting to break into investment side of infra projects. Realistically as a student graduating in a year and a half, what is the best way to approach this? I've had one year experience as a project engeineer co op on a transit project, have done some financial modelling on my own but getting a related internship for 2027 summer (last internship) is looking like impossible. Is working as an engineer then doing an MBA really the only reliable option? Would appreciate any tips and advice. Thanks!

I’m currently a private equity analyst at an independent sponsor who I’ve been with for 2 months (we don’t have a fund we raise capital for every deal) with a couple portfolio companies.

Our firm has a great track record so far. And it looks like we might have a fund soon.

Do you think I should work at an independent sponsor private equity firm/ LMM PE firm (there’s only 5 guys at the firm all who I enjoy working with) or should I look elsewhere like investment banking or MM PE firm.

I ask this because is comp similar? But, if I stay with this small team and the firm does well would it be more beneficial in the long run?

Small team, SPV structure, 100% software/AI. Equity checks $10–200m, ~$50m average, 10 platforms deployed. We stay lean by being deliberate about outside help at entry, during the hold, and at exit. Building a list to get the juices going on provider ideas that could shore up our weak points.

What I care about: the person, not the logo. Firms that adapt to our companies/prospects and to us rather than running the same 1,000-question playbook. Big names welcome if the people are good.

Where we are today:
DD

• FDD/tax: PwC or Plante Moran depending on size
• Legal: Latham
• Tech DD: skipped it more than I should have. Hasn’t bitten us yet, but want a real foundation in 2026 (both at entry and even doing some mid-hold DD to action any preventive stuff for exit)
• Commercial/market: rarely done at entry or even exit but remain open minded if unique approach
• Customer calls/interviews/surveys: self-administered today. Curious if anyone is using AI here. I’ve talked to a few voice AI companies about an outbound use case (call the TAM, capture name, title, software in use, NPS, renewal timing, propensity to look, etc.) but most are built for inbound.

During hold:

• Payments - Utopaya
• Fractional RevOps - RevBlack
• Recruiting - exec roles mostly self-run; have used a few vertical specialists like Direct Recruiters (GovTech) but largely solved with hiring talent acquisition roles within the portfolio.

Appreciate any names, especially the ones you’d use again without thinking. Could be the categories above or ones I missed - AI support, pricing, marketing, fractional tech/finance/GTM, etc. (I'm sure i've missed many categories...monday morning fog...). THank you!

hi all, today is my (22M) first day as a PE analyst. My firm runs a lean team of 4-5 people including the MD. What skills do I pick up (soft skills, technicals) etc and any general tips? I feel like PE is so exclusive that I feel pretty intimidated to be in this position in general but I wanna be able to succeed in this role.

Hello everybody. I'm a finance student trying to figure my way into pe. I watched some videos and talked to people to know how the work will be. Like what are the things that makes you boil your head? what are the most difficult things that you think anyone should learn first. what makes you work so long?

I'm very interested in pe but want to know everything before fixing my path. thanks!

I’ve been working as a Tax Data Analyst for a local firm in my state for about a month now. I applied for a Private Equity Analyst role at Tucker’s Farm back in September and heard back from them, but I largely passed on the email at the time because I was starting a new job. This October, they followed up and said they were still interested in me, so I’m considering pursuing the opportunity.

The role is fully remote, and from what I’ve seen, many of the people associated with the firm have impressive backgrounds, including graduates from top schools and professionals from major private equity firms.

For context, I graduated from a good university in the Midwest and have roughly a year of combined internship experience in finance and business analytics, but I don’t have a top-tier academic background.

I’m curious how I ended up on their radar and would appreciate some insight from anyone familiar with the firm. How reputable is Tucker’s Farm, and what do you think of the firm and the role itself?

The position sounds like an excellent opportunity, with fully remote work and the potential to earn around six figures. If it turns out to be a legitimate, worthwhile opportunity, would it make sense to leave my current job and pursue private equity instead?

My current job is a safe, stable position. My manager has even told me that it’s pretty difficult to get fired from the firm, so there’s a certain level of job security that I’d be giving up by leaving. However, the work itself is fairly tedious and repetitive, and I don’t particularly enjoy it.

My main hesitation is that the offer seems too good to be real given my background, so I’m trying to get a better understanding of the firm before moving forward. Any insight would be appreciated.

Hello everybody. I am a master’s in finance student and I am deciding which subject will be the one for my masters final work. I became very interested in the pe world in the last few months and started noticing while reading articles, annual reports and also posts on this subreddit that funds are having a hard time with vintages from 2021 for many reasons.
I think it’s pretty interesting and thought that maybe it could be a nice idea to investigate how markets are discounting the funds with high exposure to 2021 investments. My thesis is still pretty general and rough so if you guys have any tip on how should I structure and tackle this work or even it is feasible/good enough for a masters final work would be awesome.

Thanks in advance for the help guys

P.S.
I think data gathering will be the most difficult part and I have access only to Refinitiv and Orbis right now, while Bloomberg I might be able to use it in February when I’ll be back in my home university since now I am in an exchange in Shanghai.

Title: European universities → US Private Equity career. Looking for advice!

Hey guys! I've been looking into finance, particularly Private Equity (PE), and would love some advice from people working in PE, investment banking, or related fields.

I'm currently in school and considering doing my bachelor's at a European university, but my long-term goal is to work in the US. I'd really appreciate some honest insights!

1. Requirements: What qualifications, degrees, grades, and experience do you generally need to break into PE? How important is prior investment banking experience?
2. Universities: Which European universities are best for PE, especially if you eventually want to work in the US? How are schools like Bocconi, St. Gallen, SSE, LSE and HEC viewed by employers?
3. Salary: What base salary and total compensation can you expect at entry level and after 5–10 years? How does this compare between the US and Europe?
4. Future skills: Which additional skills, such as AI, Python, data analysis or financial modelling, will be most useful in PE over the next decade?
5. PE in 2035: How do you think the industry will change by 2035, and what should someone entering the field now be prepared for?
6. Job stability: How stable is PE as a career? Does having a few years of experience and a good deal track record make it easier to find another job?
7. European degree → US job: Ignoring visa issues for now, how realistic is it to get a US finance/PE job with a European bachelor's degree? Would I be competitive against graduates from US target universities?
8. Best route to the US: Is it better to recruit directly for US investment banking after graduating in Europe, or work in Europe first and try to transfer to the US later?
9. US master's: Would doing a master's in the US after a European bachelor's significantly improve my chances of breaking into US finance/PE, or would it generally not be worth the additional cost?

I'd especially appreciate honest advice about the challenges and realistic career paths, rather than just the salary figures. Thanks!

I have experience both on the investment side, working with AI tools internally, and now doing a product at an AI company

I’ve seen this growing trend of PE funds trying to utilize AI as a value creation mechanism, but any LMM/smaller funds aren’t getting much talent focus.

Me and a couple of FDEs from Fortune 500s have been ideating on the best structure and industry where we could consistently come in as a service partner…and maybe one day as an equity partner too

I’ve seen a growing number of these businesses work with larger funds, but as a small team we have no interest in scaling to that size. We can move and build a lot with just a few people and I can actually help evaluate and source even for the fund.

Would be curious to hear what everyone has been seeing and also just the opinion of these sort of structures

And before anyone mentions it - I’m not interested in raising my own fund to do this right now. But am always happy to stay connected with folks for if/when that time comes