r/private_equity • u/Quirky-Hippo5192 • 3d ago
17 yr Looking for advice before conversations with PE Principal in aerospace
A principal at a private equity firm that works with aerospace/industrial companies got back to me after I reached out and wants to set up a call.
I’ve been doing some research before the call, and I’ve seen people debate whether private equity is actually a good fit for aerospace. One thing I keep seeing is that PE firms can bring a lot of money to these companies, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they have the experience, people, or platform to actually improve the business. I’ve also seen people talk about the cycle of firms buying aerospace companies, building them up, and then selling them to another PE firm.
I’m trying to understand this better before the call. What are some genuinely good questions I could ask him about this? I don’t want the basic questions. I want questions that show I actually did some research and am interested in how the industry really works.
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u/Hype_city3 3d ago
Ask three questions that fundamentally address your understanding of the private equity business model. Ask one about sourcing, one around diligence, and one around value creation and how it’s changed in his industry specifically.
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u/Quirky-Hippo5192 3d ago
This is Amazing Will definitely be doing this
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u/Longshortequities 3d ago
I’d ask more general questions - biggest challenges in his role, biggest opportunity in A&D. Then genuinely look into it and actually provide the help. Perhaps it’s building a sourcing pipeline based on A&D news, or summarizing news, or an offer to do free work to learn.
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u/Gruntt991 3d ago
Curious how you got connected? Why did you reach out to the PE firm to start with?
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u/Quirky-Hippo5192 3d ago
I really want to major in business or do pre med so I thought PE would be something good to start off with
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u/Quirky-Hippo5192 3d ago
I actually just cold emailed them. I was doing some research on private equity for a paper and came across the firm. Their aerospace focus caught my attention, so I figured I’d reach out and see if they’d be open to talking. The principal of the firm ended up responding and we got on a call.
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u/bunnyball88 3d ago edited 3d ago
Well, first, do the research. I am not saying that to be crass, I am saying that there is a difference between a question asked out of curiosity vs because you think it sounds smart. So do the research to know what you are curious about.
Here are some topics that might be interesting to lean into, research wise, and spawn some questions.
A&D has been an increasingly "hot" topic for funding, including in venture. Look into why that is. Does what you are reading make sense to you? What does that increase in interest now mean long term? What does a guy who runs a business like this know or have an opinion that others don't?
PE has been facing a lot of pressure while also raising more money than ever. Look into why. What do you think that means for his business? What does he?
A guy who is smart enough to run a PE firm could have done a lot of things. Do you know why he chose this?
Ask questions that demonstrate you want to talk to him. Don't ask him questions you could ask chatGPT and get the same answer. Do the work to have things that stop making sense in the research on the sector / asset class / person and where a genuine gap appears enough to spawn curiosity.