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Everything You Need to Know About a Career in Private Equity

Finding yourself at a crossroads in your career, whether you are just finishing school or whether you are a seasoned worker, is a daunting and exciting experience. For those with a background in finance, in particular, there are a few coveted career paths that stand out more than others. Private equity is a field which contains many of those coveted paths, which is why learning everything there is to know about the field can help.

What is Private Equity?

For those unfamiliar with the field, private equity refers to investment partnerships where a firm buys and manages a company for a period of time before eventually selling it. A private equity firm is responsible for operating these investment funds over time and aiming to ensure profitability. Oftentimes, people consider private equity to be the same exact thing as venture capital despite the fact that there is a key distinction: private equity firms typically invest in mature companies whereas venture capital exists in the world of start-ups.

Private Equity vs. Public Equity

While fewer people may have heard of private equity, a larger portion may have heard of public equity. This type of equity refers to when a company goes public through an initial public offering (IPO) where an underwriter sets the price of the stock and it starts to trade on public markets. Private equity only deals with companies that have not gone public yet, which is the biggest difference.

How to Secure a Career in Private Equity

Those who are interested in pursuing a career in private equity will certainly want to know how to go about this, as it isn’t easy by any means. Generally, securing a career in private equity requires earning at least an MBA or a master’s degree in finance, as well as multiple years as a consultant in a similar role. However, those who are on the younger side and coming out of school have a chance at being hired right out of the gate if they have a degree in business.

The Career Trajectory of Someone in Private Equity

Finding the best career in private equity can be a challenge due to the fact that private equity is a large field, with openings across healthcare private equity, financial private equity, technological private equity, and more. However, regardless of the specific career path a person is considering, there are four main pieces to the trajectory:

Private Equity Analyst

First and foremost, a person will become a private equity analyst when they are just starting out in their career, which is why this position is most often filled by younger individuals. An analyst tends to handle the research and analysis on potential investments within the industry, including both industry and market analysis. This leads them into making recommendations to clients about whether or not investing in an opportunity is a good idea.

Private Equity Associate

Serving as the next step up after being a private equity analyst, a private equity associate takes on more responsibility. An associate is responsible for conducting industry and market research as well, but they also help maintain relationships with fund managers while also analysing potentially investment opportunities on behalf of clients.

Private Equity VP

Once a person has become established in the private equity world within their career, they can eventually proceed to becoming a vice president. Utilising the data gathered by analysts and associates, a private equity vice president helps to oversee deals and agreements while managing the overall investment strategy and daily operations. This is the first management level role that a person in private equity will likely handle.

Private Equity Director or Principal

Finally, after enough years of experience, a person can progress to becoming a private equity director or principal in their chose field of private equity. In this role, a person will spend the majority of their time focused on sourcing deals or fundraising and are often the point of contract when new people are introduced to the firm.

Begin an Exciting New Career Today

While a career in private equity may not be the right choice for everyone, and certainly will not be an easy field to break into, it can be quite lucrative. For those who are interested in the path, research further into the field to expand upon what you have learned above. Start a new career as soon as possible so that you know whether or not private equity is actually the right path for you to consider.

Everything You Need to Launch Your Design Company

When it comes to business, there are always going to be things that you need to do in order to get started. When you’re considering launching your own company, this can feel quite off-putting at times. Maybe you’re looking to go from an in-house designer to launching your own business, but you’re not really sure where to start. And because of that, maybe you’re even talking yourself out of getting started. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You may find that all you have to do is work out what steps you need to take and get things underway. If this is a dream of yours and you have the drive to make it happen, read on for what you need to do next.

Why Go into Design?

So first off, let’s take a look at why you should do this. Maybe you’re a graphic designer that wants to be able to do things your own way and work with the kind of clients that you like the most. Maybe you’re a product designer that wants to challenge yourself and has a wealth of ideas that you want to bring to life. Either way, no matter what kind of design you do, launching your own company will allow you to have creative free reign and earn the money you deserve too.

Launching a Company

To start with, you need to make sure that you get your company underway. This is going to involve registering your company, signing up for your taxes, creating branding, and creating a website to showcase what you do too. Having this in place is the best starting point to allow you to begin.

Getting Set Up

So the next thing that you’re going to want to focus on is exactly what you need to create your products and services. This could be as simple as having a design studio to work from, along with arts and design supplies, or you may need a workshop, meeting rooms, and to procure different services, like those of GSC, to get your designs created. It’s essential that you have the different tools in place to help you start designing and getting things underway.

Creating a Brand

Another thing that you might want to do early on is to create some branding. As a designer and creative, this may come second nature to you. But no matter what kind of work you do or what industry you’re in, you’ll find that building a brand will help you to look professional from the start and to attract the right customers too.

Getting Your Work Noticed

And finally, you need to get your work noticed in order for people to start paying you too. So think about the various ways you can showcase your business. From marketing on social media to going to events and shows, make sure that you’re relentless in getting your name out there so that you can start generating paying custom.