Working as an intern before launching a search?
July 10, 2020
by a searcher from Southern Methodist University - Edwin L. Cox School of Business in Sarasota, FL, USA
As I continue to work through all the different options to launch my search, I wonder if anyone has experience in adding in one rotation as an intern for another active search to their timeline of their own launch?
As in, I plan to launch a search of May 2021, so I leave my current job 2 or three months prior to work as an unpaid intern for an active search. It seems like the chance to have a "warmup" if you will, before starting the "real thing" would be invaluable and probably make the first few months of your own search much more efficient and productive.
Just wondering if anyone has actually gone this route or plans to?
(caveat that I am speaking for someone with no PE or banking background)
from Southern Methodist University in Sarasota, FL, USA
Joshua - I guess the openness that everyone has had in the SF community made me not even consider the access into another search's deal flow as a concern for whatever search I would intern for. I also think that I would be looking for deals much smaller than a traditional, funded partner search would need, so if anything, deals that peaked my personal interest would be their "scraps". It is definitely something for me to keep in mind though, as a possible sticking point while interning.
I actually did a "mini-search" for businesses in my area that would meet the criteria for a business I would buy (size-wise, revenue wise, etc), and have spent the past two years working in those companies, in management roles. Based on this experience (and all my military time), I am extremely comfortable with the operations and management side of running a small business. The internship for me would be to get knowledgeable on the PE side of the business (where it seems a majority of searchers are coming from), as all my financial and modeling knowledge to this point is strictly from my MBA program.
In a perfect world, I would go work for a small PE firm that specialized in lower end deals for a year or two, but I do not have the background, education, or network to land a job like that (even though I would be willing to work for well below the industry average for the experience trade off).
from The University of Texas at Austin in Fort Worth, TX, USA
Per your other question about finding a partner, this will help validate if you can think you can handle the search process yourself (I'm sure you can). The partner is arguably more important in the operation phase, and you could just hire a COO or whatever is needed during or post acquisition. There are a lot searchers and former searchers in DFW so you're in a good ecosystem.