Do you have what it takes?
I just read a great quote by Jim Rogers, of Adventure Capitalist fame, and thought you may find it somewhat motivating (or de-motivating, depending on your situation):
“If you ask a thousand people if they want to be rich, every one except the poet and the mystic will say yes. When you explain what is needed to become rich, maybe 600 of that initial 998 will say, ‘No problem, I can do that.’ But when push comes to shove, when they have to sacrifice everything else in their lives—having a spouse and children, a social life, possibly a spiritual life, maybe every pleasure—to meet their goal, almost all of them, too, will fall away. Only about six of the original thousand will continue on the hard path.”
The Private Equiteer Mindset
Private equiteers are a rare breed. They operate in the shadows, behind the cloak of confidentiality agreements and limited partner disclosures. They’re the confidantes of founders, the architects of buyouts, and the stewards of capital that most people will never see.
What separates a private equiteer from other finance professionals? It’s not just the technical skills—though those are table stakes. It’s a particular mindset:
- Independent thinking: The ability to see through convention and find the truth beneath
- Comfort with ambiguity: Deals are never black and white; nuance is everything
- Long-term orientation: Unlike traders, we measure success in years, not days
- Operational bent: We care about the business, not just the spreadsheet
The Sacrifice
Rogers wasn’t exaggerating about the sacrifice. The private equity path demands:
Time: 70-80 hour weeks are standard during live deals. The due diligence period is particularly brutal—weeks of intense analysis with little sleep.
Social life: Cancelled dinners, missed birthdays, postponed vacations. When a deal is live, it consumes everything.
Uncertainty: For every deal that closes, five fall apart. You can spend months on something that dies in the final hour.
The Reward
So why do it? For those six who make it through, the rewards are substantial:
- Meaningful ownership in real businesses
- The satisfaction of building something lasting
- Financial rewards that compound over time
- A network of founders, operators, and investors
- The intellectual challenge of solving complex problems
Confidantes, Not Conquistadors
There’s a popular misconception that private equiteers are corporate raiders—slash-and-burn artists who strip companies for parts. The reality is more nuanced.
Good private equiteers are confidantes. They’re invited into businesses at moments of transition, trusted with sensitive information, and asked to help navigate uncertain waters. That relationship requires trust, integrity, and genuine care for the business’s success.
Yes, we’re investors seeking returns. But the best returns come from businesses that thrive, not from those that are stripped and abandoned.
Do You Have What It Takes?
The private equity path isn’t for everyone. It requires a peculiar combination of analytical rigor, emotional resilience, and interpersonal skill. You need to be comfortable with numbers but also comfortable with people.
Most importantly, you need to genuinely enjoy the work—the analysis, the negotiation, the problem-solving, the relationship-building. If you’re in it only for the money, you’ll burn out long before the money arrives.
For those who do have what it takes, there’s no other career quite like it.
Related
Explore more: How to Get Into Private Equity and PE Compensation.