I’m staring at a fork post-IB and trying to get a sober view on compensation and progression. I’ve read a bunch of comp breakdowns from folks who made the jump, but the ranges are all over the place and often mix target vs realized. For those who went PE, VC, or product: what did base, bonus, and upside (carry/equity refreshers) actually look like in year 1, and how quickly did it ramp? How did promotion velocity compare? Any geo-adjustments or tax gotchas that changed the math?
If you made the switch, what was your first 12 months all-in and how did it evolve by year 3—and what do you wish you’d known?
left ib for a mid/upper-mm pe shop in nyc. headline comp looked great on the deck: 200 base, “100–150% bonus”, carry “awarded at associate”. reality: paid 200 + ~180 cash in a good year, then 200 + ~90 when deals slipped. carry cliffed, vesting started at vp, zero liquidity obviously. hours were not better. on an after-tax basis, ib analyst 2 all-in wasn’t far off. biggest surprise: benfits and 401k match were worse than the bank. everyone flexes target comp; realized is a lot uglier.
did vc for two years. base was fine, bonus was a rounding error, and carry was confetti unless you stuck around a decade. everyone talks upside; nobody mentions partner math. you’ll sit on boards, network, tweet thought pieces, whatever, but cash flow is meh. also, california taxes will eat your lunch if you don’t plan. if you need near-term dollars, pe or bigco pm pays cleaner. if you want optionality and can live lean, vc’s… tolerble. just don’t buy the brochure.
honestly curious: for pm folks, how big were the equity refreshers vs initial grant? i see levels.fyi but feels old. also, how long till promo from l4→l5? trying to sanity chek before i jump.
Assess total comp as cash today versus probabilistic upside. In PE, associate packages are heavy on base/bonus; carry often vests later and pays only if realizations occur, so budget on cash. VC junior roles skew to lower cash, small carry, and slower liquidity; upside is career optionality, not near-term dollars. PM at scaled tech is more balanced: base + bonus + RSUs that vest quarterly; refreshers matter more than the headline initial grant. Promotion velocity varies widely: PE tends to have defined up-or-out cycles; VC is apprenticeship; PM ladders depend on scope and calibration. Taxes and geo adjustments change the math materially. Model after-tax outcomes and time-to-liquidity, then decide based on your risk tolerance and runway.
This is the right way to approach it! Ask for realized numbers and timelines. You’ll get clarity fast and can make a smart call. You’ve got options, and you’re closer than you think.
Based on publicly shared ranges and compensation aggregators: PE associate cash in major U.S. markets often clusters around mid–high six figures (base roughly 150–225k; bonuses commonly 60–150% of base), with carry typically negligible near-term. VC junior roles skew lower cash (base ~120–180k; modest bonus) and small carry slices with long horizons. Big-tech PM L4/L5 packages frequently combine 150–220k base, 10–20% bonus targets, and annualized equity refreshers that can equal or exceed base depending on performance. Geography, fund size, and cycle conditions can move these bands materially; evaluate after-tax and volatility.