Jon Moulton also considers private equity careers to be overrated
Following on from last week's article on the exaggerated pleasures of working in private equity, Jon Moulton, one of the industry's highest profile practitioners in the UK, has confirmed that working in PE is not as exciting as is generally thought - if you're at a large fund.
"Private equity jobs are overrated in the larger firms. The lack of deal activity means it can be rather dull and analytical with a deal happening every couple of years for an individual," Moulton tells us.
"Are they well paid? Yes. Are the prospects great? No. They're decent, but not great," he adds.
By comparison, Moulton says jobs at small PE firms offer, "variety of activity and responsibility, even for juniors."
"You're not one of 20 doing a single deal every year or two," he says.
Moulton's lack of enthusiasm for large funds may be related to the fact that he has recently launched Better Capital, a comparatively small fund. Nor is it entirely surprising, given his claim a couple of years ago that executives at large PE funds were both well paid and indolent.
Nevertheless, Moulton doesn't rule out a move to a large PE fund entirely: "Is private equity better than being a junior investment banker? Most things are better than being a junior investment banker, so from that point of view it's to be recommended."
