On this episode, Kaushik is joined by Sahil, Technology Private Equity Investor at Warburg Pincus, one of the largest private equity funds in the world. Prior to Warburg, Sahil was a Management Consulting Analyst at Boston Consulting Group and graduated from University of California, Berkeley.

1:15 - At Berkeley, was very confused about what he wanted to do with his career

2:30 - Interned in Investment Banking, but chose Consulting over Banking full-time

3:20 - Working at BCG, the “happiest place to work in the world”; First project in Bangkok

4:25 - Investing was the ultimate career path he wanted to end up in; interviewed and got the PE offer with Warburg

5:20 - Warburg’s technology investing business; wear the hat of VC investor, growth investor and late-stage investor

6:00 - Sourcing: As an associate, responsible for building own book, meeting with CEOs and execs

6:55 - Transaction Execution: Traditional PE role

7:20 - Portfolio Company Management: Real operational experience

9:30 - Thinking like an investor and what he looks for as an investor: over-indexing on business quality, moats around business, stickiness, unit economics

10:55 - Trends he’s following the most in technology as an investor

13:50 - Banking vs. Consulting route into Private Equity; What skills consulting taught him and what it didn’t

17:00 - What was his recruiting process like?

18:50 - What you would tell your college self? Take combination of more data classes and out of the box classes

21:30 - Working in Consulting as an Analyst; build a network of strong people who do cool things, diversity of experiences in consulting vs. more homogenous in banking, solving problems you don’t even know existed

25:20 - Caution people to steer clear of online forums (written by people who don’t really know) and rather listen to young professionals; Lots of noise in recruiting process find people who you can trust

27:00 - How to deal with competitive nature of recruiting, rejection and feeling inadequate at times: (1) Don’t think about where you are at 22, think about where you want to be at 30, 35, 40; (2) Define your own path and measure yourself on that path

30:00 - Defining success and impact over your career

32:50 - Rapid-fire questions:
Favorite things to read on a daily / weekly basis
1 year from now, market up 10% / flat / down 10%
Books that have left an impression on you
What makes you more likely to respond to people’s emails
Worst Interview Experience
Best Advice for the next generation

#careers #privateequity #wallstreet #business #undergrad #college #jobs #work #success #managementconsulting #consulting #education #recruiting #investing #technology #growth

Elevate with Sahil: Technology Private Equity Investor at Warburg Pincus, Consultant at BCG

Elite Finance with Kaushik: Private Equity, Venture Capital, Hedge Fund, Investment Banking Careers