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Have a few friends and colleagues that have gone this route. Some have loved the change of pace and done extremely well for themselves via equity at exits, some have been miserable and boomeranged with worthless equity.
Not to be obvious, but you want to find a role with a proven team behind it (rest of c-suite and equity backers), a product you believe in, and an existing finance and accounting org and systems that isn’t already f’d beyond repair. The most common complaint I hear is how hard it is to find good talent to support them and how much they miss working with big4 / PA level talent
I think this was a valid path pre covid and I have seen first hand folks who did extremely well with well timed jumps and later equity payout, but most funds are now operating with expensive assets they overpaid for during covid in an adverse environment of high interest rate / stagnant or even contracting multiples, so you need incredible luck as a first time operator to land somewhere that has the potential of life changing exit payout (also remember just because there is exit doesn’t mean you will get paid - need skill and experience to negotiate with sponsors and make sure they don’t screw you over)
Think it’s a no brainer if you think quality of life will be better (especially with the young kids) and comp is essentially the same.
No brainer on the overall move and I agree on your FDD partner path is less intriguing than it used to be. All of FDD is.
What level at Big 4? Good for you, personally I’d take that knowing you can probably move from there fine if you don’t end up liking the particular company
Director
Why is the partner role not as enticing as it once was?
How is it not? All the firms heavily pushing people into non equity MD roles, the AI doom cloud over all professional services, all the firms slowly whittling away the job security and perks that used to come with partnership, the continued commodification of FDD work, pick your poison
I'm not quite as far into my career as you are, but recently left FDD to take an industry role for many of the same reasons (better WLB, uncertainty about future of PA/partner path, etc.). This is just based on my experience, but the WLB improvement has definitely been there. However I would agree with the other commenter about the pace being slower and culture not being as intensely focused on performance.
But the environment is definitely a much better fit if your goal is to spend more time with your family, especially with young kids at home. And if this is for a true CFO role with comp that is attractive to you, it seems like a no brainer to me. Worst case scenario, you hate it and can always go back to Big 4. Top FDD talent has been hard to come by in this market so any reputable firm would welcome you with open arms.