There is an ultra-marathon race in the mountains of Tennessee that is considered to be one of the most challenging 100-mile races in the world.  Its founder and course designer changes the 20 mile loop each year so that racers in the Barkley Marathon must navigate their way five times up and down over 60,000 feet of steep elevation.  More than 1,000 top ultra-athletes have attempted this race but only 17 have successfully finished as of 2023.  Racers describe being lost, tired, cold, and disorientated as the ongoing themes of this two-and-a-half-day race.  While completing the race is the goal, the totality of the experience leaves the runner knowing more about who they are and what they can accomplish.

A career in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) can be a little bit like this. At the start of your career, the late nights seem doable and the learning curve can be steep but rewarding.  The first several years of your career end up feeling like a sprint. Over the decades the late nights take a little more out of you.  You might switch things up and move from the sell-side to the buy-side, or work in financial due diligence (FDD) then try corporate development. Some of your closest friends from those late nights will go on to raise funds or make MD.  Others will leave the industry all together.  At each stop the learning curve remains steep but experience helps flatten it out more quickly.  Within a few short years, you learn you can do more than you previously thought and your ability to contribute to teams grows. 

The path taken over the decades is not clearly mapped. Taking that promotion or migrating to a new firm is a lot like trying to navigate the Barkley Marathon route in the dark after 40 hours of running.  Limited visibility and the true payoff of your decisions are unknown.  The trick some racers claim is mental fortitude, luck, and your ability to simply adapt to new conditions. These have been many of the same traits M&A professionals claim in shaping successful and long lasting careers.

The next several posts will provide some insights into career paths and skills needed to navigate that multi decade climb.  Keep coming back in the coming weeks to learn more.