"The Pulse" -- #115 / Democratization of Private Equity?

Recruiting Timeline:

Banking:

Where We’re At:

• SA 2027: No new updates here—won’t see anything here until September

• SA 2026: U.S. Bank, District Capital Advisors, and Regions Bank all opened apps this week. 114 firms are recruiting for SA 2026

• FT 2026: Lazard, Jefferies, Barclays, and more opened their apps. 31 firms are actively recruiting for FT 2026  

• If you need some interview support or just need a place to vent, check out our Coaching Program: Coaching for banking, consulting, and buyside recruiting | The Pulse. 95%+ of those coached for the summer 2025 recruiting season received offers!

New SA 2026 Applications:

• U.S. Bank: Large bank, small IB presence (SA 2026)

• District Capital Advisors: Boutique M&A (SA 2026)

• Regions Bank: Small IB team (SA 2026)

New FT 2026 Applications:

• Lazard: Premier French boutique (FT 2026)

• Jefferies: Largest MM bank (FT 2026)

• Barclays: U.K.-based BB (FT 2026)

• Evercore: Premier boutique IB (FT 2026)

• Nomura: Large Japanese bank (FT 2026)

See below to gain access to our premium database, updated weekly, which houses the application processes for over 300+ banks/consulting/buyside firms! Gain an edge over everyone else by not having to spend countless hours tracking applications and deadlines.

Consulting:

Where We’re At:

• EY Parthenon, Kearney, Altman Solon, Edgeworth Economics, and Bates White released apps this week. These are top-tier, name-brand firms, so get those apps in!

SA 2026 released apps:

• EY Parthenon - Summer Corporate Finance Associate (SA 2026)

• EY - Consulting Intern (SA 2026)

• Altman Solon - Summer Analyst (SA 2026)

• Kearney - Business Analyst Intern (SA 2026)

• Bates White - Summer Consultant (SA 2026)

• Simon-Kuchar - Summer Analyst (SA 2026)

FT 2026 released apps:

• Altman Solon - Analyst (FT 2026)

  

Buyside:

Where We’re At:

• SA 2026: Hines opened app this week. Currently, 121 buyside firms are recruiting for SA 2026 seats 

New SA 2026 released apps:

• Hines: RE Investing (SA 2026)

The database is updated weekly and contains 300+ Investment Banking and Consulting internships/full-time positions along with:

• Interview tips for specific companies

• Interview prep material

• Applications and deadlines linked so that you can apply with one click

• Insider information about the application process

• Professionals to network with

• Buyside deadlines, interview prep, and people to network with for the sweatiest of students

We send the updated dataset every week with the latest banking and consulting job postings. We released our 115th update today.

Students we have been helping have already landed roles at Blackstone, Goldman, J.P. Morgan, Jefferies, Citi, and Solomon.

To get access to the database and the weekly updates, you make a one-time investment of $65 Credit Card / Debit Card: (ThePulsePrep—Stripe.com) that grants you annual access to the updated database (please reach out for additional payment options). If you don’t find our services helpful, we simply ask for feedback on an area we can improve upon and will refund your $65.

This is a small investment for a huge payout when you secure your dream offer!

Premium Database——>Database for banking, consulting and buyside roles | The Pulse 

Market Update: 

Democratization of Private Equity

In the past, we’ve discussed how companies are staying private for much longer than they used to. There are many reasons for this, a few of which are: easy access to private capital, control, costs, and volatility.

Money is way easier to get without going public. Thanks to venture capital, private equity, and even mega-rounds from hedge funds, startups can raise billions without the headache of dealing with public investors. Stripe, SpaceX, and Epic Games have all raised massive amounts without tapping into the public markets.

Control is another big factor. Once you’re public, you’ve got to answer to thousands of shareholders, quarterly earnings calls, and the pressure to hit short-term numbers. Staying private means founders and early teams can focus on long-term goals without Wall Street breathing down their necks.

Also, going public is expensive. Not only are there legal fees and banker commissions, but you’re also opening your books to the world, which means competitors and Wall Street analysts can pour over every detail of your business.

Lastly, markets are volatile. IPOing in a bad market can tank your valuation and your brand. Private funding gives companies more flexibility to choose their timing.

Companies remaining public for longer have implications for everyday investors who can’t invest in private markets. Decades ago, retail investors could buy Apple at $150mm; today, we won’t even be able to buy into OpenAI at $500bn. This means every day investors are missing out on the highest growth companies— types of businesses which would have been investible 10 years ago.

Last week, Trump signed an executive order that allows retirement plans like 401(k)s to include non-traditional investments such as private equity, real estate, hedge funds, and cryptocurrencies. This is honestly a pretty big win for your average Joe because it opens up previously exclusive asset classes, potentially enhancing portfolio diversification and long-term returns.

We still don’t have much clarity on how the process will actually work, but investors would likely own these private assets through specialized funds rather than direct allocations. An example would be a professionally managed fund with a target date so that retail investors at different ages could invest in private assets that align with their investment horizon. These funds would definitely be more expensive than your typical ETF.

I think that overall, this is a net positive, but owning private assets does pose risks. These investments are usually locked up for years, can be pricey with high fees, and you don’t always know exactly what they’re worth because valuations aren’t public. They can also swing wildly in performance, and if they tank, you can’t just bail out like with stocks.

It will be interesting to see how this new policy is actually implemented.

Disclosure: Nothing written here is financial advice or should be used for investment decisions.

What is Carried Interest

One of the reasons for being on the buyside and managing money on behalf of others is the (often large) compensation structure. Asset managers (PE, HF, real estate, VC, etc.) typically have a 2 and 20 fee structure, meaning that they get 2% of AUM/committed capital and 20% of the fund’s profits.

The 20% is called carried interest. Carry is a great incentive and aligns the interests of managers with those of their investors. Carry rewards strong fund performance by allocating a portion of excess returns back to the managers.

It’s not a salary and it’s not guaranteed. It’s a cut of the profits, typically around 20%.

It works like this: investors, called “limited partners” (LPs), put up most of the money. The people running the fund, called “general partners” (GPs), invest some of their cash too, but their main contribution is the expertise, deal sourcing, and day-to-day management of investments.

The LPs want the GPs to care just as much about making the investments succeed as they do, so instead of only paying them a flat annual fee, they give them the chance to share in the upside.

At the end of the day, carry exists because it’s all about incentives. If fund managers only got a flat fee, they might be more focused on raising bigger and bigger funds instead of actually delivering strong returns. Carry makes them think like owners in that they only win big if the investors win big. It also encourages them to take smart risks, since the potential payoff for them is directly tied to performance.

There’s some controversy around it, especially in the U.S., because carried interest is often taxed as a long-term capital gain, which has a lower rate than regular income. Critics say this gives wealthy fund managers an unfair tax break; defenders say it’s fair because carry is earned by taking investment risks, not just collecting a paycheck.

Going Forward:

Recruiting for Buyside Associate Roles?

Peep our Buyside Associate Recruiting Platform: Buyside Recruiting & Interview Prep Platform | The Pulse

15+ Real Models / Case Studies with solutions + a database of jobs directly from headhunters. The Pulse gives IB analysts the access needed, plus the modeling prep to stand out.

Please reach out to us with any questions about recruiting or if you’re interested in meeting the team! ([email protected])

We are happy to chat, review resumes, or help set up a coaching session.

Learn from this investor’s $100m mistake

In 2010, a Grammy-winning artist passed on investing $200K in an emerging real estate disruptor. That stake could be worth $100+ million today.

One year later, another real estate disruptor, Zillow, went public. This time, everyday investors had regrets, missing pre-IPO gains.

Now, a new real estate innovator, Pacaso – founded by a former Zillow exec – is disrupting a $1.3T market. And unlike the others, you can invest in Pacaso as a private company.

Pacaso’s co-ownership model has generated $1B+ in luxury home sales and service fees, earned $110M+ in gross profits to date, and received backing from the same VCs behind Uber, Venmo, and eBay. They even reserved the Nasdaq ticker PCSO.

Invest for $2.90/Share

_{Paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com. Reserving a ticker symbol is not a guarantee that the company will go public. Listing on the NASDAQ is subject to approvals.}

Check us out on LinkedIn (The Pulse) and Instagram (ThePulse)

Proudly Produced,

The Pulse

“The Pulse” #115