Fundraiser John Kim (Kimmer) explains why private equity general partners frequently hire IR heads based on image and background rather than fundraising skill.
0:00 / 0:05exact quote · 5.9s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“GPs tend to put in that position the person they want other people to think they are before they meet them.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading:
filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard
(the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from John Kim (Kimmer)
Insight
Kim: PE IR hiring is broken, prioritizing external personas over actual skills
“The whole industry is upside down. People aren't looking for skills, they're looking for personas. If you have a great persona that actually fits, you'll get the job even though you have no experience.”
John Kim (Kimmer)May 25, 2026▶ 59:44Fundraising Mastery: The Tao of Kimmer – John Kim (EP.503)
AssertionNot checkable as stated
Kim: Junior IR professionals out-earn deal peers; IR partners earn less
“So what's kind of interesting is that the younger you are in their career, actually the more money you make relative to your peers because the younger professional gets to do some of the selling. Occasionally actually gets to advise the GP because you're trave…”
John Kim (Kimmer)May 25, 2026▶ 1:02:33Fundraising Mastery: The Tao of Kimmer – John Kim (EP.503)
Insight
Kim: LP fundraising meetings are auditions to match a preconceived persona
“You need to know what you're auditioning for. Because it's not a sales pitch. It's not an interview. It's an audition. The idea that you're walking in, they know what they think they're looking for.”
John Kim (Kimmer)May 25, 2026▶ 44:53Fundraising Mastery: The Tao of Kimmer – John Kim (EP.503)
Insight
Kim: IR professionals should receive equal pay to investment deal counterparts
“If you're a vice president, you should get paid like a vice president. When I'm looking at the vice president, we're equal. If I'm in the Navy and you're in the Army and we're the same rank, we should be paid the same. You're doing something very different tha…”
John Kim (Kimmer)May 25, 2026▶ 1:03:44Fundraising Mastery: The Tao of Kimmer – John Kim (EP.503)
Insight
Kim: Treating IR as second-class citizens breeds victimhood and industry dystopia
“The whole idea of ego deprivation, of walking around being a second-class citizen in a job, that creates a dystopia. That creates a victimhood for a lot of people in the industry. If I actually think about the A thing that people complain about most in the job…”
John Kim (Kimmer)May 25, 2026▶ 1:04:43Fundraising Mastery: The Tao of Kimmer – John Kim (EP.503)
Insight
Kim: Sales requires initiating positivity first despite uncertain reciprocation
“At the same time, you will never know if the person is going to react positively, so you have no choice but to be positive and go first.”
John Kim (Kimmer)May 25, 2026▶ 13:17Fundraising Mastery: The Tao of Kimmer – John Kim (EP.503)
Made with StarZero
Turn any episode into a week of clips.
This entire site, over 700 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable,
runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the
moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.
We use essential cookies to make the site work. With your permission we
also use analytics cookies (Google Analytics and Mixpanel) to understand
usage and improve StarZero. See our Cookie Policy.