From Wall Street to Main Street: The Former Big-Firm Colleagues Coming Home to Invest

Jake Jatis, Poojan Mehta and Griffin Py could have stayed in the corporate towers of Apollo Global Management, chasing deals worth hundreds of millions. Instead, they packed up their Wall Street dreams and headed south to Raleigh, where they’ve started Person Street Partners with a simple idea: invest where you know the streets by name, not just the spreadsheet numbers.

Their story is part of something bigger happening across the American South, where former Wall Street professionals are leaving big firms to start investment companies with a hometown focus, drawn by lower costs and better quality of life outside the major financial centres.

Coming Home

The three partners spent years working together at Apollo, one of the world’s largest alternative investment managers. Something was missing from the corporate environment though – the connection to the places where their money was actually at work. When they decided to start their own firm, they didn’t look to Manhattan or California. They looked home to the Carolinas.

Their reasoning reflects what many professionals discover when they step away from the intensity of major financial centres. Five former Wall Street traders who made similar moves found not just financial success but personal health and quality of life improvements as strong motivators for making the change.

It’s the same pull that drives people to start businesses from home or choose work that feels more meaningful than prestigious.

Building Something Real

Person Street Partners focuses on industrial spaces and rental housing across Carolina markets including Raleigh, Charlotte, Charleston, the Triad and Greenville-Spartanburg. It’s the kind of investing that affects real communities – the warehouse where someone’s small business operates, the apartment complex where families live.

Rather than competing for the largest possible transactions, firms like Person Street Partners can focus on opportunities that bigger funds might overlook or find too small to bother with.

Wall Street firms are increasingly relocating from New York City to Southern states, bringing nearly $1 trillion in assets with them. This has created space for locally-focused firms to fill gaps left by downsizing or relocating large Wall Street institutions.

The Personal Touch

Regional investment firms have something different – accountability. When you invest in your hometown, you can’t hide behind corporate headquarters thousands of miles away. You see the results of your decisions at the grocery store, at your kids’ school, in your neighbourhood.

This personal stake often means more thoughtful investment decisions. Regional firms tend to take longer-term views because they’re building relationships, not just portfolios.

The approach also benefits investors who prefer working with managers they can actually meet face-to-face. While giant funds offer scale and resources, smaller regional firms can provide more personalised service and direct communication.

Redefining Success

The story of Person Street Partners reflects broader questions about what professional success looks like beyond the traditional metrics of Wall Street. For Jatis, Mehta and Py, success isn’t just about the size of their fund or the number of deals they close – it’s about building something sustainable in a place they care about.

Their journey from Apollo to Person Street Partners represents a choice that many professionals are making: trading the prestige and pressure of major financial centres for the opportunity to create something more personally meaningful. Just like finding clarity in career decisions, sometimes the best investment you can make is in the place you call home.

The firm’s commitment to serving both investors and communities ‘for decades to come’ suggests they’re thinking beyond typical Wall Street timeframes. They’re building for the long haul, with roots that run deeper than quarterly earnings reports.

For anyone considering leaving high-pressure finance careers for more meaningful work, the Person Street Partners story offers encouragement. Sometimes the path forward isn’t about climbing higher in the corporate hierarchy – it’s about finding your way back to what matters most.