Hi all,
Posting for a friend: What is the culture / work environment and career progression at Golden Gate Capital compared to other MM PE firms? How would you rank its performance (and reputation) relative to other top MM firms -- places like H&F, Advent, FFL, Berkshire, New Mountain Capital, etc?
| +74 | Ex Apollo Associate Q&A (But I Actually Answer) | 114 | 19m | |
| +56 | Q&A - Anything about PE / MBA / Life | 63 | 3s | |
| +45 | How to Model SaaS Projections for Interviews | 49 | 1d | |
| +37 | [Technical doubt]: Cash sweep and mandatory amortization | 10 | 7s | |
| +23 | European Megafunds (based on PEI 2023) | 17 | 2d | |
| +22 | Partners Group Long Term | 8 | 1d | |
| +22 | Is internal reporting at most funds really so Excel & PPT heavy still? | 8 | 10h | |
| +18 | How much thematic work / industry research do you guys do? | 0 | 2h | |
| +18 | How is your life in PE? | 12 | 2h | |
| +18 | Advent NYC Culture/WLB - 2024 update | 9 | 2h |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
Golden Gate has a great reputation and is well known to be a very consulting friendly-shop (usually better culture) - similar to the PE firms you listed above excluding FFL which is a bit smaller in size. Don't know them in detail though.
Also, note that Advent, Berkshire and NMC are only in New York and/or Boston (US only; Advent is very international); Golden Gate and FFL are only in SF and HF is in NY/SF/Ldn.
To contradict the poster above a bit, it definitely has more of a sweatshop culture. Career progression, however, appears pretty good. They seem to boast about a culture that cuts under-performing senior folk so that more junior folk can get promoted...can be a breath of fresh air in the industry.
Of the companies you've listed, H&F is by and far the best. I wouldn't even really consider them an upper MM fund anymore; it's definitely a smaller MF. In terms of reputation, I'd say:
Hope this helps!
HF raised $11bn a year and a half ago. That's hardly small...
Yes, but the pace at which they've raised has been slower relative to the megafunds we all think of immediately upon hearing the term, and further, they haven't diversified away from their core buyout strategy into business lines like minority growth equity, mezzanine, or other credit strategies.
In that light then, yes, he was accurate to call it a "smaller" megafund.
Can someone comment on how Madison Dearborn and GTCR compare to the above firms. Obviously, location is different, but more focused on reputation, success, and culture. Both of these firms seem to have a decent amount of VPs that used to be associates (same appears to be true at Berkshire).
While the firms are similar in terms of reputation and prestige, MDB has a generalist model for the associate program, whereas GTCR hires associates specifically for their different industry strategies (FS&T, HC, TMT, GBS). GTCR hires fewer associates on to become VPs, but they also have a stellar track record of placing associates into top business schools after the three year program is complete.
I've heard really mixed things about culture at Golden Gate, primarily being that there is a lot of in-fighting for share of the capital pool between teams.
All the firms are great...it's foolish to try to rank them given their returns are all top quartile. H&F is known to be a complete sweat shop but great pay. Golden Gate culture is considered to be pretty rough these days and it has impacted recruiting a bit as result (though stellar rep given track record)
Agree with the comment above. One more data point - I recently talked to a friend who works at Advent. He loves it - in his view Advent has among the best cultures / best work-life balance, at least for Associates.
One thing to keep in mind is that culture and work-life balance is highly dependent on group, especially for the larger firms. Also, people tend to dramatically over or understate the number of hours they work, depending on the message they're trying to get across :-)
Any updates on Golden Gate?
Bump - any updates on culture for Golden Gate (and whether it varies by vertical)?
Can't speak to specific verticals but know someone there who told me he gets worked to the bone. He said folks are generally nice/constructive but that there's a lot of internal pressures driving some workflows and that lulls in the action are few and far between.
This aligns somewhat with what a coworker I have who came from GGC said. Specifically, he didn't love how they look at everything - i.e., every process that comes their way is getting at least an initial scrubbing and there isn't a high bar needed to pursue a deal (for better or worse, some of their winners historically were due to situational creativity). This is all second hand and this second part is a couple years old, so if things have changed or others have better context hopefully they will chime in.
Tempore qui quisquam omnis sed odio labore voluptas. Illum veritatis assumenda qui et. Repudiandae dignissimos aliquid voluptatibus tenetur odit.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...