SF HF Roles

I have 1 year of L/S experience (5 years banking / buy side experience), recently departed an SF-based pod. Looking to stay in SF for personal reasons. In conversation with MMs and have had a few intros to SM / LO funds here, and now working on cold outreach with pitches. I have compiled an extensive list of funds here, but can anyone opine on which funds have been doing well, are potentially hiring here, or on any other word of mouth leads? My DMs are open if preferred and happy to share pitches if anyone is curious. Thanks.

19 Comments
 

Unfortunately don’t have anything material to add but would be curious in seeing your list and hearing about your thoughts on the mm / sm space in SF. 

 

There are quite a few multi managers here now, but fewer teams / firm. Woodline and Freestone also stand out. Industry coverage is broad.

SM mix is varied. There's a mix of TMT focused funds and L/S generalists. I've found a few Valiant cubs and grand cubs (emphasis on shorting). Will plan on posting a fulsome list down the line since I'm still having conversations to figure out who's doing well / growing the most.

 

Why do people just spout misinformation here when they don’t know the facts.

Lot of junior turnover. Returns are average to slightly below average. Research quality not the best but you will still learn, not awful like some shops.

 

Sequoia sounds like a checkered history in developing a public equities strategy beyond the core VC capability for which they are well known and regarded.  I hear multiple trys and cycles of hiring/firing the heads and analysts as they have iterated and attempted to build out the SCGE strategy. 2022 was a train wreck for long/short equity performance. 

They own a big network of LP's, but very few sophisticated LP's outside their VC client base is seeking long/short public equity exposure that looks like triple levered QQQ combined with high fee's and lock up's. 

 

tbh the best performing are the pods in SF. notably Cit and P tmt pods and a healthcare one at Cit are prob the best for comp and growth if you are willing to fight for it. P especially has a large net long AI book - turion or smtn run by MS. some SMs that pop up in my mind are Lightspeed, Situational Awareness - if you can even get a seat lmao this doesnt count i guess, valiant is OK, farallon used to be legendary but now its dogshit just like the legacy SMs…

but in general these SMs wouldnt really have capacity. wondering why u left the pod?

 

Thanks. I think fit would be better for me at a SM than another pod but agreed SM seats few and far between. That being said, I'm willing to work to get on the radar in case any roles open up over time. Sent you a DM re: leaving.

 

mind elaborating on why you consider valiant to be just OK and farallon as dogshit? am in similar spot as OP

 
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Among the pod managers: Baly and Point probably have the most PM's in SF at this point. Millennium is leaner at the senior PM level since Getz retired, but they have people all over California and some part of teams out of New York. 

Woodline Partners is the strongest new hedge fund in SF over the last decade. Founders are all ex-Citadel Global Equities. Great track and Sharpe since they started in 2019. Multi-sector fundamental and they've grown to 100+ people.   

Freestone Grove started a bit later. Barker/Morillo are also both former Citadel. More quanty, also multi-sector. Performance must be good as they keep growing headcount. 

Not surprisingly, the SF Bay Area has a number of very good long/short tech funds.  Dorsal Capital, Alta Park, Sora Investors and Park West are worth checking out in this category. Light Street, Sequoia and Seligman also run long/short from Menlo Park in more directional Tiger style funds.  Dream seats for learning and comp as a young analyst if you can get in here. 

 

What sectors is Freestone strongest in? I read they were down this year 

 

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