Evercore Menlo Tech vs. Moelis LA vs. Lazard SF Tech vs. JPM NY

Going to tech-focused MF PE in a few months. Moelis LA has strong exits especially to traditional MF, but most of my friends went to generalist groups / found it harder to place in Tech specific MFs post-analyst stint. Knew three people at JPM NY, only one of which placed in MM generalist PE (the other two simply weren't prepared / did not have the technical skills to get through because they weren't in modelling heavy groups).

In my opinion, based on what you want to do, it should be between EVR and LAZ. Both firms now pay analysts roughly the same, both do a ton of cap raises (which are great processes to be a part of contrary to what the poster above said and shorter than typical sell sides so you can close more deals). EVR has a stronger sell-side practice while Laz is stronger on the buyside (Google, IBM yada yada)

Evercore Menlo placed lights out in last cycle: TPG Growth, GA, Thoma Bravo Growth - mostly UMM/MF tech: consistent exits to well-known VC shops as well, the current analyst class placements are still in flux this cycle 

Lazard SF analyst classes the past two cycles: Silverlake (x2), 6th Street, Thoma Bravo, Clearlake, CVC + great MM shops like Siris - pretty much UMM/MF tech for every analyst that wants it in both NY and SF. They've placed well in the current cycle as well (Silverlake + other 50bn+ funds)

I have good friends at both of these places and think the culture is great in their own way - think about which conversations you liked more, Menlo vs SF, and whether you want your work experience to lean more sell-side or buy-side (caveat is that both teams are great on both sides). While both shops place well into GE/PE, EVR has recently sent more people to VC while Lazard has had a few people leave for strong corp dev / industry tech roles. Having been in the tech banking universe for three years, I can confidently say that Lazard and Evercore outplace Qatalyst at the analyst level into GE/PE almost every cycle.