Basically the title - wondering how William Blair is doing. Specifically wondering about their TMT verticals/sub-verticals but will take info on really anything... there isn't even any bonus info on here for the past year.
The last 2 threads I can find on WB have some pretty conflicting info on morale over there and I'm wondering if it's HR running damage control or if things are actually looking up in 2024 and beyond.
| +120 | New Article: Dramatic Slide as UBS #22 (US) & New Leadership Desperately Needed | 25 | 21m |
| +96 | Americas M&A League Table Q2 Updated | 47 | 1h |
| +72 | Wealthy Parents / Jaded | 24 | 19h |
| +56 | How are hours rn for SA (interns) | 31 | 7h |
| +49 | Venezuela Debt Restructuring - LAZ vs CVP | 22 | 1d |
| +47 | A COMPLETE GUIDE TO SUMMER INTERNSHIP RECRUITING | 11 | 14h |
| +38 | Boutique firm wants access to my LinkedIn? | 34 | 12h |
| +31 | Investment Banking in Mexico | 9 | 16h |
| +26 | MM bottom bucket bonus | 9 | 4d |
| +25 | UBS GIG, LevFin, FSG Interns working Sundays and 85 hour weeks their first week? | 14 | 19h |
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.
chicago-ok not at all what we once were
Great insights, prospect
An1 but ok.
Tech's fine, can't speak for the guys in other groups. Good activity, grinding a bit but shaping up to be a good year
Expect they lost a lot of Europe tech to Moelis and a few other EBs.
US maybe different.
Had a buddy in C&R in chicago that quit after like 9 months because he couldnt take it anymore. Have another buddy in tech who works a ton of Friday nights/ Saturdays/ all of sundays who is absolutely burnt out but pushing through
C&R is a meat grinder I heard (low key every C&R practice is, at least MM level). Some sector groups are less intense - don’t think the services guys are grinded as hard as C&R/Tech/HC
Not sure I agree. Consumer and Retail has been a dead sector for a long time.
Even during up times C&R teams were a lot more chill than most groups.
Only just turning now.
I'm sure one or two shops are sweaty but this isn't indicative of the market at all.
Did you go to ND?
Covid was a mix of tech innovation and cheap financing prompting a lot of deals to get done. Just look at number of transactions done per year for all M&A and you will realize almost no banking group is really what it once was. However, this is most true for cyclical industries and that includes tech.
Public non-AI valuations corrected post COVID, but private markets are trying to fight and dispute that pricing. The result is buyers think things should be at public valuations and sellers think things should be at a much higher valuation. As a result, no transactions happen.
If your businesses model is facilitating lots of transactions in tech you got gutted. Morale is low since the group isn’t what it once was and likely won’t get back to what it was. This means consistently lower bonuses than before and less deal flow. As a result, the team is smaller and paying worse.
That said, still sharp people there and some deals are still getting done. You can get a great experience there—it’s a reputable bank that does real transactions and has an established training program and placements to many tech oriented firms.
Ill second the training and strength of people still there on the Tech side. Lots of bright folks who know their verticals well, and tech/software modelling/analysis. They've got the sellside M&A process down pretty cold. Definitely not what it used to be, but not a bad place.
Blair is extremely sweaty and culture is horrible. A friend from C&R worked until 2-3am constantly and his entire class left for PE. Will recommend you stay away from Blair, it truly went downhill since COVID.
Del
Getting sued?
William Blair is not a state. It’s a company
a down year but strong
Any update on SF tech?
I think it's well documented here, but Blair used to be an incredibly good shop with good culture. Given their spot in the market (sponsor to sponsor PE deals) they had a massive 2020/2021 with massive bonuses, even higher than their peers.
Brent Glenhill takes CEO around that time and the whole company has been mismanaged since then. *Many* mid and senior level focused fired / asked to leave.
Their SF office tech office is still very strong in certain software subsectors. They are basically 1 of 2 banks that does sizable govtech deals (I don't think there's a 9 or 10 figure govtech deal recently that wasn't done by either Chris Lane (Blair) or Michael Barker (Shea)), and they have one of the strongest legal / collaboration / contract management software practices as well. Their AMCS print this summer was a nice one too. It does seem, however, that more of the tech team is distributed in more places. HCIT was always in Chicago but seems like a few more software guys are in NY / Atlanta / Boston which isn't great, but not the end of the world.
I can't speak to current comp / hours, but I do know anecdotally through talking to a number of MM software PE funds that Blair is one of the top banks to look for analysts because so much of their work is sell-side M&A for sponsor to sponsor, which is exactly what you need for PE. Likely less applicable to going to work at Microsoft / Google.
Happy to add a little more context as well.
Blair made heavy investments into infrastructure, new groups, offices, and headcount (guarantees for MDs) in the lead up to 2020. These were things the new CEO unfortunately inherited and the leadership has partially unwinded.
Given WB's advisory business is heavily levered to Tech/HC and is a private partnership, as the market struggled, Blair's higher expense base destroyed profitability. Rumor has it partners had some of their 2020/2021 partnership payouts clawed back, not sure if true.
While some of the large investments have been unwound, others are starting to pay off big time, and most of the franchise is incredibly well positioned for the next few years.
Can speak to tech now since you asked about it. As this forums has well documented, WB crushes the UMM sponsors deal ecosystem for software in the $500M to $2B range. The good pieces about working for a firm that wins is exits, deal flow / experience, and pay (over the long term). The worst part is hours are undeniably sweaty. But point me to a bank that wins, works 70 hours a week, and pays top quartile that is not named Qatalyst...
The one redeeming piece to that is Blair is VERY good at respecting protected Saturdays and teams will go out of their way to cover each other for time off, important dinners etc. Would also add there's a lack of assholes. I heard very few complaints across the tech group about how people are respected and that's especially true at the senior levels.
These statements are not true across Blair. I have friends in other groups who consistently work Saturdays, who's vacation is not fully respected, or who are not treated well by their associate/VP/etc. This isn't the case consistently, but it's hard to cover up lighter deal flow, worse culture, and morale issues that exist in pockets.
In my mind, the only question for people at Blair this year will be how the firms does on bonuses. Supposedly they're preaching top quartile, but only time will tell and wso will hear about it pretty quickly if that does not happen.
Unfortunately, I'm no longer at Blair, but if I were to stay in banking, no question it's the best place to be if you want to work with MM market-leading software businesses.
Qui vel doloremque porro doloribus. Ipsam adipisci eius at doloribus consequatur dignissimos sed et. Commodi atque ipsum incidunt eos quam.
Hic sed quos quisquam. Et facere iusto tenetur nulla totam in explicabo nam. Ea consequatur eius ipsam et dolor sed consectetur. Debitis qui distinctio temporibus veritatis dolor distinctio. Rerum sit velit doloremque veritatis ea quae totam. Quasi magnam harum ab aut odio nisi magnam.
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...
Ipsa ad quia et reprehenderit voluptatem. Et cum porro quia. Exercitationem fuga iure eos in. Tempora sequi at iste in deleniti veniam saepe.
Recusandae dolor omnis occaecati facere. Sed et eum expedita non rerum. Rerum voluptas qui molestiae aspernatur voluptas quis. Praesentium blanditiis eum quia.
Voluptas quas iste nostrum eligendi optio. Non qui et quidem dicta et et sint ipsam. Recusandae hic dolore praesentium ea molestiae aut rerum. Rerum debitis ducimus aut saepe aliquam exercitationem.
Debitis nobis recusandae ut expedita nesciunt. Aut et velit facilis dicta saepe aut. Temporibus quos molestiae voluptas sint vel blanditiis.