Berkshire vs. Bain Capital

All, 

Interested in both Berkshire and Bain Capital, which are both known to be similar (i.e., consulting friendly firms). Could you please let me know any updated views on the two firms (returns, internal mobility, culture, b-school placement, etc.)? 

Thank you all!

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Interviewed at both but struck out unfortunately-

Personally would choose Berkshire over Bain but both awesome places to be.

Berkshire probably wins on b-school placement, they have about as close to 100% at HBS/GSB placement as any fund. Bain has good placement but not that good, probably a function of the larger associate class (HBS doesn’t want 10 from any one fund)

Bain obviously much bigger, totally personal preference on whether you want bigger org vs smaller

Exit ops id say comparable, Berkshire again punches above its weight here. Looking at LinkedIn most exits are to MFs or top hedge funds. Bain similar.

One unique thing about Berkshire is basically every MD started as an associate, which says a lot about culture. Not the case at all at Bain.

Fundraising - read some stuff on here about Berkshire missing their fundraising target, it was mentioned in an interview as basically they’re not worried and just don’t spend as much time fundraising as some other places. They have a loyal LP base that they know they can trust etc. It was also a couple hundred M off of target and still bigger than last fund so not some huge miss. Also just raised a big (billion+) continuation vehicle for one of their investments so fundraising piece seems like not a concern there. Bain has raised some massive funds though so if the goal is chasing fund size above all else, Bain is the easy choice

 

Really can't go wrong. Bain is typically considered a MF and Berkshire is considered top UMM. Berkshire did struggle to raise latest fund though. Both place lights out into HBS/GSB. Anecdotally heard that Bain Cap has top notch culture, while Berkshire can be sweaty, but was told that the people they worked with were excellent. I'd personally go with the one that pays the most.

 

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