berkshire vs genstar

Which one would you take? Berkshire is historically much more prestigious in terms of HBS / HF but I think genstar has better returns, leaner team and bigger fund size. Plus I think SF > Boston.

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Berkshire: As you mentioned Berkshire has an incredible brand name as shown in MBA admissions and exit ops. Look at Berkshire exits on LinkedIn - mostly MF and top hedge fund which is kind of amazing given fund size. Culture is also known to be really strong and they have great retention / internal promotion. Pay is also strong. Cons as you mention would be fine size has lagged its peer group a bit among UMM funds - used to be one of the biggest non-MFs but now lags behind the Genstar/GTCR/etc type funds

Genstar: Good returns, do some cool stuff. Great fundraising momentum as well. For some reason brand just isn’t as strong historically as Berkshire and exits reflect that a bit. Look on LinkedIn at former employees - lots more VP at random MM fund vs Berkshire.

My point is you could probably argue it either way, but for me they’re close enough where location would be deciding factor

 

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