I know Boston is known as being a hub for many MM and UM private equity firms and was curious about which are the best performing funds and general information about the area.
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Bain cap, Advent, TA, Berkshire, Charlesbank, THL, Great Hill, Cove Hill, Summit, Parthenon, Audax, Abry, Harbourvest, Baypine… just to name a few.
Would add PSG (growth equity: ~$6B latest fund) to the list too.
good list, this is solid advice
Very familar with the scene in Boston. Would say (rough-tiering for all of these). The largest names in the city are Advent, Bain, and TA. Then there's a plethora of UMM's that are mixed-bags including Berkshire, Great Hill, THL, Summit, Parthenon, Audax, PSG. After that there is a very large group of MM firms that I will not bother going down the list for. Happy to answer more specific questions. Will note some of the firms in Boston are old and have struggled to raise capital in the past 5 years, would probably not join those firms if your currently an analyst in IB.
Could you elaborate more on the mixed bag UMMs? Specifically curious to know more about Berkshire and THL.
Obviously there’s the element of fund size, but I’m curious if you were recruiting for associate role, how you would siphon through which seats would be most desirable to you based on what you know / see.
IMO generally good idea to avoid firms with high voluntary associate turnover…
What's your opinion of Yellow Wood Partners? I know one of the partners there reasonably well (we occasionally golf together).
Any insight on Great Hill? Seems to have good performance and fundraising. Any info on culture / promotion visibility / comp etc
Friend works there. Extremely good hours and comp. Culture is okay for a PE firm. His only issue is low deal reps / volume (only an issue if you intend to stay in PE past associate)
Have friends at the VP level there so might not be fully reflective of junior experience. Hours are reasonable, people are solid, comp is in-line with fund size and location , and fundraising has been doing well. They have a lot of mid-levels and hire strongly from MBAs who weren't at the firm as associates, so not the greatest spot for promotions. Associates are siloed into verticals so even though the latest fund is ~$7bn your actual investing experience is closer to a much smaller fund, which leads to better WLB but also fewer deal reps and harder to lateral even if you were at a good-sized fund. Only put them in mixed-bag because of the associate experience, think it's a phenomenal spot at the mid-level.
Audax (and to a lesser extent PSG) is kind of the opposite, terrible culture and WLB but great deal experience by the nature of how many add-ons they do and their lack of siloing at the associate level. I am not going to comment on THL or Berkshire as the earlier person asked as those firms have been more heavily covered on WSO and the question is too vague.
Any views on TA? Understand it is a bit sourcing heavy, but do you think you still get a reasonable technical experience on the execution side? Would also appreciate any insight to promotion visibility, comp, culture etc
Ignore title. In PE and recruited heavily for Boston funds.
Bunch of pareto opportunities in Boston if you’re optimizing for pay-to-WLB and willing to recruit off the beaten path.
Won’t say more about Great Hill given its highly covered on this thread.
Battery Ventures has a private equity team that does software buyouts. VC-like culture, good mix of sourcing and execution, and fantastic brand name if you ever want to do startups.
BV Investments hits every list of top performing middle market funds. Have heard their culture is great, sold them a deal on the banking side…my MD loved them, and their tech-enabled services focus is a much better market to be in rn vs pure software (PSG *cough*)
Bain Capital Double Impact - hands on and operational but get paid most of what NAPE pays with Bain culture and moderately better WLB. Co-invest program off the charts.
Other names that come to mind: Avalt, Eterna, any of the local family offices.
Would add Spectrum Equity to the list here. Smaller but very very solid shop. Heard good things about Summit as well from friends. Buddy at Great Hill has good pay and WLB.
FWIW, I understand that Baupost dabbles in privates / PE from time to time. May be a good idea to check them out. That said, there may be a more interesting public markets Boston scene if that’s up your alley. Whale Rock. Harvard Management. Jon Jacobson, other names problaly too. It’s like a hub of old school / classic value investing if that’s of interest.
Good luck
What are broader thoughts on Audax?
Sweaty even relative to PE, terrible culture, and most importantly horrible people to work with. Audax is not worth it for anyone who has any interest in anything more than their job. There are so many solid UMM shops, not sure why you'd willingly choose to go to a place that is known for being toxic. It is very possible for a firm to be sweaty and not toxic (Thoma, in my opinion, is a good example of this), but working very long hours with terrible people is not worth it for medicore pay (relative to UMM PE). Good place to be a LP though.
What about Solamere Capital?
Haven't raised a fund in forever and though the ASOs have always had pretty good pedigree, remarkably stuffed at the VP+ level for a fund that's not that big and has been around fairly long. Don't think they've ever had an internal promotion through to partner and it takes forever to even become a Principal. Take the offer if you need 2 years after banking I guess but I'm not sure what they "do" per se.
Nepo trash firm
Would not really recommend Solamere. Fund only existed in the first place because Tagg Romney raised from Mitt’s network of rich friends (especially after making a bunch of contacts from helping during the presidential campaign for fund ii). General sentiment is that half of the senior team there really don’t know what they’re doing investing-wise. Good pedigree of juniors and I’d say a respected enough name but idk if I’d take it if I was interested in a long-term career in investing.
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