Graham Partners Overview
What’s the WLB, training, comp, etc relative to other PE shops in the greater Philadelphia area? Have read about many different perspectives.
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Based on the most helpful WSO content, here's what you need to know about Graham Partners and the general landscape for Private Equity (PE) in the greater Philadelphia area:
Work-Life Balance (WLB)
Training
Compensation
Relative to Other PE Shops in Philadelphia
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Assuming you applied for their internship program- any idea of timeline for post hirevue or whatever the platform they used was call?
They use Spark Hire for first round pre recorded interviews. Then about a week later you'll probably get an email from someone else scheduling a call for the second round.
Grew up near the area and have friends who work/worked there. Heard training is good but is sweaty, especially for Philly.
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I was an associate at their sister fund Inverness Graham - good people, good culture, not the best investors. It's like a pseudo family office, they're backed largely by the brothers who hold control of the IC and their dad made the money in the packaging space. Good pay / WLB
Why not the best investors? Can you say more?
I interned for Graham Partners when I was in undergrad. They uniquely have a pretty robust undergrad intern program with about 20 kids a year. In the program they trained us on modeling, brought in an accounting professor from Villanova to teach accounting, brought in training the street to teach modeling, and had interns help out on deals / portco projects / IR stuff. It was a great program and I learned a lot. TBH, my internship at Graham probably gave me more LMM PE relevant training than my actually banking job.
Steve Graham is the dynamic founder of the firm. It's his firm and he calls the shots. He is probably in his 70s at this point but he looks like he's 45 or 50. Guy is literally built different. The entire Graham family is. They seem to be superhuman. There is a sense of arrogance that naturally comes with this, but imo they have all the substance to back it up (think really high iqs, strong work ethic, high moral standards, big / impressive networks, very athletic / in shape). Don Graham (Steve's dad, the real OG), is a self made billionaire who basically invented the packaging industry. He's now a big time philanthropist in his late 80s or 90s (also remarkably well put together for his age).
The fund is structured more like a business and less like a partnership than most funds (imo). Back when they had only a $400m fund, they were still very built out people wise. Lots of (good) headcount, lots of systems, well organized. At that time, it always confused me why such high caliber people were all willing to work for a firm that size, as the economics had to have gotten spread thin. Perhaps Steve charisma, perhaps people wanting to be on the main line badly, i don't really know, but they made it happen. The firm is much bigger today and I'm sure the economics are better now, but it was very well put together from the get go.
They value people who were former athletes. Lots of D1 athletes, ironmen, etc in the organization. A lot of the interns come from rich main line Philly families, with some meritocratic kids from Wharton in there too. A decent amount of the interns are sophomores, and then go on to really good junior year banking internships. A lot of the wealthy people of the main line owe Steve a favor for getting little jimmy into private equity, and the Graham intern alumni network is pretty robust. Steve has helped a lot of people out. 2 or 3 matriculate in as analysts per year.
My understanding is their investment returns have improved over the years, with the more recent funds doing pretty well.
Seem well primed for future success. Think succession planning beyond Steve will be an interesting question that may be on the come, but the systems certainly are there. But it's a solid group.
Was going to call this insane glazing but googled the founder and holy hell he actually did drink from the fountain of youth
It’s one of the better seats in the Philly market. They pay big multiples but have the operational angle to still create value. Good track record and keep growing fund size. Culture is supposed to be good and the people are sharp. Has all of the typical drawbacks of Philly PE: nepo heavy, suburban location (sucks if you’re an analyst/associate, a plus if you’re VP or above with a family), the Philly discount.
a lot of nepotism. not great firm... $10/hr for a SA (is what I heard from a friend of mine who is doing it in 2025 which is absolute bs knowing u can get $18/hr working at Dunkin' Donuts).
In terms of WLB, its laid back and have more wiggle room in a sense that they favor WLB.
Culture is great, people know each other and love working with each other in office and everyones great at the firm but they favor people from PA heavily. So, if you know you can ace the technicals and behaviorals in the interview, just don't even apply because they will not consider you if you are not from PA.
I had a friend who got a first round for SA 2025 (someone different) who attended IU (which is clearly a target) and applied, got the first round with an associate at the firm. He aced the interview, talked about their portfolio companies in mind, why he was interested in the space of connecting tech with industrials and all that bs, then acing all the behaviorals because there were no technicals asked in R1 but the reason he got booted from the process was because he simply didnt go to school in PA or lived in PA????
but yeah... pay is shit... app process is shit unless your from PA... WLB & culture is okay
def not top 10 firms in PA ^ maybe top 20 or 30 PE shops
have a friend who did the process for their SA program here, hes gradding in 28 and was wondering what info he could get out of this
i might look like im spreading a lot of hate about this firm (which sure but I'm not trying to do that... but when I mean the pay is dogshit, its really dogshit...)
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It’s probably the best PE seat in Philly now that they bumped pay up, and give out shadow carry to 24 yr old associates that could make them millionaires by 30… also 3 top quartile funds in a row and likely to continue doubling fund size / pay / shadow by Graham VII…
Any insight on WLB would be great!
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