I've been working at a MM fund in Greenwich for the past six years right out of undergrad. Pretty laid-back culture. Long hours when needed, but mostly 50-60 hours a week.
I just got offered a VP position at a $200b+ MF in a group with ~$50b allocated to the strategy. Am I going to be in for a complete culture shock? I'm taking the job regardless because the salary will be transformational for me, but I'd like to know what I'm getting into.
Saw another comment that I can't link to, but it laid out the below hours. If that's true, it's not too far off from where I am now.
VPs (not busy) - 50 hours
VPs (kinda busy) - 60-70 hours
VPs (sprinting at live deal) - 80-110 hours
I made a similar jump from a MM shop to a MF although at the Sr. Associate level - it was a complete culture shock for me but much of this was firm/group dependent (joined one of the sweatier ones) and at the end of the day the core job function is the same. In terms of the key differences that I found:
- WLB was significantly worse and probably closer to IB in terms of consistent overall hours, although more weekend work for sure
- Deal teams are larger and you rely much more on external advisors / consultants; a lot of the diligence is outsourced and you're really just sense checking / synthesizing findings into IC model and materials; in general, much less power to really have a meaningful say in decision making given the layers of principals/partners sitting above you
- More reliance on financial engineering - given the size of the companies, there isn't as much "obscured" value and a lot of the ability to win / pay the most was more about creative financial structures + leverage
- Less interactions with mgmt. in general (although still a lot with CFOs)
- Deals are generally more headline grabbing - there is something to be said about getting to work with the gorillas of whatever industry you'll cover vs. some rinky dink MM manufacturer of widgets that could disappear tomorrow and no one would really notice
- Higher caliber people; this isn't a drag on the MM but hands down worked with some absolute machines at the MF level; guys that were just super sharp and impressive amounts of horse power
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