Started seeing headhunter emails go around. Any insights into HIG SF regarding culture / hours? I already know they retrade, bottom feeders, etc but that all drives the 6x+ MoM returns. Really just curious on what people's experiences have been there from an hours perspective or culture.
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Based on previous WSO threads, here are insights into the culture and hours at HIG Capital's SF office:
Culture:
Hours:
These insights suggest a demanding work environment with long hours and a challenging culture.
Sources: HIG Capital - SF Superday, Life at Mega Developers, PJT RSSG Culture?, Houlihan Lokey Healthcare Group Insights, Houston Investment Banking 2019
I think it differs by fund but I have heard that it can be rough at the associate level. They have great returns but you’ll get worked and comp not the best.
Cons: It’s a brutal place to work; very similar to MF quantum of hours but with a LMM/MM focus. This is largely driven by the value-based approach, which requires deeper due diligence. The personalities there are toxic and filled with back-stabbers. They are black listed by dozens of bankers and lenders for the way they treat people or behave in processes.
Pros: Very good place to learn for the reasons stated above. They truly have fantastic returns.
I used to work there before BS
Very helpful. Is it a great logo on the resume? Don't love the hours piece of it but I'm doing like 80+ weekly at a minimum anyhow. Sounds like (as with so many other things) have to give up the hours for the deep value experience.
Having met a some of the SF people in the LBO fund, I’d say its not so much the individuals so much as the general sheer workload. The people are pretty nice and good people, especially at the midlevel - a couple are awkward or kind of intense but not in a backstabby mean way. But, there is generally a high volume of work and by nature of the deals done, deals that die tend to constantly resurrect themselves so from a workplace standpoint it’s not great.
When you reference resurrected deals, is that more from a peer / landscape perspective? They bid the book on a dental rollup, don't move to R2, but another asset comes up so that team just mounts up again?
That may occur, but if I understand the previous comment correctly, referring to more of a broken process where they may not initially advance due to value but another sponsor ends up walking away.
Also be aware, they basically review everything and consistently lob in the lowest bids possible that they deem to potentially be competitive, which can lead to you feeling like you wasted time on opportunities as an associate doing the bulk of the work. I was on the sell side of a lot of their deals they showed interest in and they did work on seemingly everything but were in the lowest value band 90% of the time.
Would be curious for your thoughts on the prospective learning opportunity at a high volume shop. Is there something to be said about being able to read CIMS, churn models, and create fairly sturdy memos on all of these assets? Put differently, would you walk out of the place after 2 years with a more advanced skillset from the perspective of solely looking at a business and identifying opportunities vs a shop that does less work but may win more often?
I can’t speak too much about HIG but I think it’s an investment style preference. Like previous commenters have said, they’re value buyers, so you’ve gotta turn over a lot of rocks to uncover value where others may be quick to pass. And their returns speak for themselves. That ultimately leads you to get more reps and potentially be sharper in areas whereas a similar experience at other firms won’t give you all of the same skills. But at the same time, they don’t have a lock and key on great returns. There’s more than one way to invest successfully.
I’m currently at a firm that typically seeks out B+ or better assets, so we’re not leaning into messier dynamics or operational turnaround. More of a focus on accelerating growth in already relatively solid businesses. This style has its own downsides and is difficult to do in a market like this but it’s my preference. It has also led to better work life balance because we can be quicker to pass for obvious reasons. It’s really just personal preference. Putting decks together for every IOI doesn’t necessarily lead to sharper skills. You need to ultimately assess the senior team and if you think you can learn from them.
I'll give a perspective that is somewhat similar to that of the commenter above.
I work for an UMM firm that now does mostly tech, although we were not born as tech only so we have a few portfolio companies (the less well performing ones...) from a while ago. I need to look after one of these, which is now co-owned with a more traditional buyout fund. The main partner for this deal from that traditional fund used to work at HIG.
So the setup is basically: my team is used to a growthier mindset, this other team is used to more distressed or at best GDP+2-3pp growth assets.
It's just a very, very different investment style to be honest, and it's not great having to manage each other, although no one is really at fault here. Both firms have historically made money in their trade, but our view is more along the lines of "let's not nickel and dime this management team of the add-on we're doing because they should be incentivized to go for growth" whereas their view is much more "I am in a zero sum game because this portfolio company is underperforming my original investment case."
I really can't type that out without seeming biased for our own approach btw, although that is unfair to them. They're super sharp guys, but this is their training. I understand why they do what they do, but you have to be a lot more combative than I am.
Overworked and underpaid. I’d look for other opportunities unless you know for sure you want to do value investing
Anyone know how big the difference is between PE strats like lbo vs mm vs adv? Also did the Advantage fund II ever close?
What does the path for promotion look like? Is there a clear path from associate to VP?
3 years associate, 1 year senior associate then VP. Or 3 years associate, bschool then VP. There is a path but they make it very drawn out and no guarantees
Non material but their office building lobby has one of the best fancy-esque bars in SF. Great place with solid food too
Ex-HIG SF here. SF is a big hub for HIG - they have big teams for the LBO, Advantage, and MM buyout strategies in addition to part of the growth equity team and some direct lending people there. Advantage was the new kid on the block and a big deal back when I was there, and made up the plurality of the PE IP headcount, although Advantage has recently restructured over the past year or so and that may not be true anymore. Bullpen is relatively united across teams but culture did vary a bit across strategy. For the most part though, culture and wlb problems are overblown, and HIG SF is more chill than the Miami office. SF office leads were nice people; and wlb was what you'd expect on the grindier side, but just as a datapoint the fund I'm at right now (UMM) that doesn't have a reputation as a sweatshop is probably grindier than my time at HIG.
This is super insightful. Out of curiosity, what were hours? A good experience based on where you think new classes will be coming into?
Really depends on the portcos and deals you're staffed on. A portco going through a LME can easily blow up your life, and all bets are off during deal sprints, but as a reference point, I'd say my hours at HIG were probably 50-60 when not on a live deal, 65-90 across live deal processes, and 80-100 during deal sprints
Any color on how the adv fundraise went?
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