Megafunds with best culture(I'm being serious)
What are the megafunds with best culture? To be more specific what megafunds have the easiest track to partner & the best wlb?
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Consultant friendly shops like Bain, H&F come to mind
Anyone with an ounce of PE knowledge knows H&F culture is brutal (exceptional firm though).
Stick to what you know kid
Okay then answer the question lol, which MF has the best culture
Warburg Pincus, specifically the tech group
A connoisseur. Hear that IBS actually has even better culture than them, associates constantly churn because they can't handle such good WLB and are bored out of their minds I am told
Bain cap
These are the important questions to be asking, because I’m sure you have multiple offers from multiple mega funds, right?
Just let the man ask a question and stop being an ass
yes, it is a hugely important question, since it will determine your day to day life. and there are both meaningful differences in firm's culture/wlb and marginal differences that still have a large impact. pls refrain from commenting useless things when you have no perspective to contribute.
Look at this tool, acting like most people get multiple offers and have to actually consider lol.
When in reality you get one exploding offer and have to take it lol.
Keep asking these inane questions about work life balance and culture about the top companies, like there is some secret form out there that was non-toxic hardo seniors and 50 hour work weeks lol.
The problem with MFs is that they’re ALL getting multiple opportunity inbounds a week from banks. They have to do diligence work (which is often a pain in the ass) and sometimes execute (even bigger pain in the ass) which means you, the associate (and even VP), are not going to have a good time. So take whatever you hear about “great culture” at any of these places with a grain of salt. If you’re working at Bain, even if their workplace culture is marginally better than WP, you’re still going to hate your life because you have no time to yourself, your friends, your hobbies, or your family.
If you want culture, go UMM/MM. There are no MFs with great cultures.
This is what I basically said, just with a sharper tongue. But ofc I’m the bad guy and you’ll get no hate.
There is not really a difference between the typical UMM and MF
Depends on fund size and what you consider UMM. A lot of MFs are treated as a higher priority for banks and thus get more outreach compared to a fund in the $5-8B fund range. If you define UMM as like $10B+ then ye maybe true, but definitely not true on the lower-end of the traditional definition of a UMM (which afaik as what has been repeated to me by multiple people is $5B+ fund size).
I obviously know the hours will be brutal, but I’m talking more about ease to partner track, and likable coworkers.
Basically asking who is the tallest midget
More practical question is which funds have the worst culture. There aren’t any bests, but there are no fly zones.
del
Partners Group (not a MF in the US but could be considered as one in Europe and growing exponentially in both regions)
Congrats on PG
Advent…maybe?
Maybe dependent on team, but have a friend at Advent tech that’s getting worked like a dog. Again I really think it’s hard to enjoy the culture when you’re working that hard
Apollo is known for sharp-elbowed culture but also a ton of chaddy types are there (tall, attractive, athletic, polished, well spoken) which undoubtedly brightens up the workplace.
Yessir got the LowCaliberTalent comment!
To actually answer the question - have friends or colleagues at just about every UMM/MF. There is not a single fund I know of with “good” culture lol. Like user above noted, this really is comparing the tallest midget. they all suck and at the very least will give you no WLB / make you completely mentally devoted to the job with minimal remaining energy to give to friends/fam, and at the worst will give you serious physical health issues and anxiety / depression.
Here are the ones with particularly bad culture. Defining bad culture as consistent ~70 hour “regular” weeks and steady 90-110 hour weeks during deal sprints (i.e 9am to around 2/3am including all weekend days), combined with not so pleasant seniors that are extremely toxic / difficult to work with. Some groups at below firms of course have better WLB / culture than others.
Veritas
TPG
H&F
Apollo
Carlyle
Welsh Carson
GA
HIG (heard things are actually improving?)
Francisco
BX (heard it’s less an hours thing and more a culture / people thing)
Heard these are a bit better (again, highly group dependent and these places suck too lol. Maybe the difference between balding and gaining 10 pounds with light heart palpitations during deal sprints versus being sent to the ER with permanent health issues): Advent, KKR, CVC, EQT (heard some groups are horrid), WP, Bain Cap, Berkshire, Audax, Apax, Advent, CD&R, TA, Insight
pretty solid list. would add lgp to better, permira to sweaty, vista to better
Damn thought H&F had pretty nice ppl. For KKR its Menlo software group is cooked but NY TMT is good. NY industrials is super uptight like Blackstone
Yeah bump, isn’t H&F just super grindy but people are quite nice?
Boston PE also generally worse than perception
Any anecdotes for WCAS? My friend interviewed there recently and said everyone raved about the culture
WCAS is brutal lol unless they’ve had a serious comeback in culture over the last few years somehow
Pro tip - anywhere that "raves about culture" has bad culture.
I disagree a bit with some of the comments on here that everyone working at MFs are getting absolutely grinded to the bone. There’s more of a range than that. Anecdotal: I had two buddies in college who landed MF SA roles: one at Bain Cap Credit and one at BX strategic partners. They both worked a lot of hours, but the one at Bain was done by 9-10 PM every night with almost no weekend work, and the one at BX got destroyed: almost every weekday was a 2 AM, and he worked probably 10 hours every weekend. I know these groups are not straightway LBO PE, but they both do some PE deals and from what my buddies said, their experiences were generally representative of the firms. It does depend a lot on the group, but I don’t get the sense at all from my friend at Bain (he returned) that he hates his life and his experience. Super anecdotal, but seemed relevant to share.
wtf is bx partnership strategies...
Whoops, mean strategic partners. Fixed.
This is true, I am at a MF and have had about as good as an experience as I could ask for. Also have friends at other MFs who aren’t entirely miserable/getting grinded as hard as you’d think.
Comparing apples and oranges though. Credit is different from strategic partners (both of which are different from buyout). Credit is less hours
And yet again most people here fail to understand the difference between culture and hours.
If you want MFs and okay hours, look at PC. A solid 10-20% haircut in comp, but hours are closer to 50-70 rather than 80-100. I found it a worthwhile trade-off, but each to their own.
Agree with this take
Yes but exclude Special Sits at MFs, cos that's again 80-100 hrs
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