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When it comes to learning opportunities in private equity (PE), the experience can vary significantly between Mega Funds (MF), Middle Market (MM), and Lower Middle Market (LMM) firms. Here's a breakdown based on the most helpful WSO content:
Mega Funds (MF)
Middle Market (MM)
Lower Middle Market (LMM)
Key Takeaways
Ultimately, the "better" learning experience depends on your career goals, preferred work style, and the type of investing you want to pursue.
Sources: Is it dumb to exit to LMM PE rather than starting in bigger (MF/UMM) opportunities first?, https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/private-equity/then-and-now-compbanker?customgpt=1, THEN and NOW: @CompBanker, Q&A: Big4 Consulting to Private Equity, now M7 MBA
MF for sure, is this a joke? why do you think everyone wants to work there - it’s not just pay
Good joke. I'm an ex-MF PE associate now at a UMM firm as a VP, and can say for sure the associate experience here is way better for learning than MF. You're just a cog in a very large asset accumulation machine pushing internal processes at a public MF PE firm, a glorified bureaucrat. The real appeal of MF PE is optionality into Hedge Funds and Business School + Pay. Nobody who is sure of a career track in PE should go into MF PE. Biggest mistake I have made, I would have likely been a far better mid-level if I had started at a UMM-type firm instead of MF PE.
Thing is, as firms get larger, they get more bureaucratic and standardized, meaning less new experiences and thus less learning / problem solving for juniors. This is an apprenticeship business. The best firms to join are ones where you have access to good investors who are actually good mentors. Those are very rare to find, but they are for sure not at the public Mega Funds.
Well said. Also MFs are getting so big that the universe of assets to buy is getting incredibly small, so it’s hard to see how one could learn all that much about investing or business building when it’s really just picking among whatever handful of opportunities can actually fit your massive check size.
Compare that to MM or LMM where associates help screen hundreds of businesses.
I’d say ultimately it just depends on how you define learning.
MF PE is a much worse learning experience from a junior perspective. Given how crowded the layers are above you get much less responsibility and less opportunity to operate at the top of your capabilities. Additionally, deal velocity of actual high likelihood transactions is much lower so your deal repetitions in live situations will be much lower than someone down market. You will work on highly painful workstreams in low likelihood transactions for 2-3 years.
That said, MF PE does give you some branding and inevitably when you do need to lateral or recruit post- B School you will have much more shots on goal vs. a comparable candidate from a MM firm. Given the PE environment today you are absolutely not a lock even as a high performer at a MM fund to get promoted and you will be in a worse position than MF counterparts when recruiting post-Asso program. I think there are pros and cons to both long-term for a career but I think a much better learning experience will come down market as long as you are working for sharp people.
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