Interest to know what New York PE shops are known for the best work life balance. Currently a consultant at a major strategy consulting firm and am interested in making the switch to PE but don't want to work banking hours. Where should I begin my firm search?
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From my experience at a MM shop, you won't be working banking hours. ~9-7 for typical days, but you can expect longer hours when working a live deal. Weekends are typically yours. This is generally true across MM (not sure about MF).
I wouldn't go in with that as your main selection criteria. Better to find a fund with people that you mesh with, and a strategy/industry focus that you like. And better to work longer hours with a great group, than lesser hours in a bad environment.
No idea why people are throwing shit on this. I've worked at two firms in NYC, both in the $1-2bl AUM category where the norm is about a 10hr day M-Th and more of a 9-5 on Fridays when not in the heat of a deal deadline; then over the weekends a few hours of reading/prep for the week which I normally take care of on Sunday. I'm currently firmly on the 9-645 schedule at the moment when not closing something down. Of course when I have a big deadline Friday / Monday I'm probably working till an average of 10pm that week (830-1230 nights). Most firms just care that you are self-sufficient and get your work done... if you can do that you can start setting your hours more.
I'd venture to say that I think this is more the norm than the irregularity, and that most people know the names of the shops where it will be bad and will avoid those unless they're the only option to break in.
It may be easiest to potentially continue to do consulting and then pivot to PE after an MBA. An MBA will provide you with a huge network of alumni to speak with about their experiences and hopefully you can find a place that will be a good fit.
As others have said, MM PE can definitely be a grind, so if you are extremely concerned about the hours it may not be the right field for you.
Good luck!
Excelling - This is definitely not the case.
OP, if you are interested in PE and have a chance to get into it now, and get it on your CV (and see if you like it!), you should. Making the jump post MBA, especially with no banking/finance on your resume, while not impossible, will be extremely difficult. Especially if you aren't at an MBA program known for placing people into PE (there are several top schools that are great but this just isn't where they typically place people).
If you are meh on PE (concerned about the hours / lifestyle) then maybe that's a different discussion, but don't put it off til post MBA and figure you can find a sweet gig then. It'll be an uphill battle.
KingCluny - The question was "I want to know the NY PE shops known for the best work life balance..Where should I begin my firm search?"
My answer was that getting a large network of contacts in the field via MBA would be one route to finding out about people's experiences at a wide variety of firms and having time to find the proper work life balance fit (while in school).
Whether recruiting now or later it's going to be tough for a consultant to break in, especially one that is concerned about having to put in long hours.
Also I agree with your statement, "If you aren't at an MBA program known for placing people into PE, it will be extremely difficult to make the jump post-MBA." It is pretty much like saying, "If you are at an MBA program known for placing people into PE, it will be easier to make the jump post-MBA."
Here's my two cents on why you don't find names of firms that pay well with good hours posted all over the place online. From my network of similarly aged individuals (Sr. Assoc / VP level), those who work a 50-60 hour average week when not hitting a deadline tend to work at shops that have 1-4 Associates and maybe 1-3 Sr. Assoc / VP level individuals; generally this is a $500-1.5bl AUM shop. By someone coming on a forum like this and saying x, y, and z are great firms, they unfortunately give enough info that people can start backing into who they are, which gives up the anonymity that helps a site like this be so resourceful. Even if they're spreading positive news, most firms on the buyside are very internal and that's for a reason.
We all know the shops that suck because they tend to be larger and have had enough people burn out of them by now. We all see the posts saying Apollo crushes souls because every year 5-10 people easily are churning out of those places so they can spread the word and remain anonymous without burning bridges.
The reason for this write up is that from experience, I think many more shops with reasonable hours exist than you think. People just aren't out there sharing my life is great like they do on instagram. Of course there will always be exceptions to the rule. You just have to try to leverage your network when interviewing, and if you get the offer just be open with the junior people there... most people in their 20s aren't going to throw you under the bus, but once again there are always exceptions to the rule
If we exclude family offices, the types of PE shops with the best lifestyle are going to be relatively small ones. Definitely under $1B and probably under $500M or so. Either those, or shops with very specific niches.
The core issue is that once funds get bigger, things just get much more competitive. It becomes somewhat of an arms race as to who can find enough of an edge on a deal in order to make it worth investing in.
If an upstart PE fund is competing against a megafund for a deal, you know that everyone at that megafund is working 80-100 hours to figure out exactly how much they can lever the deal, what the operating edge is, traveling to meeting with management on as short of notice as possible, etc. There's money to be made on these deals and there's not really enough carry to go around, so everyone is busting ass to earn their carry dollars. That means in order to compete you hire a similar group of junior bankers and put them to work the same hours in order to compete.
At small funds, things don't move quite as quickly, processes aren't as competitive, so lifestyle should generally be better.
Anybody have a list of places with good work/life balance?
I hear Apollo is great for lifestyle
Great insights on this thread. Here's my 2c - I worked at 2 diff MM PE shops before moving to the public side. The hours were bad at both - I consistently worked 12+ hrs a day plus atleast a full day each weekend. You have to remember the hours are a function of a transaction driven environment. As long as you work in this environment (regardless of whether its an MM fund or mega), your life even in PE isn't going to be all that awesome because you're typically working on a banker's deadline.
For the OP- the honest reason no one here's been able to give you a specific answer is because there isn't one. As someone remarked, size of the fund doesn't completely drive lifestyle/culture. Have seen enough of my fair share of a-holes in the LMM side as well.
Agree with both points. i'd add that since PE firms are small relative to banks (speaking MM/LMM, which represent the vast majority by count), founder / leadership view on how deals get looked at is critical to work/life balance. E.g. at my firm we make conviction bets, and quickly bail on stuff we aren't going to pursue or don't have an angle - I can shut down deals in as little as three sentences over email to a partner (did so this week, actually). Some of my friends work at places where partners want to drive hard at every book that comes across their desk, even if they know they have a very low probability of prevailing; those friend's lives suck.
Not to be a dick, but if you're looking for work/life balance, I wouldn't recommend PE. No, you're not updating stock price charts for 100+ hours per week as you do in banking, but your work is more consuming - you think about it all the time. It requires a very high level of personal engagement, even if that doesn't translate into more hours at the desk, there is a different level of depth that can be just as impactful to your psyche.