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Have heard horrific stories (one of which came from a close friend who worked there). Cannot believe how they grind their people given the below street pay. 

I had a recruiter reach out to me about them. Any idea about associate comp? Base and bonus?

Former Audax here. Want to address your question on career trajectory, brand name, exit opps (and provide a more balanced view aside from just the topic of WLB)…

1. Audax provides an excellent training ground for analysts / associates (yes, at the expense of WLB at the junior level). After a few years there, you will have a ton of deal experience (both at platform and add-on levels) to show for on your resume (certainly more than peers at other MM firms or even at UMM/MF firms where you might be lucky to have closed just one or two deals) should you decide to recruit elsewhere afterwards.

1. They have a strong culture of promoting folks from within (which, as an aside, also contributes to the issue of poor WLB and culture perpetuating within the org). In any case, contrary to an earlier comment, 5 of 8 principals there today joined as an associate. And assuming you are decently good at your job, there is a reasonable path to promotion all the way through to the MD level. Given the firm’s growth strategy is to increase volume of deals (vs. size of deals) while continuing to operate within the mid market, senior mgmt is quite happy to increase headcount at the principal/MD levels to accommodate growth (this is in contrast to the generational transfer issue at other older firms where you are often forced to wait your turn until the most senior MDs retire and make room for another MD promotion).

1. Exit opportunity (again, if you are decently good at your job and can stick it out w/o getting burned out) is pretty good. Obviously a very wide range of outcomes here, but just to give you a sense… recent exits (to some of the brand name firms) include TPG, Warburg, Golden Gate, Thoma Bravo, Ares. They also have a few go to HBS / GSB / Wharton each year.

1. I believe cash comp is generally on par with UMM PE, above MM PE but certainly a cut below MF PE at the junior level (the challenge of course is that WLB is still comparable to MF PE).

Sweaty af