Stereotypes for PE associates at each of the megafunds
Any general insight is appreciated, including impressions on background, education, bank and other general observations
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Blackstone: Tired and scared (Because they accidentally spoke during a management meeting and they got an e-mail from their MD "to come by my office ASAP")
Apollo: Tired and angry (Because they are pursuing 14 deals that will never happen and their Principal wants a "quick workup on this PubCo I met")
KKR: Tired and depressed (Because they are in it for the long-haul and are still 14 months away from the Principal promote)
Carlyle: Moderately rested and winning bad deals they thought were crazy competitive auctions that it turns out they were the only real bidder on
TPG: Moderately rested and losing good deals to UMMs that don't need to do diligence to pass their IC
If we're honest about it, even the senior guys at most PE funds think rather lowly of the associates. While there is a standard path to promotion these days, that's not generally the path they took. All of the most successful PE investors have quite different backgrounds than the associates their more junior partners hire. Even the junior partners tend to have different backgrounds than they're currently searching for.
I think, then, the truth is simple: most people inside the business view PE associates across all firms as hard-working cucks. There is a good reason there is a much lower conversion rate from, say, 'senior associate' to principal these days than there once was. If you want to make money in PE, you can either accept a long-term servitude as a cuck or take some risk like your predecessors did and start a fund of your own. In the event you never make the latter choice, you're a cuck. By the way, for the money a MF might pay you, that's not a bad thing. But if you're consistently too scared to take any entrepreneurial risk yourself, you need to accept that people like me will always look at you as a cuck.
Have never seen the word "cuck" used so much in 2 paragraphs. If anyone was wondering, it was used 4x
In this case, it's le mot juste.
There may be an element of truth here regarding the way in which senior people view associates, and yes to make the big bucks you need to be in the founding circle of your fund.
It's worth noting however, that most funds (PE and VC) do not make any money, and even most "good" funds generate mediocre returns. The number of quality, high returning PE / VC funds is very, very small.
Imagine being 30+ and using the word ‘cuck’
is this a troll thread or like a serious thread? can't tell
what's with all the negativity? A lot of these associates take on these jobs because of the money they can make, and i believe some do in fact believe the job is interesting. Yea, prestige comes into play for many but it's more than that. Also, these jobs provide a lot of exit opportunity in the form of lateraling or joining new fund, b-school, or other gigs
And I'd like to believe a decent number of associates at these funds, maybe even most, understand the odds are stacked against them. I'd hope most are not that naive to think they have a real clear path at Partner. Note, i said clear path
A 100x this. Yes, it makes sense to start your own "fund" but how do you do that without becoming an associate first at an already established PE firm and getting some experience? I guess you could come in as an associate in a new firm but I'd say your risk/reward is much worse versus coming in a little later.
To all the senior guys on this thread hating on us - things are much more packed in the middle now and we absolutely DO know how difficult it is to make partner.
Exactly. Also, "senior guys" - more like resentful boomers at shitty LMM shops or fundless sponsors lmao. Can't say I've run across many MF partners on WSO come to think of it...