Tech PE: Clearlake, Francisco, Vista, Thoma Bravo, Silver Lake
Can anyone share their thoughts on these five tech PE firms? Which would be your pick if you had the choice?
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Silver Lake, FP, and Clearlake have a broader TMT mandate than Vista and TB.
For general TMT, Silver Lake >> FP >= Clearlake. For software Thoma and Vista are really interchangeable and would pick based on fit. Have heard TB is really sweaty, while I've heard good things recently about Vista's culture. TB pays much more than Vista, but Vista has the COL factor. TB has a Miami office, but Austin is one of the fastest growing cities in America and becoming a tech hub powerhouse.
Vista is ok culture outside the flagship fund. Not sure what level you get silo’d but at analyst level I remember you work across funds and at associate you still do as well but can start to build real rapport with specific fund teams. Heard flagship is a grind.
You get siloed at senior associate level.
I would not recommend Austin, Texas to a young finance professional unless you went to a Texas school.
The tech scene makes the city a weird culture fit. Everyone you meet is done with work at 4 pm most days.
H&F.
My perspective as an associate:
Silver Lake = TB > CL = VE = FP
Vista would be in the first bucket if their pay wasn't among the least competitive on the street. Sure COL, but you have to work in Austin instead of NY, LA, SF and after your first year you can move to a different city and still get paid less than a 2nd year analyst at Centerview. Flagship fund is just as much of a grind as any other MF.
Have more friends now in the past 2 years that have taken SL / TB over KKR/APO/BX than the other way around and I agree with them. Fastest growing PE funds of the last decade with interesting plays in public markets (SL with PIPEs and TB take privates). Bash the software wave all you want but if you like tech, these are good places to be.
CL and FP are top notch tech investors with top quartile returns. Flexible mandate is nice. Pay is comparable but CL has raised funding much more aggressively and dry powder is probably a bit higher.
Have friends / know incoming associates at all these places and think they're all great funds to be at.
Vista you can be in SF as a first year Associate and with dedicated carry pool for Associates (on top of base+bonus) comp ends up actually being higher all in (even in high COL city like SF)
Lol at taking TB or SL over KKR and BX
Not sure why that’s so crazy – they both seem to have better returns and much better growth trajectory (especially TB)
I'm an incoming MF analyst so not sure my opinion matters but I would take Silver Lake over every other MF firm since I love TMT and IMO they're the best and the diversity of stuff they do is pretty insane. Have friends in PE at KKR and Apollo. KKR PE is overweight industrials and Apollo mostly works with shitco's. They hate their lives and wish they were at SLP or a MF with a strong team in their preferred industry (and they all like TMT or Consumer). One of them turned down an SLP offer and regrets it (although his SLP offer was to Menlo Park and I think that's why he turned it down)
That’s a dumb comment. TB hasn’t been tested through secular or cyclical cycles. Let’s see how TB returns look on the other side of the SaaSacre. They’ve been balls long the same risk factor as Tiger Global. You’d have to be a moron to not have better returns in a specialized on trend sector/factor vs a broader more diversified strategy.
If you’re thoroughly entrenched on doing software PE then you should probably go to TB (not a definite). If you’re undecided and want to maximize you marketability, then BX/KKR/APO is a no brainer. Those are the absolute best places to go to maximize your lifetime earnings potential.
Are more senior people siloed at Clearlake, or does everyone work across tech/industrials/credit/etc.?
Which of those have best culture/ WLB
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