Currently getting my MBA at an M7 and going to an UMM fund (think $7-10Bn latest raise). I previous worked at a MM / LMM fund ($500-$750MM) and was curious if anyone here has worked at firms of both sizes? How different is the day to day and what should I focus on to be successful at the new firm?
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Unrelated question - how did you do it? I’m about to start at a similarly sized LMM fund and have a deferred admit to an M7 school. Can PM if that’s a better forum to discuss.
Worked at both MM and MF (pre-MBA however). Culture/strategy obviously varies from firm to firm, but some key differences I noted:
- Much more narrow focus on deal execution at the UMM/MF level. We had an army of in-house / outsourced legal, operating, and consulting resources and ancillary work streams like legal doc negotiations, industry work, and post-close value creation was never directly on my or the VP's plate. You were still coordinating/quarterbacking amongst these resources as a VP, but not really involved in any work creation. At the LMM, we did a lot of the primary industry diligence ourselves, worked directly with mgmt. on a variety of initiatives, marked up legal docs ourselves, etc.
- Better resources at the UMM/MF level. Access to a bunch of different group/industry-specific databases, news sources, consultants, etc. in addition to the above.
- Larger deal teams at the UMM/MF level. Often found more layers both below and above the VP (Assoc, Sr. Assoc, VP, Principal, and then often multiple Partners). If a deal was particularly hairy or complex, would sometimes have a second VP pulled in (say if we were buying a conglomerate company with several very different divisions).
- Higher caliber mgmt. team. Many of the CEOs I dealt with at the LMM didn't even have college degrees and were just really scrappy entrepreneurs that knew how to hustle. All the execs at the UMM/MF portcos were much more polished/well-pedigreed.
- WLB/culture. Found the LMM culture to be much more "family friendly". All the VPs were married with kids (and wanted to eat dinner with their families) and partners tried to avoid weekend work for deal teams when possible. UMM/MF culture was way more hard charging, and often times felt like the partners viewed everyone below them as resources to churn through deals. This will vary highly from firm to firm however.
Thanks for the write-up. Not OP, but I had a few questions.
1. Were you in a MM analyst program?
2. How did you recruit for MF roles without people finding out you were recruiting? For context, I'll be joining a MM platform in a non-NYC city as an analyst and would like to transition to UMM/MF in NYC for my associate years.
Thanks, very insightful. Did you like one of the experiences more than the other? Either of them which you're trying to go back to?
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