Vista vs H&F vs TB Software PE
Title. Interested in software PE at these three firms specifically. I understand that Vista and TB are considered the top, but how does H&F stack up?
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They’re obviously all great - given PE recruiting process you aren’t picking between these three, you’re targeting all of them and taking what you can get. It’s like trying to split hairs between BX and KKR
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I think there is broad consensus in private equity that Hellman & Friedman is the top shop in the world, though not necessarily in tech. If you're under 25 I would strong advise you to forget about tech (some of which you may still do at H&F) and pick H&F. You will get any tech interview you want later anyway.
stupid question but what about Apollo, bx?
Bx has been the most successful at amassing capital and is the best/largest alternative asset manager. Apollo’s historical returns have been great although I’m not so sure they’ve persisted in the most recent funds. Also culture isn’t anything to write home about. I think if you poll people a plurality would put H&F at the top in terms of pure buyout PE (returns/strategy/culture/secret sauce)
Culture??? On what measure
People I know that work there speak of a cerebral/rigorous approach to diligence, respect for everyone’s opinion no matter how junior and active solicitation thereof, and a deep passion for investing. I do not mean chill lifestyle nor good hours so ymmv
bro it sounds like you work at H&F... yeah its a good place and considered top 6 or 7 most prestigious but its a bit wild to say they are the top shop
Anecdotally have heard associates are worked to the bone at H&F even more so than Thoma or other intense shops.
Not really that wild...who is definitively better than them? I personally find them more impressive than the new wave tech funds (Thoma, Vista, Silver Lake, Insight) and most of the traditional megafunds (TPG, Warburg). Maybe Apollo and Blackstone are better? Idk I mean who actually cares whether they're #1 or #5 in some arbitrary ranking (and honestly who cares what I think)? Bottom line is they're an amazing fund and they clearly know what they're doing, and that too, across various industries.
That said, I've also heard the junior folks there get absolutely steamrolled. The diligence process there seems rather intense.
No one is going to fault you for picking any one of these 3 over the others, should you run into the extremely rare scenario you get to pick between offers among these super impressive funds. Culture at all of these places will likely "lag" relative to a place like Bain but returns are great and you'll learn a ton.
H&F is raising $30bn this year, has best in class returns, close to 0% loss ratio since inception (and they’ve been around since the 80s, not only since early 2000s riding the Software wave) and by far the lowest headcount / highest equity per head. Their London team regularly writes >$1bn tickets and has 3 partners and 4 principals. I work at a different US large cap fund in London and agree they work you to the bone, but their investment accumen and strict adherence to intellectually honest quality investing is second to none (btw so is comp).
Apollo / Carlyle / Blackstone / KKR / H&F should all be considered great firms, I just think it’s odd to say one is “top”. They all play in different areas e.g. Carlyle KKR H&F are stronger in tech. Warburg industrials, Apollo more distressed, no tech. They just focus on different things
What do you think of Silver Lake, TB, and Vista?
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