Well capitalized "smaller" players
I have been shooting for a large REPE firm. Traditionally called megafunds although I am aware that naming convention is arguable in the RE world. I have a good friend who keeps telling me to avoid the BX, Brookfield, KKRs of the world and focus on trying to land at "well capitalized smaller shops". His point being that there is less bureaucracy, better work life balance, and face time isn't as much of a factor. His example includes someone who a few years back exited his firm to go to one of these firms and has been told first hand what comp was and the fact that he could be done with his work but still cant leave before 9pm because it doesn't look good.
My question isn't is this true because I know it is, it may vary slightly from shop to shop but for the most part I believe this to be accurate. He keeps mentioning comp at these "well capitalized smaller shops" is 10-20% haircut compared to the larger firms. What firms is he referencing?
This is kind of a catch 22. Funds that are actually “small” can’t do the same type of deals that the mega funds do - so there is more of a trade off than just a 10% salary cut.
But as the funds get bigger, you stop qualifying as a “small” shop. I’m guessing your buddy is talking about large shops that aren’t mega funds (I hate this term too). Kayne Anderson? Artemis? Bridge Investment Group? Prospect Ridge? PCCP? Northwood Investors?
I don’t know anything about the culture there - there’s a chance they’re worse than blackstone. But places like that would be my guesses
Also why don’t you just ask him what he’s talking about? He’s your buddy right
Plenty of smaller players that can raise 100-500mm of equity. Most are family offices, 2nd, 3rd or 4th gen.
My guess is comp at the absolute bottom of the hierarchy is lower, but one of the great things about smaller places in general is that you usually have the chance to advance and take a larger piece of the pie, faster.
Again, there are lots of these places so you'd have to ask your friend what specific firms he's talking about, but there are a ton of places that raise funds in the $50-500mm range (on the lower end, I suspect those are Fund I or II and are still being managed though the firm has gone on to raise larger subsequent funds). Not always family offices, either - just niche to specific products or markets.
Plenty of small shops have terrible cultures too. While you’ll find the large shops have multiple layers of management and as a person lower on the totem pole, you won’t need to interact with the senior management team, at these smaller firms, you will be directly interacting with the senior team. This cuts both ways and is good or bad. Many times these smaller shops have rough and aggressive personalities at the top which trickles down and can make the analysts life difficult. On top of this, there’s generally less process. So, whereas at the large firms, investment committee is every Tuesday from 9-11 AM, at a smaller firm, it’s when the founder says - which can lead to tight deadlines - AKA we are going to investment committee tomorrow because I feel like it instead of spending the week in the trenches with the deal team getting ready for committee. At the bigger firms, you’ll find it’s more hands off and committee is just something you need to get through, but it’s less stressful as you’ve socialized the deal. At the smaller firms, it can be a more stressful process and everything is moving faster because it’s the head of the firm’s money on the line - or it’s a young fund which needs to prove itself. Although there is large amounts of money on the line at the larger firms, most people are pretty far removed from the money which creates an environment of let’s get this done but not crush ourselves in the process.
Some people love the smaller firms while others prefer the bigger, and more process oriented firms. Small firms doesn’t always equal better and easier life for less pay.
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