PWP - Culture, Compensation, Hours, Groups

Curious to hear the 2023 consensus on PWP. How would you describe the culture? Do Analysts/Associates get compensated well relative to other firms? What are the top groups at the firm (have heard HC and RX are strong, but curious to hear what everyone thinks)? Are hours comparable to most other EBs? Thanks in advance! 

 

Consensus from buddies there is that overall firm-wide culture is among the best for BBs/EBs, deal experience is good, and comp is great but never class-leading among EBs (eg. below PJT/CVP, roughly in-line with Moelis but PWP has flatter buckets). All groups are solid, but the top groups for exits are generally HC and RX (which also have much rougher cultures relative to the rest of the firm). C&R and Industrials are generally recognized for having the best balance between exits/deal flow/culture/hours, FinTech is strong and has the overall best culture (but deal flow is much more growth capital focused), FIG has good deal flow (PWP has a really good insurance & InsurTech practice) but exits are affected by it being FIG, and Tech is generally the weakest in terms of deal flow (although both SF and NY Tech have pretty good exits).

 

What do those top exits (comparably) look like? Are BX KKR APO etc common/very attainable as long as you are in those groups?

 

Well if you look on Linkedin there has been exits to APO Carlyle BX. KKR Was a few years ago(and he got it as a non-target).

 

Incoming An1 here and this is pretty spot on. Would only add that the culture is seriously unique and makes banking suck a lot less.

 

For the SAs what’s your advice? When should we network again for “home group” placement?

 
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Ex-PWP analyst here. Would agree with what DJSol69 said above. Something unique about PWP is definitely the firm's culture - the founders heavily emphasize firm culture and development and it really shows even at the senior level (both Weinberg and Perella are notorious for having expectations on how the partnership conducts itself and each partner's responsibility in maintaining firm culture). Although I've heard the culture's been somewhat diluted as the firm's grown over the past couple of years, my former co-workers there still enjoy their experiences and it seems like culture is still among the best. For PE placement, PWP is more than enough to get you looks from any fund (during my process back in the day I got looks from all the funds I was interested in, offers from a MF and UMM (ish, some categorize it as a MF), and ultimately signed with the UMM). PWP definitely has a much higher A2A rate than street though because a lot of analysts enjoy their time enough to stay on. Also interestingly, PWP tended to have a lower % of people participate in on-cycle back in my day (and heard that it's still the case), maybe a reflection of firm culture or the type of analyst PWP recruits (would say that PWP tends to have fewer of the finance hardo-types that you see at Moelis/Laz/Evercore).

 

You go through placement again for FT although most people end up placing into one of their "home groups" from their summer because that's where their network is.

 

Have a friend who works there - he says the bank is much more laid back than other EBs, but he still works fairly long hours. From my understanding, pay is great, exits are solid, and a lot of juniors choose to stay at the firm.

 

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