Funds with the best culture
Big theme around WSO, wanted to make a list of Funds that have the best culture in the PE and GE spaces. Would love all input here!
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Genstar
Vistria
The Jordan Company
I think Jordan Co is good but I have heard awful things about Genstar and Vistria.
What negative things about Genstar & Vistria?
Have heard Jordan has great culture
Have also heard bad things about Genstar
BDT
Leonard Green
Are you being serious? Not saying otherwise just wanting more color
Yeah curious here too lol
I’ve heard it’s a great culture. 9-9 or so, good parties at seniors’ mansions, get to live in LA.
Also their approach is to pay a premium for quality assets. I assume this translates to fewer, but much more in-depth proposals that actually lead to an acquisition (as they aren’t always trying to pay bottom dollar and then inevitably get outbid).
Definitely a target firm for me for that alone. That’s how I want to learn how to invest.
Bumping this again bc I’d really like to know
All I can say is that it's not the firms that harp about how great their culture is. If all they do is claim they have amazing culture, it either means 1) they have shit culture or 2) culture is great only if you fit into their mold of what an acceptable cultural addition is. Steer clear.
Firms that actually have good culture don't feel the need to flaunt it.
Number 2 is usually firms that operate like cults, yeah culture is great if you worship the CEO, otherwise you'll never fit in.
Bump
Bump
Heard good things about Apollo
Have heard GIP has great culture!
One Rock
Guys, we have to cut down on the sarcastic comments.
Wasn’t sarcastic that’s the thing…
Heard Summit Partners has a great culture
.
woah, what happened?
Have heard positive things about Berkshire Partners from peers and some people who have interviewed
Second this. Have heard very solid thinks about Berkshire for people that worked there
Met them a few times; polite, laidback, smart. Bro went to HBS, summa cum laude etc and shows up in a sweater and was super chill.
I’m pretty sure they have plenty of summa cum laude HBS grads that wear sweaters at Apollo as well…
I have heard this as well, but I have also heard that may no longer be the case. They use to never hire laterals, so all the seniors there came up as associates. Now they've been hiring a lot more laterals from other firms, so culture has been watered down for the groups where that is most common.
Agree with this. Berkshire and Bain were known for having generally better culture than the other funds in Boston (and are generally known for above-average / strong culture relative to broader PE - that's not a stale POV). Yes there's always some variance depending on who exactly you're working with, and as firms get bigger it gets hard to maintain that / keep narrow variance, but both consistently known for investing in culture and junior development pretty meaningfully, and in having more consistency at the mid / senior ranks over time.
If by great culture you mean they’re generally nice and friendly, yeah it exists in some places. If you mean that you can set and enforce reasonable boundaries around weekends and PTO and personal life, you won’t find that anywhere.
Basically at best you’ll be able to find a culture where people are nice to you to your face but will continue to ignore any and all of your personal boundaries and commitments outside of work. For some people, that will be enough and will make them happy but for others they’ll continue to feel burned out, resentful, and angry even in that environment. It’s the nature of the industry, you sign up for indentured servitude in exchange for very large economic rewards and a differentiated skillset. That fundamental trade off will exist everywhere in the industry.
Ok but as someone who works at a firm that has all that negative stuff + major assholes, don't discount the benefit of having nice people to your face. Getting texts on vacation is much better when its "So sorry to drop this on you" instead of "did you even look at this..."
Apollo PE, Blackstone RE, GIP, Stonepeak, Cerberus, Platinum, HIG all come to mind
How is Bain not here...
Because Bain is a consulting company and the question was specifically about private equity firms…
Bain capital… one of the largest PE firms in the world
damn I guess people didn’t like my joke lol…
Idiot intern speaking with a loooot of confidence lol love to see it
0:25 SB:MS ratio is diabolical
APO
From all the firms I’ve spoken with, Warburg and TA have had the kindest, most helpful and down to earth people without a doubt
TA must be a joke. All people I know there think they invented hot water
Warburg is a where souls go to die (except for the hc group). Ppl work insane hours and culture is THE WORST. Everyone thinks they’re the shit and are extremely condescending. Some groups haven’t closed deals in 3-4yrs, what a joke.
Lmaoooo, disregard title I’m at WP. Feel 100% the same, healthcare only group with a semblance of WLB
Heard Lu Capital Management have a great culture thanks to their Vietnamese roots. Good luck getting in without GS TMT/MS M&A/DB UpReach Spring Week/APO
Bro nobody wants to work at Lu Capital
And they don't want you either lol. You probably weren't even President of the LSE Alternative Investment Conference.
Do you need aspergers to be successful here?
Nope, although it certainly helps with their benchmark looksmaxxing standards. Anyone below 8.5/10 SMV (think non-mewing, non-mouth-taping, non-jelqing) gets insta-dinged.
THL has good culture I read in another forum. Can anyone confirm?
I would say they fit into the bucket of “unique, but great if you fit in” cultures.
Tend to attract a bro/geek hybrid, that’s a little uptight and formal
Agree with above poster that their culture reputationally is more uptight. They've also had a really high rate of senior turnover over the years and reportedly have had some political infighting the last few years, so culture is pretty inconsistent and heavily dependent on who you work directly with - that's somewhat true to an extent everywhere, but seems there's meaningfully more variance at THL.
Describe political infighting
Culture is not particularly great. Considerable turnover at the midlevel (personally know two who quit within 1.5 years or so post MBA) and a lot of frustration / long hours stemming from hanging around processes they have no shot at winning. Sounds like they’re pretty hands on with a lot of their portcos and it’s often tricky navigating relationship between investment and operating teams.
"Hanging around processes" point is too real. Seems to be happening at a lot of undifferentiated MM firms who can't underwrite anything different in their model and win on price.
Just went through Boston recruiting. Took notes on all of the funds I engaged with / was interested in:
Battery Ventures (buyout team vibes personality wise in line with their VCteam, biggest downside at junior level is sourcing is entire job)
Bain Cap / Berkshire (plenty already out there on these two, but increasingly being more team dependent and thus more variable) - could add Charlesbank / Advent into this bucket, but 10-15% weaker culture / wlb
TA Associates (associates all sound like best friends…grain of salt ofc, but only get strong impression of junior-level culture, biggest knock is upward mobility is challenging, if possible, and sourcing makes it a “always on” type job)
BV Investment Partners (sleeper in tech given they sit closer to the IT services + software hybrid space, best culture impression out of all the firms I talked to, great wlb as well, and some 40% IRRfunds recently)
Great Hill (current bank works with them alot, incredibly impressive investors, and have only heard fantastic things about their culture) - Silversmith = a smaller version of this
THL (stuffier, but highly coaching / mentorship oriented and supportive, hired a head of talent dev recently who really impressed me, hours are banking 2.0)
One thing, these are how the firms present themselves externally. Some are house of cards
Any thoughts on Cove Hill, Abry, Bay Pine?
Can't speak to Bay Pine, but Cove and Abry's retention will tell you all you need to know
Do you know if any boston firms still recruiting for Summer 2024 as of today?
Most are done with 2025 lol
Anyone know any of the cultures at the software focused funds on the west coast in MM? Specifically STG, Marlin, Vector, AKKR, etc.
You will grind at every single firm you named. All great firms but sweaty so you’ll work for your comp.
Marlin doesn't even pay street if I remember correctly
Based on this thread, the answer appears to be there are no funds with good culture lol
Choosing a fund with a good company culture can have a significant impact on your career and job satisfaction. There are several good options.
Bain Capital: Known for its collegial atmosphere, employee support, and professional development opportunities.
The Carlyle Group: Provides many career opportunities and innovative training programs.
Carlyle in 2009 was the first to fire associates and rescind associate offers. #neverforget
Have friends at both Carlyle and Bain and their lives are complete shit compared to mine. Toxic cultures and/or long hours and face time.
Which teams at each? Both are verticalized so would assume experience depends pretty heavily on teams.
Less familiar with Carlyle but I’ve heard the same on Bain so I am always surprised by what I read on this forum. Bain has better culture than, say, HIG, but it’s not actually good. Perhaps it used to be back in the day. Now they’re just great at branding and marketing their culture.
Thanks Chat GPT
Any info on Atairos?? WLB and Comp?
Partners Group is definitely one to consider
How about Carlyle in their DC office? Understand likely has many of the same drawbacks as the other MFs but wondering if slightly better culture given not in NYC.
Also interested
Speaking anecdotally from places where my banking class ended up (so these are what my friends tell me):
- Carlyle: absolute dog shit, incredibly toxic culture, long hours (like 9am-10pm every day in office) and you get kicked out after 2 years, mid-low tier comp
- Bain: decent (?) culture but long hours and you have to move to Boston
- TPG: good culture (due to the SF vibe), hours depend on what fund you’re on (also if you’re in New York you work west coast hours so later start to the morning), comp is good and all cash
- KKR: decent culture depending on what team you’re on, hours are good when not super busy, decent comp but part of it is stock
- TH Lee: have heard the most horrendous stories about this place, terrible hours and culture and multiple friends who went here have dipped/are looking to dip, also you have to move to Boston which is ass
Which offices for Carlyle/ KKR?
Bain culture not great due to bad returns resulting in high turnover from what I understand. And micromanage-y consulting internal style. Plus don’t trust advisors to do anything right / think they’re smarter than anyone else so you’ll do your own CDD alongside the consultants
Bain capital has the lowest or second lowest turnover of all the MFs. Have no idea where you’re getting this from.
Which thl group?
On the MM side, what comes to mind for shops that have good culture/hours? Like obviously when on a deal it will be hard, but I am talking about more so the weeks there is nothing live on your plate
Any insight into BX?
Partners group, friends there love it & heard lots of good things about the culture
Any LA funds other than LGP come to mind for having good culture?
Have heard good things about Freeman Spogli
Warburg has great culture
Can anyone share color on the growth buyout space?
I have friends at the following firms: Spectrum, JMI, TA Associates, Banneker, Summit, and Mainsail. All of these are software buyout firms focused on proprietary deals -- common thread here is sourcing, which typically attracts more outgoing personalities. I wouldn't say these are lifestyle firms - they work hard, but friends are “happy” with who they work with.
It’s just a perspective from the outside but all the people I met from Permira seemed nice to work with compared with other funds.
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