How difficult is it to land at a single manager HF after IB?

Know a lot of people that end up at MM shops like Citadel but know few that make it into $1B+ AUM SM funds. Is it hard? Had a friend recently join a SM fund out of undergrad, and it seems like these spots are rare, even after 2 yrs IB, 2 + 2 PE, or after HBS/GSB.

 
Most Helpful

Made me lol. 
 

SM - Single Manager fund. So like, one head honcho/portfolio manager (PM), or perhaps as much as a trio of founding head honchos who call themselves co-CIOs (chief investment officers) calling all the shots that has the final say. Think Bobby Axelrod. Everyone answers to the PM/CIO, and he/she should be fully aware and involved with every investment decision in the portfolio. 
 

MM = multi manager fund. This is more common for macro/quant funds. Essentially you have at least a dozen (or often many more) portfolio managers who are running their own little specialized funds and are in charge of their own trading teams and investment decisions. The partners/head honchos of these firms don’t really care what their PM’s are investing in, as long as they are meeting their risk/return targets. 

 

Oops my bad - thought the acronyms were common place since they were thrown around so much in my adjacent circle.

Think it’s already explained well above, but multi-manager are effectively your pod shops - bunch of PMs running their own books and profits/losses (P&L). Think Point72, Citadel, Millenium, etc. Your single manager funds are more concentrated - typically it’s just 1 or 2 PMs, and they’re typically known to be more long-term focused versus the MM funds. Tiger cubs like Maverick are a decent example of a single manager.

From what I’ve heard, the ideal single manager fund maximizes AUM per head, which is saying they want to manage $5B with as small an investment team as possible to minimize the mouths you need to feed. Going off that logic, it seems there aren’t that many “ideal” single manager funds - there’s the Vikings and Coatues of the world, but those seats are also quite volatile relative to other SM funds. So, I was curious just how difficult or common it is to land at one of those “ideal” places since there’s not necessarily an incentive to hire. Tons of people go into banking, but only a fraction end up at your megafunds, and I imagine a fraction of those land at a fund charging 2/20 with low analyst churn and lean team of IPs.

 

Network is the key. But not networking like the other kids. You need to become friends with these guys. They have to be able to trust you. 

Stay calm
 

Consequatur earum praesentium et maxime rerum eos nisi omnis. Fugiat ipsa velit mollitia impedit vero libero.

Molestiae nostrum sequi deserunt. Rem enim ea aperiam labore a voluptate omnis nostrum.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Perella Weinberg Partners New 98.9%
  • Lazard Freres 01 98.3%
  • Harris Williams & Co. 24 97.7%
  • Goldman Sachs 16 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.9%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 97.7%
  • Moelis & Company 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.9%
  • Perella Weinberg Partners 18 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 16 97.7%
  • Moelis & Company 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (21) $373
  • Associates (92) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (68) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (206) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (148) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.8
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”