I have offers with Bain (Sr mgr) and BCG (PL2), and will be focusing on their PE practices. I know Bain is the leader in PE work, but having trouble deciding which offer to go for. Biggest factors for me to consider is career progression (in consulting), culture, optionality in the types of deals/projects. My conflict right now is I had better interactions with BCG interviewers and initially leaned that way, but the infrastructure & market presence of Bain in this space is strong. Thoughts?

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Bain may lead today but we’re growing super fast and there’s a huge amount of room for new MDPs in PIPE at BCG. Plus faster progression to MDP in general. I wouldn’t default to Bain if you liked the BCG folks more.

likefunnyupliftinghelpful

Does anyone ever like the BCG folks more? 😆

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Being transparent (brethren don’t shoot me), Bain dominates PE and will continually to dominate it for a while. But we are putting efforts to grow it too.

Go with your gut :-)

likehelpful

I have to agree with this. If you want to work in PE, pick Bain. Better still, pick banking or an actual PE firm.

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Recent IconRecent

Go with Bain

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100% Bain

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Anyone saying that BCGs practice is similar from a buy side is incorrect. They do much more sell side work which is fueling the majority of their growth. Candidly they are not really stealing any market share from us. If you want buy side Bain is a no brainer. If you want sell side go with BCG.

likehelpful

Bain 4- no one is making any “claims”. Maybe read up and see the posts. Be hungry, be humble :-)

funny

I spoke to a Senior Partner at BCG not long ago who reckons they’ve grown the PE business to the same size as Bain’s is globally now. No way of validating this but some comments above seem to agree.

Seems like Bain is at risk of being severely left behind on almost all fronts these days (e.g. digital, advanced analytics, implementation). They also do virtually no government work which I see as a risk in today’s environment where massive regulatory changes are happening (e.g. energy transition, trade policy and ‘reshoring’ etc)

likefunny

@BCG 6 & 7: very interested in PIPE as an experienced hire at the PL level. Can you speak to what kind of backgrounds you’re looking for? Can also DM for more specifics

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First of all, congratulations! This is an amazing “problem” to have!

Weighting in for Bain:
We are leaders in PE as far as I know, and it’s one of the fastest growing practice areas for the company.
Culture-wise, I would say Bain is more friendly and supportive than BCG overall (you can check some older posts on FB discussing this topic).

Maybe you clicked better with the interviewers from BCG, but I believe most people adapt better to Bain’s culture overall.

Again, this is only my perception

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Adding to my point.
I spent 1 year at Bain’s PEG (Private Equity Group), and it was by far the most exciting, interesting, and happy period of my career. The hours were long, but the teams were supportive and friendly. Also, many PE firms have long term contracts with Bain (in which they can do X cases per year for a fixed price), so I ended up working closely with some of these firms. If you plan to exit to PE some day, this definitely helps.

For PE, I have no doubt that Bain is the place to be

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Having worked in PEG at Bain and PIPE at BCG, I will encourage you to go Bain. Especially, if culture is important to you.

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Looking at PIPE right now so I’d also be interested in knowing more

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If you want to hawk companies for a living go into banking. Sell side work has no intellectual integrity - it is "create a sales document" not "assess the real value of the business". We can't do sell side work because it precludes us from buy side. So of course all the 2nd tier firms chase the sell side...they can't beat us on buy side. If you want true client partnership on deal sourcing strategy and individual investment decisions there is no question where to go.

Also, BCG run by a few ex Bain folks who were not promoted - look on LinkedIn at people with initials CC and JP...that should tell you something.

And if you really want an unbiased view, as friends in PE or IB for their view.

Fwiw, I got into PE late in my Bain career, was already a jr partner...still tons and tons of opportunity given PE AUM continues to grow at crazy pace and our ability now to serve growth equity, hedge funds, smaller funds, sovereign wealth funds...lots of white space and client ownership opportunities. Practice has has grown faster than any other practice at Bain over last 1-yr/5-yr/10-yr period.

likehelpful

If PE is what you want to do, you should go with the market leader (which is Bain, by a long way).

Also note BCG is heading in every which way atm, and are putting a large focus on digital.

If it were me, I’d go Bain

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It’s a personal decision at the end of the day, and you’ll have a great career at either spot.

I won’t debate stuff that’s been posted already but to add one more - we are rapidly expanding growth equity, hedge fund, and post-acquisition work (and have been for a long time). We also have a lot of interesting IP within PEG to provide data insights and products to our clients, which is really facilitated by the fact that we’ve touched so much deal flow over the years as the first mover in the space. All of this is really important too because it means there’s innovation and insulation within the practice.

I’ll also add that outside of PEG, Bain as a whole is very strong culturally and generally seems to have better reviews on mentorship based on Fishbowl. You may progress quicker on title at one firm but will you have the mentorship to keep you there long term? That’s an important thing to check. And Bain is now much more flexible on promo timing than they used to be, especially in PEG. Check out the threads on people who switched from one to another and see, especially those from last spring.

I will add though that you should go where you clicked more…though honestly all MBB have great people and less great people and you’ll find your space wherever you go. Also ask to talk to more people as you make the decision; they will happily connect you to those who can speak to XYZ things that are weighing on you.

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This is a Europe focused view, but re: practice size - a large amount of what BCG does is VDD, where Bain does mostly CDD. A conscious choice from Bain as a CDD is far more valuable to a client than a VDD. VDD will have likely been BCGs growth lever as it’s less competed

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Vendor due diligence - it’s what we call sell side work in UK/Europe

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Which system/city?

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Somewhat related point. How do y’all do this kind of work with families (in particular young children)?

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What’s the WLB in PIPE or PEG? How does that compare to other cases on average?

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DM me if you want another perspective. But if you actually want a variety of work with clients please come to BCG. Without a doubt the mix of work is more rewarding in our PE practice, especially as you get more senior.

funny

On what basis?

What’s your background OP?

LEK by chance?

BCG! Go for the company that you had better interactions with!

OP, what’d you decide?

You probably want to do more chats with people at both firms to really make sure the good vibe you are getting during interviews can also be found in a broader community.

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