Why Brentwood Associates: Interviews, Careers, & Portfolio

Brentwood Associates Overview

Brentwood Associates is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyouts.

The firm primarily invests in services companies and consumer products across a variety of subcategories such as apparel, lifestyle brands, food & beverages, pet, retail, and many more.

They look for exceptional brands that established strong customer relationships and created product differentiation. To help these businesses accelerate revenue growth and sustain their distribution, Brentwood Associates provides financial support and operational expertise.

When selecting a company to invest in, Brentwood Associates make sure it meets the following criteria:

• Revenue: $20M to $500M
• 10%+ Growth
• EBITDA: up to $50M
• 10%+ EBITDA Margin

Frederick Warren, B. Kipling Hagopian, and Timothy M. Pennington III founded Brentwood Associates in 1972. The firm’s headquarters is located at Los Angeles, California, USA.

Brentwood Associates AUM

According to publicly available data, Brentwood Associates has over $2.5 billion in assets under management.

Brentwood Associates Interview Process & Questions

Firms can always make changes in their interview process for each candidate. But if you’re interviewing at Brentwood Associates (or a firm like it), here’s a general overview of what you can expect:

• Usually, there will be 4 to 6 rounds of interviews
• The HR team or junior investment professionals will lead the initial rounds, while the more senior staff takes charge of the later rounds
• The entire process extends over multiple weeks, except if it’s “on-cycle” or “on-campus” recruiting

Expect the interviewers at Brentwood Associates to ask you a combination of behavioral questions, fit questions, and technical / investing questions.

Take a minute to check Growth Equity Interview Guide if you need help preparing for interviews.

Why Brentwood Associates

The question “Why this firm?” is one of the frequently asked and important questions to answer properly during interviews.

If you’ve met people who work at the firm during your networking efforts, this is the right time to mention them and how they’ve made a positive impact in your decision to apply.

Also, it’s a good practice to research the firm before attending the interview. For this, I highly recommend listening to interviews with its founders, investors, and key personnels.

For starters, here’s a great interview with Jay Sung, CMO at Brentwood Associates:

More interview

• MandA TV interview with Anthony U. Choe – Partner, Brentwood Associates

Brentwood Associates Case Study

Interviewees almost always encounter case study during interviews. That’s because firms use case studies to assess the communication skills and technical knowledge of the candidates.

Most case studies at firms like Brentwood Associates center around investment recommendations and financial modeling. But for junior roles, a cold calling case study may be required as well.

Learn more about case studies inside my Growth Equity Interview Guide.

Brentwood Associates Salary & Compensation

According to Glassdoor’s record, the estimated total pay for associates at Brentwood Associates is $103,199 per year, while there is no recent data for analysts. This figure represents the median and can still vary depending on the candidate’s level of experience, education, and skills.

Associate

Brentwood Associates Careers, Jobs, & Internships

Check out our job board to view open roles at Brentwood Associates. When you visit the job board, you can also find other promising job opportunities from similar firms.

Brentwood Associates Portfolio & Investments

According to Crunchbase, Brentwood has made 19 investments across three funds. Some of their notable deals include Credentials Solutions, MedBridge, and KeyMe.

Notable Transaction: Blaze Pizza

Blaze Pizza is the leading modern day “pizza joint” with more than 200 locations across Canada and US.

Blaze Pizza features an open-kitchen which allows customers to customize and create their own pizzas – choosing from a selection of fresh and clean ingredients.

With loyal customers lining up for their custom-built pizzas, fresh salads, and lemonade, Blaze Pizza has become one of the hottest restaurant chains.

In July 2017, Brentwood Associates made a “significant, non-controlling investment” to Blaze Pizza.

Next Steps

To make sure you maximize your chance of getting selected for the role when you interview at Brentwood Associates (or a firm like it), I highly suggest you check out my Growth Equity Interview Guide.

Growth Equity Interview Guide is a self-paced online course that contains step-by-step video lessons which cover growth modeling, valuation, case studies, and all other topics that firms typically ask during interviews.

Get the course and make your preparation easier and more effective!