Why Golden Gate Capital: Interviews, Careers, & Portfolio

Golden Gate Capital Overview

Golden Gate Capital is a private equity firm based in San Francisco, CA, USA.

The firm makes investments in select industries including consumer, industrials, financial services and software & services, through a wide range of transaction types such as recapitalizations, corporate divestitures, going-privates, and public equity investments.

Golden Gate Capital was established in 2000 by former investment professionals from Bain Capital and its affiliate, Bain & Company, led by David Dominik, a former Bain Capital partner.

Golden Gate’s fund is structured as an “evergreen” fund which means the firm does not have to sell their investments within 5-10 years in order to raise another fund. They can instead fundraise as deals are made.

Golden Gate Capital AUM

According to the latest regulatory filings, Golden Gate Capital has $12.2 BB in assets under management as of March 31, 2023.

Golden Gate Capital Interview Process & Questions

Despite the changes in the interview changes for each candidate, the general nature of the process stays the same for the most part. In fact, you can anticipate the following:

• Interview rounds: 4-6
• Initial interviews are supervised by junior professionals, while later rounds are handled by more senior folks
• Unless it’s on-campus or on-cycle recruiting, expect that the entire process will last for multiple weeks

Get ready to answer a mixture of behavioral questions, technical questions, and fit questions when you interview at Golden Gate Capital.

To help you with preparation, I’ve created a Growth Equity Interview Guide. Feel free to check it out.

Why Golden Gate Capital

One of the questions you must prepare for is the “Why this firm” question.

If you’ve met employees at the firm during your networking efforts, make sure to mention them and how their experiences and testimonies helped in choosing their firm.

Also, do your homework and research the firm. You can try listening to interviews with its founders, management team, and investors to get to know them better.

Check out this interview with Scott Blackstock, founder and CEO of Tidal Wave Auto Spa, about the news of Golden Gate Capital partnering with the carwash chain:

Golden Gate Capital Case Study

Communication skills and technical knowledge are two traits that investment firms highly value. To evaluate these, firms like Golden Gate Capital ask candidates to perform case studies.

Most case studies will have you do financial modeling and investment recommendations. But for junior roles, a cold calling case study may also be part of the process.

I’ve discussed case studies in great detail inside my Growth Equity Interview Guide course.

Golden Gate Capital Salary & Compensation

According to Glassdoor, associates at Golden Gate Capital have an estimated total pay of $138K per year, while there’s no recent data for analysts. Figures may vary depending on several factors such as location, education, and experience.

Associate

Golden Gate Capital Careers, Jobs, & Internships

Feel free to visit our job board to stay updated with Golden Gate Capital’s opportunities. We also feature open roles for other similar firms.

Golden Gate Capital Portfolio & Investments

According to Crunchbase, Golden Gate Capital has made 29 acquisitions and 18 investments. Some of their notable deals include Covia, Mosaic Insurance, and Nassau Financial Group.

Notable Transaction: Pico

Pico is one of the leading providers of tech services to financial markets who need solutions delivered as quickly and accurately as possible, but also need agility to respond to the ever-changing market nature.

Pico has an impressive list of clients and strategic investors such as Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, JP Morgan, CE Innovation Capital, and UBS.

In July 2022, Golden Gate Capital made a $200 million strategic investment on Pico.

Pico allocated the additional capital for building its infrastructure and data offerings, and also expanding its market coverage across asset classes and regions. Also, Pico will use the funds to pursue M&A opportunities.

The said funding round follows Pico’s acquisition of Corvil Analytics, a provider of trading and enterprise analytics solutions, and Redline Trading, a market data software solutions provider.

Next Steps

If you decide to send your application and build your investing career at Golden Gate Capital, I would highly recommend that you check out my Growth Equity Interview Guide first before attending interviews.

Growth Equity Interview Guide helps professionals get a good grasp of topics that are typically covered during interviews such as financial modeling, case studies, and more. Check it out and start learning today!