Serent Capital Overview
Serent Capital is a private equity firm in the lower-middle market which invests primarily in high growth technology and service businesses.
The firm’s operating model is focused on business building. In other words, they strive to be involved as much as possible in the operations and strategy ideation to their portfolio companies.
Serent’s investment approach involves identifying sectors with strong growth, and investing time and resources to research those sectors so they can identify attractive business models. Their main focus is on service businesses – particularly those with moderate to light capital intensity, requiring limited capital expenditures.
In general, Serent Capital invests around $20MM to $200MM in B2B software companies that have the following characteristics:
- $5 million (or a path to $5MM) to $100 million annual recurring revenue
- Growing and with annual growth of 20-100%
- Profitable or have a path to profitability
The firm makes investments of the following types: Recapitalizations, Buyouts, and Growth Capital.
Kevin Frick and David Kennedy co-founded Serent Capital in 2008. The firm is currently headquartered in San Francisco, CA.
Serent Capital AUM
Serent Capital has $4.3 billion assets under management as of March 31, 2023 as per the most recent regulatory filings.
Serent Capital Interview Process & Questions
Firms often make changes in their interview process with each candidate. However, for Serent Capital (or a firm like it), the general nature of the interview process stays the same. You can likely expect:
- 4-6 rounds of interviews
- Junior investment professionals or the HR team handle the initial rounds, while the more senior folks conduct the later rounds
- The entire process can take multiple weeks – unless it’s “on-cycle” or “on-campus” recruiting
When you interview at Serent Capital, get ready to answer a mixture of behavioral questions, technical / investing questions, and fit questions.
To help with your interview preparation, I’ve created the Growth Equity Interview Guide. Feel free to check it out.
Why Serent Capital
One of the staple and most crucial questions of interviewers is “Why this firm?”
If you’ve made connections with the firm’s employees during your networking efforts, make sure to mention them and how they’ve made a really positive impression on you.
I also recommend that you do some research about the firm so you can understand their culture, vision, and perspective. One of the best ways to do this is to listen to interviews with its founders, investors, or management team.
To start, here’s a great interview with Kevin Frick, Co-Founder and Partner of Serent Capital:
More interview
Serent Capital Case Study
Interviewees almost always include case studies in their interview process. Case studies help firms evaluate the technical knowledge and communication skills of their candidates.
Most case studies at firms like Serent Capital revolve around investment recommendations and financial modeling. However, be prepared to perform a cold calling case study as well if you’re applying for a junior position.
I’ve tackled case studies in great detail inside my Growth Equity Interview Guide. Visit the course if you’d like to learn more.
Serent Capital Salary & Compensation
The estimated total pay for associates at Serent Capital is $147,536 per year as per Glassdoor. This figure represents the median salary and can still vary depending on many factors like experience, education, and skill set.
Associate
From other publicly available data, recent associates at the said firm have earned $125,000 per year, while no data is available for recent analyst hires.
Serent Capital Careers, Jobs, & Internships
To see what roles Serent Capital is currently filling in, visit our job board which features all open roles for them and other top growth/vc firms.
Serent Capital Portfolio & Investments
According to Crunchbase, Serent Capital has made 55 investments across five funds. Some of the firm’s notable deals include Aria Care Partners, GDS Link, and ParentSquare.
Notable Transaction: Actionstep
Actionstep is an online legal practice management system which helps both small and middle-sized law firms to improve efficiency in case and admin work.
On September 30, 2020, Serent Capital provided a significant investment to Actionstep to support the company’s expansion globally.
Ted Jordan, Founder & Chairman at Actionstep, said that with the help of Serent Capital, they’re looking forward to expanding their reach and bringing the same innovation to more law firms in New Zealand, Australia, UK, and US.
This investment represents Serent Capital’s 6th transaction in the SaaS sector, 1st transaction in New Zealand, and 4th transaction in Virginia.
Next Steps
To land a role at Serent Capital, you need to stand out during interviews and make sure that you get ahead of countless candidates who are also looking to secure the position you’re applying for.
For that, I highly recommend you check out my Growth Equity Interview Guide.
It’s an online course which explains topics like case studies, valuation, growth modeling, and more in great detail. Inside the course, you’ll see practical examples, mental models, and expert tips that will surely aid you during your interviews.
Take a look and start learning today!
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