Why Thoma Bravo: Interviews, Careers, & Portfolio

Learn more about Thoma Bravo to see if it’s the right investment firm for your career aspirations

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Thoma Bravo Overview

Thoma Bravo is an American growth capital and private equity firm located in Chicago with additional offices in Miami, London, San Francisco, and New York.

Founded in 2008, Thoma Bravo is considered to be one of the largest software investors in the world with over $120 billion in assets under management.

The firm focuses on the infrastructure, application and cybersecurity softwares and tech-enabled business service sectors, and implements a “buy and build” or “consolidation” investment strategy.

Back in 2019, Thoma Bravo was named the best-performing buyout investor by HEC Paris and Dow Jones after the firm studied 898 funds raised between 2005-2014. In 2021, Thoma Bravo became the highest growing major BO firm in the world.

Thoma Bravo is led by managing partners Orlando Bravo, Carl Thoma, Seth Boro, Lee Mitchell, and Scott Crabill.

Thoma Bravo AUM

According to most recent regulatory filings, Thoma Bravo has $121.2 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2023.

Thoma Bravo Interview Process & Questions

Firms often make changes in their interview process with each candidate. But you can expect the general mechanics to stay the same such as:

Interview process typically consists of 4 to 6 rounds
Initial rounds are under the supervision of junior investment professionals or the HR team, while the later rounds are conducted by more senior staff
It could take several weeks before the firm select the right candidate (unless it’s “on-cycle” or “on-campus” recruiting)

The interviews at Thoma Bravo will be a combination of fit questions, behavioral questions, and technical / investing questions.

For more interview preparation help, check out my Growth Equity Interview Guide.

Why Thoma Bravo

Interviewers almost always ask “why this firm” to candidates. This question reveals the candidates’ motivation for applying at the firm as well as their familiarity with the firm’s investment focus, strategy, and track record.

If you’ve met employees at the firm, this is a great time to mention them, how they’ve made a really positive impression on you, and what insights you got from them about the firm.

To help you come up with a more relevant and impressive answer, try learning more about the firm. One way you can do that is to listen to interviews with its founders, investors, and employees.

For example, here’s Bloomberg Television’s interview with Orlando Bravo, Founder & Managing Partner of Thoma Bravo:

More interviews

Thoma Bravo Case Study

Interviewees almost always have to perform a case study during interviews. Firms use case studies to evaluate each candidate’s technical knowledge and communication skills which are vital skills in the finance world.

Most case studies at firms like Thoma Bravo involve investment recommendation and financial modeling. However, for junior roles, cold calling case studies are often required as well.

Check out my Growth Equity Interview Guide if you need more help regarding case studies.

Thoma Bravo Salary & Compensation

Thoma Bravo offers competitive salaries to their professionals. According to Glassdoor, Associates at their firm receive an estimated total pay of $57,946 per year. This figure represents the median salary and can still change based on the individual’s level of experience and qualifications.

Associate

From other public data, recent associates at Thoma Bravo have earned $125,000 per year, while there’s no recent data for analyst hires.

Thoma Bravo Careers, Jobs, & Internships

View open roles at Thoma Bravo inside our job board where we also feature all open roles for similar firms.

Thoma Bravo Portfolio & Investments

Thoma Bravo has made 42 investments and operates 19 funds as per Crunchbase. Some of their notable deals include AppOmni, Aisera, and SMA Technologies – which are all in the tech and software space.

Notable Transaction: Alma

Alma simplifies access to affordable and high quality mental health care by giving providers the support and tools they need to accept insurance and grow their small, private businesses.

When providers join Alma, they get access to teletherapy software, insurance support, and automated billing and scheduling tools. They also get to participate in training, events, and education programs together with other clinicians.

In the past 12 months, Alma was able to scale its network by 300% – to 8,000 mental health providers who are all licensed to practice in 50 states.

On August 25, 2022, Thoma Bravo, together with Cigna Ventures, raised $130 million in Series D funding for Alma.

Next Steps

Thoma Bravo can provide exciting career opportunities in finance. If you’re looking to land a role at their firm (or any firm like it), I highly encourage you to check out my Growth Equity Interview Guide.

Inside this self-paced online course, you’ll find step-by-step lessons which will discuss topics like case study, valuation, market thesis, and many more. You’ll also get access to mental models, frameworks, and expert tips which are quite handy during interviews.

Check out the course and join countless professionals who’ve successfully made the jump into finance. Start learning today!