For anyone wondering what it’s like to work on Wall Street, Carrie Sun’s book “Private Equity: A Memoir” describes her experience as the personal assistant to one of the world’s top hedge fund managers.
The book takes readers through the elaborate hiring process (11 interviews), the daily stress, and the amazing perks of her job managing a billionaire’s schedule.
Sun doesn’t name the hedge fund billionaire in the book, referring to him as Boone Prescott, founder of the “rock star” hedge fund Carbon. But the New York Times reported that Sun was the personal assistant to billionaire Chase Coleman, the founder of $51 billion hedge fund Tiger Global.
Tiger Global didn’t return a request for comment.
Coleman is worth $5.7 billion, according to Forbes. After he graduated from Williams College he went to work for hedge fund legend Julian Robertson, who gave him $25 billion to start Tiger Global. The hedge fund soared to new heights during the era of low-interest rates with big bets on tech stocks. Rising interest rates hit the hedge fund hard in 2022, however, leading to a 50%-plus performance decline that year.
In a note at the end of the book, Sun says the events she describes are true and only the names have been changed.
Sun doesn’t dig into the hedge fund’s investments decisions, but she describes a general mood shift during a market decline that leads to a lot more work — and stress. Though she repeatedly describes the billionaire boss as “nice,” her story exemplifies the pressures and stakes of working for a billionaire boss. She is often rewarded with some of the finest perks — from a Balenciaga bag to a $2,500 SoulCycle gift card. She also raises an eyebrow at some of the privilege and waste she observes, including a $200 bottle of whiskey getting thrown in the trash.
At times, she questions whether it’s all worth it, especially after she starts developing health issues and poor eating habits, including one late night when she binged on cookies left over from the office instead of eating a proper meal because she was so tired. She ultimately decides that no amount of spa days or designer handbags is worth losing control over her life.
“I was less than three months away from year-end bonuses but could not make it,” Sun wrote in the book. ” I could not make it one more day at the current pace.”
From the lavish lifestyle to the famous guests speakers, here are the 11 moments that best depict life working for a billionaire hedge fund founder.
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