Pros
I worked with the founders of XLP for 2 years, and this place is the definition of apprenticeship; you will be given all the resources and opportunities, but it's up to you to take advantage of them. The MD's are very upfront about this: they train strategists, investors, and "super analysts" as Matt calls it - aka an analyst that is capable of doing everything themselves from start to finish (from data acquisition, analysis, to output). The founders believe that everyone at the firm should learn all skills (because they do themselves), and don't subdivide by role and gig. Instead of competing for deals or projects, I always felt like I had visibility and access to deals that I didn't work on. Just look at the alumni from this place; it's like a who's who of venture, private equity, hedge funds, and a number of alums run their own funds now. I was lucky to work here, and thank you.
Cons
The founders also own a few other businesses, including a dedicated short activist fund, a venture fund, and a family office. The founders briefly brought in some equity sell-side research analysts to work on the activist fund, and when they didn't work out, a few of those team members left (and I think they wrote the negative reviews below). That's understandable, but those reviews should have been written for the partners' other business, not for XLP. The founders could do a better job separating their other business interests from XLP in the future.