What happened
Caprae Capital Partners recruits thousands of remote interns monthly for private-equity, research, and buy-side tracks. Students report starting unpaid on high-volume cold calling and lead lists, with promotion to paid roles only after meeting aggressive KPIs. Critics on forums describe the program as using free labor for deal sourcing rather than structured finance training. While some participants defend the merit-based ladder, many warn the 'PE internship' title oversells what is primarily outbound sales work with unclear conversion to real deal exposure.
Why it seemed suspicious
Extremely high applicant volume, unpaid initial period, work centered on cold calls not modeling, PE branding vs. telemarketing reality, and polarized student reviews warning others to research before committing months of time.