Deloitte Tech to Startup BizDev
Hey all,
Some background: good GPA, industrial engineering major, coming from a non-target with a strong alumni base in the field of finance/consulting here in NYC. I graduated in Dec 2012, currently working in tech consulting at Deloitte.
After 2.5 years, I've been pretty checked out of everything in terms of work. The clients are not that interesting and the work even less so.
Through a connection, I've been offered a position at what seems to be a pretty legitimate start up that is still in development (pre-IPO). It's been pretty well funded in the past couple of years and has already reached past the Series D mark making around $50-$100M a year. The position would be on the business development team, but as an associate level. I would be one of the first junior level employees they hired on the business development team so I see this as an advantage.
I am not very happy in my job, as it is way too boring and mundane. The projects that we work on are important, but I don't want to grow in this role. I don't want to have my bosses job and I see this as a bad sign.
Switching jobs would be a no brainer for me, but the new job requires me to take a LARGE paycut. I would be getting paid between 65-70k, which is significantly down from my salary now. I do not have enough stake in the start-up company to actually become wealthy in the event that it was sold. The startup has close to 500 employees already (close to 400 in the states and around 100 IT/tech employees overseas). So please note that I am not even close to being one of the original few employees or anything, I am just the first junior level employee that they have hired on the business development team. I am starting in a support role and hoping that it will translate into something that generates revenue as long as I work my ass off, which I will.
I am looking at this as more of a career growth option, with financial reward being less important because I know that I am not going to strike it rich by joining this company. I am asking if you knew anything about junior level employees who join startups. I am looking to build a comfortable career at this company and hopefully translate the widespread knowledge that I have acquired into something better down the road, and I am wondering if you all have any knowledge about the potential salary growth for someone in the position I am in. Basically, do you see the financial loss/risk I will take to be more beneficial than the job I have now? Like I said, I have no interest in working in tech consulting, but some people have told me: "It's great to have a big name company on your resume, take the experience and move elsewhere in a few years".
I don't like my job now and would only stay to move into the S&O side of consulting. I feel like I would learn a lot more at the startup because I could see how the business was grown, launched, and developed thereafter. I would be able to touch more aspects of the business because it is new. I also see being the first junior level employee on the team as a large advantage and this would motivate me to work extremely hard. My biggest concern is the paycut and living on this amount in NYC. Granted my rent is not nearly as expensive as others.
So:
Do you think the risk is worth it? Could it be a big pay off, both financially and intellectually, years down the road to make this decision. Like I said, I have no intention on staying in tech consulting and would eventually try to leave.
I appreciate any feedback and I figured I'd ask because many of you are very experienced professionals with a lot of knowledge about start-ups, consulting, and tech.
Thanks a lot to anyone who answers. You have all kept me entertained and informed for the past year and a half and now I'm asking for a little advice/guidance.
As someone who's carefully considered the consulting vs. start-off tradeoff, here's my response to your situation:
Don't delude yourself about the upside of the position you're going into. Working at a "startup" that's already gotten Series D funding is far along enough in the growth stage where your role/career trajectory will look a lot more like that of a corp. dev/biz ops role at an F500 as opposed to a role at an early-stage start-up. If the company continues to grow, there may be slightly quicker paths to promotion, but you're not going to be on a rocketship path to senior leadership or anything like that. What's more likely to happen is that, as the company grows, it will use its funding and revenue to make more and more external hires and slowly transition into having a more and more rigid corporate structure.
On the other hand, there's really not that much risk here. If the company's already gotten Series D funding, the risk of the company going under is going to be pretty low, at least in the near term. The company likely already has a pretty stable revenue stream, and if things go bad, they won't do so overnight, giving you plenty of time to poke your head around for opportunities elsewhere.
The tradeoff you're making here is essentially less $ for better lifestyle and potentially more interesting/impactful work. I say potentially because "biz dev" is a broad enough term that I would really pressure-test the job to try to get a better sense of what you'll actually be doing. The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the hill.
Long story short, if you value the superior lifestyle/more interesting work enough to take the paycut, go for it, but don't think you're going to get rich here. It doesn't sound like you necessarily want a higher risk profile with more upside, but if that is something that matters to you, I'd look around at roles at companies in the seed/Series A stage.
Really appreciate the perspective humblebot.
I completely agree that the start-up has already gotten to the point where it cant really be considered a start-up anymore in terms of the role and what it can offer as opposed to other larger tech firms.
For myself, this offer from this start-up checks all the boxes in terms of better life-style to actually enjoy NYC and at the same time, like you mentioned, work on interesting/impactful work. I have already done some pressure-testing during the interview stages to gauge the kind of work I would be doing and at the end of the day everything has been pretty solid in terms of what to expect.
I never wanted to "get rich" so to speak, this transition was more of a career/industry change because I know the dead end that currently exists if I stay as a tech consultant, and that is not where I want to be. This job offer is a way out.
If that's the case, make the jump man. Sounds like you've thought it through well and are indexed on the right priorities based on what you value.
I agree with the above. There is really no financial upside of this new role. However, I think that from an experience standpoint it could make a lot of sense before. I know how youre feeling right now, that your basically just rolling into work everyday and mulling over the same routine. Same clients. Same Work. Dwindling sense of satisfaction and pride in your work. This new role can help break you out of this and teach you new things. However it is worth noting that a Series D startup with that revenue basically just operates as a large company with ping pong tables, KIND bars, and "unlimited PTO".
Taking the paycut sucks but you could potentially just suck it up for a couple years then either jump ship or ask them to pay you closer to what you could get elsewhere. Sounds like you are in a pretty good spot to take the cut now, in a few years you might be expanding your lifestyle and fixed costs (nicer apt, potential wife / kids) and you will almost certainly not want to give up pay to hustle and make things work in the name of your career.
That was my original goal. Get the BizDev experience that I needed after a year or so and then from there jump ship to somewhere I felt more at home or ask for the pay bump.
And correct, I'm currently not really tied down to anything in terms of a family or where I really live so to speak. The pay cut and original post was more of a sanity check for myself to ask the community that I am not going off the deep end for even considering a paycut for a Series D+ startup.
I would definitely do it; but not because of the potential for this startup.
If you come into this 'startup' (which is weird when we consider companies which are like 200+ employees still a startup but whatever) and you absolutely kick ass. In other words, you come in and you really show your superiors that you were the shit, then you can have a very promising future.
The cool thing about startups is that your bosses, several of them, are looking at starting their own one day or at least getting in early enough at another startup where they will receive lots of equity. This helps you by developing this intimate network of people who are either going to launch a startup or are going to be key early hires at others.
So a role like this could easily open doors up down the road where although when the company IPO's you won't get rich off this one, you very well could off the next one. It's the logic why I'm currently sales at a pre-IPO SaaS company (yay for Unicorns). After working here and building up my resume and network, the ability to jump ship one day to a budding new venture is increased by 10000X [which is obviously a real calculation].
So all in all. I would say take it. You'll be challenged every day, probably get a stocked fridge and build a network that will very well could be worth millions one day.
Thanks for the insight UTDFinanceGuy. I've actually never thought of it that way in terms of going from start-up to another earlier startup in the future after building the rapport needed.
I definitely agree with you in terms of opening doors and gaining the experience needed to build a even larger network outside of big4 and m/b/b consulting. Hopefully everything pays off in the end for people like us taking the early risk now.
Don't do it, you shouldn't have to take a pay cut for a different job experience. Is this really the best opportunity you have to leave consulting, or just the first one that has come your way?
Unless you are absolutely in love with the new company's product / service and the idea of developing their specific business gives you a work boner, I'd advise against leaving your current gig. I'm confident you could find a business development role at another company (F500 or startup) that would pay you more or the same with some equity upside. Put in the effort to get some other offers.
Nope. All-in, you're going to take a paycut jumping from consulting to a startup/F500. That's the tradeoff you get for better lifestyle/hours.
This is a generalization, but it's one that holds true 99% of the time.
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