Would you quit your job today to join a unicorn?
With all the hype around tech / startups / silicon valley, I thought it would be an interesting question to ask:
For those of you currently working in front office banking or trading roles: if you were offered a job at a unicorn (uber, lyft, snapchat) for the same money or 20% less money, would you take it or stay in finance? Assuming you could get a job in corp dev or biz dev there.
For aspiring monkeys: if you could go directly to a unicorn and do biz dev there would you skip banking / pe altogether?
Hell no
I'd for sure take it
If you don't mind me asking NP, genuine interest in startups or just burnt out from banking?
It's a combination of both, but burnout is a very real factor.
Depends on how early I'd get in (i.e. how long have they been a unicorn). It would be more attractive, if they just recently got the funding, have the potential to continue to the grow the valuation and ultimately, if I get an equity stake in the business.
For what hours?
Whatever the hours at uber etc. are, let's say 60 hours a week.
Definitely not, and especially not for one of the later stage ones you mentioned for which I would be getting minimal or no equity.
Would I take a job with much higher risk for less money? Great question.
no thanks
For me, it all depends on the circumstances. If it was a group of people that I know personally and their startup might actually be a "unicorn", I would strongly consider dropping out of school and joining them (provided that I get shares on the company). This reminds me of Facebook co-founder, Eduardo Saverin, who I believed did PE internships where helping to run FB. Maybe something like that where I could pursue banking as a backup while helping to run a startup in school. But for every Facebook there are thousands of failed startups. Most startups fail within 3 years.
One of the many reasons I work in trading is because I have precisely zero interest in working for a tech company, unicorn or otherwise.
It's a unicorn, you're late to the game so your package won't be great relative to FO slots.
At some pt, people will get it. If you aren't very early to a startup, you're late and it's just another job. If you're early, there's a lot of risk, you may become a paper millionaire quickly but you better get that exit otherwise you're holding a bag of rocks.
This would be a bad time to jump into a unicorn tech company, unless you are really passionate about it, in my opinion...
You really want to look for a company that has product market fit, has found success, and is scaling quickly -- but this is harder and harder to find these days.
couple things here that most people don't realize. if you're talking about joining something like uber very very early on and you get significant equity, then yeah maybe it's worth it, but what most people don't realize is that unless you get in on the ground floor and are one of the original 3 or 5 guys who start a company, your equity will likely not be as life changing as you may think. especially if you're coming in post-VC funding, you won't get much of a stake.
also, the hours will be brutal if you come in at the founding level. and benefits? fugeddaboudit. you'll be lucky if they have a 401k, much less insurance until you get to a certain size. unicorns are just that, unicorns. everybody wants to believe they exist, but in reality...nah. sure, there's a chance your pledge brother wants to start the next facebook, just like it's possible that I will win the powerball and the headlines will read "PWM brofessor leaves managing money to managing his private island."
finally, just because you work for a successful company doesn't mean that it turns into a $20bn IPO. the odds of a business remaining successful are low as it is, and the odds of it becoming the next uber, snapchat, facebook, etc., are astronomically low. that's not to say that it will be a bad outcome. a buddy of mine worked for a very niche company as their general counsel and they just got acquired, they moved him to the beach, but he got no additional comp. he kept his job, maybe will get a raise, but he had no equity, so no option on the company's success. sure, it's a fine outcome, and he's got a great story if he ever tests the market elsewhere, but there was no multigenerational wealth created, if you follow that.
all of this is not to say you shouldn'd do it, you should just go into this eyes wide open. small businesses taking risks is what helps keep capitalism great. businesses start, flourish, fail, and flounder, but it's meritocratic. if you have a good product/solution and you convince enough people of its value and it becomes profitable, you win. if not, you fail. this is the engine of capitalism. the only point I'm trying to make is that it's certainly not a prudent thing to do financially, and there is a lot of risk inherent in working for a brand new company.
Just to add to this, a majority of unicorns are in the $1 to $2 Billion range. The amount of founders making $50M+ at one of these places will be minuscule (3 maybe 4 people?). My dad is a founder at a private tech company that is well on its way to becoming a unicorn and the amount he stands to make would put him in a very comfy retirement but certainly not in the range of career earnings for a good MD in IBD or S&T.
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