MBB relevance for entrepreneurship
Hi WSO community,
Hope you are having a great start to your weekend. I recently started working for a large pension fund (CPP Investments, Ontario Teachers) in a graduate scheme upon completing my degree. I am guaranteed a spot as an analyst working on bottom-up fundemental stock selection after the program. To give some background about me, I grew up with a single mother in a low-income household in Canada, and thought that if I pursued high finance I could provide for my family and finally have some money. Thus, during my studies I went down the rabbit hole of thinking about which companies would lead to best exit opportunities, income etc, failing to factor in happiness, my personality, passions and dreams. I have always loved entrepreneurship and I started many companies when I was younger, although they never succeeded I loved the process of thinking about something new and using my creativity. In addition, I have a passion for strategy and understanding different business models. It gives me a different type of energy/feeling than focusing on the financials of a company does, although investing in public markets requires more than that (also did some internships in ER during my studies and I did not love it). In addition, I have always wanted to attend HBS. Long story short, my HBS dream was something that was so out of order given my situation as a child, but it always motivated me to do well in school etc.
Thus, I was curious as to whether I should make the switch to consulting (MBB) so that I can learn more about strategy/business while increasing my chances of attending HBS or if that is just another detour? My reasoning behind this path is that if I have MBB and HBS on my resume I would always have some sort of financial security if things were to go south and it could make an attractive candidate for VCfunds for example. Is that a very risk averse way of thinking, and could it be an option to purse entrepreneurship/VC straight away? I tried to keep my post short, but if there are some holes in my story/ something that is unclear I will do my absolute best to fill those gaps. The WSO community has been an amazing resource for me so far in my career, so thank you very much guys!
MBB is not just another detour.
VC has a few spots in general and I would think public investing does not feed into VC often. MBB would make this move possible.
You can always just start a company, sure, but doing MBB first will a) make you a sharper professional b) grow your network c) make it easier to raise money and promote your firm generally and d) make it easier to switch back to corporate life if the company fails. You’ll have a much better role of the dice at starting a company after MBB.
MBB is also well paid. Not sure how it compares to the job you’re in currently. But if financial security for your family is a priority, it’s not like MBB is low paying by any means.
One thing I would caution you against though is drinking too much of the ‘passion for strategy and learning different business models’ kool aid. These are the types of phrases that get thrown out in consulting info sessions, and I feel that people who buy too much into that stuff have an idealized view of what consulting is. I’m not saying that’s you necessarily, I’m just trying to make sure you don’t make a career change based on inflated expectations.
Hi,Thank you very much for such a detailed response. You raise some really good points here with pros and cons to consulting. Would it be okay if I followed up with a question? I really like the statement you made about not "drinking too much of the kool aid" thrown out during info meetings because I am definitely one of the people you just described as I am idolizing consulting and particularly MBB. If one wants to be realistic about the work being done in consulting (I know it's very company/location specific), how could it be more relevant for VC/entrepreneurship in terms of skills learned on the job than working with public markets for example? I am trying to have a balanced view so that I do not end up regretting. Again, thank you very very much! I appreciate your advice as I have taken many choices on my own and they have not always been very smart haha!
I wrote a longer post that didn’t go through for some reason but will write a shorter one.
Consulting will help you with entrepreneurship in 2 ways. The first is branding. ‘Ex-MBB founders’ is used to market start ups all the time and makes it easier to raise money and attract talent.
The second is the skills you learn. However, I I think some people get the impression that consulting makes you a better ‘corporate strategist’ in some broad, vague sense. As if you gain the ability to ‘solve’ any high level business problem and steer companies in the right direction through superior intellect and problem solving methods. This is what I mean by ‘drinking the kool aid’.
In my opinion, consulting doesn’t teach you how to steer the ship of a corporation. I’m not sure anything can teach you that, beyond first hand experience. What it can teach you is how to effectively navigate your way through a bunch of the minutiae of corporate life.
You’ll learn how to handle different manager styles and client styles. You will learn how to quickly finish a slide and make it look not bad. You’ll get experience resolving data issues and learning to double check your excel models. These skills can make you a better founder, just not in the way I think some people expect.
Thank you very much again for such a thoughtful comment and for taking the time to help me. I have been traveling so apologies for coming back to you so late. I really like the point you are making with people believing that consulting would make you a better corporate strategist because that was the view I had haha. Could I also ask you one last question? During my studies I did interview with one of the MBBs, however, I did not really have anyone to case with and as stupid as I was I did not know that one could pay people to help you with that. Nonetheless, I passed the first round as both my interviewers said I had great business sense and creativity but that I should practice frameworks more. The second round was when I was dinged as the interviewers basically said that I lacked structuring and math skills. Based on this, I was curious as to whether consulting differs from entrepreneurship in the sense that consulting has a much bigger focus on frameworks/methodology which makes sense since you can't hire consultants and pay them an hourly fee if they are only relying on having an epiphany. However, could this focus on working in a specific way "kill" creativity or are those two not mutually exclusive in the sense that learning a specific methodology or "the Mckinsey way" can be helpful when dealing with venture? I hope that question makes sense, and thank you once again for all your answers. They are greatly appreciated :)
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