Is Corp Dev / Strat a Dead-End?
Recently received an offer to join a Corp Dev / Strategy job in an interesting sector for a public company in London after finishing up my Analyst years at my bank.
New role would pay well (similar to Analyst total comp) and expect decent WLB (not 9-5, but not far off) but understand that it may be a bit of a dead-end career as no longer a revenue generator etc.
Would be good to hear about people’s experiences around:
1. Any regrets after moving from banking?
2. Are exits largely just internal moves, other corporates or back into advisory? How easy is it to move considering IB experience?
3. Is it too early to move to this given it’s a “dead-end” and the door is always open? (Saying that, 90% sure not interested in PE/buyside, somewhat done with banking + would like to try out more normal WLB, although experiencing mimetic desires…)
4. Corp Development / Strategy sounds exciting especially given the mix, what are the least interesting parts?
Not too much value to add, but I read this discussion the other day which doesn't answer all your questions, but was useful:
https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/investment-banking/corporate-deve…
Thanks for this - definitely is useful!
I worked in Corp Strat. We do some Corp dev. but more Corp Strat due to certain business specifics.
I have noticed people in Corp strat moving up the chain of command much more quickly than others in corporate due to higher visibility, greater perceived impact on the company. Few of my seniors were able to climb to C suite based on their performance in Strategy. Plenty of opportunities to lead different initiatives for the company. When C suite wants someone to run point on a new initiative, it so happens (maybe anecdotal evidence) that decent performers from Strategy gets the opportunity. Eventually Strategy guys are familiar with a couple of things beyond Strategy creation, helping them to gain clout as an operator.
If end goal is to climb the corporate ladder in your chosen industry and maybe even firm, would recommend corp strategy.
Thanks for your reply here and definitely in line with what I've heard from others. The team is relatively new (3 years old) and so part of my DD process on the company while interviewing was really understanding how big of an impact they had in the organisation and making sure they were not just verifying already made decisions, the ExCo's views on them, and exposure to senior leaders across the organisation.
Well, let me add some light on this dilemma, I had the same set of doubts when I took this job.
CEO and the board have some initial hypotheses, lets say that this market is going to be the next big thing or that product has potential etc. (They haven't decided on the direction here, but they have a hypotheses) Based on that hypothesis they will call up the strategy team to do the work and provide recommendations. Without the work we do, I doubt the CEO and the directors could make any decisions and stand by them, because strategy provides the underlining logic and factors all the while evaluating different other options as well (on how to reach the same goal) based on more tangible evidence.
So if your team isn't really starting this process, I would not discredit them, Top management and the Strategy team kind of works on this together. Top management is at the end accountable for all outcomes of the decisions they make hence, they will grill you just to be certain, creates a virtuous cycle in a sense. Strategy can openly talk about the options can even question the board (politely, as in to learn their logic), feel there is a lot of meaning in that kind of work.
The kind of work that sucks are the reports. Some corporate run of the mill work will come to you from time to time, for example, repetitive market share reports etc. Those are less (not) fun. Can be automated though.
Also the fact that this division was just set up is good news, means less structured, plenty of opportunities to contribute, I also joined at a similar timing.
Good luck!
I started off in banking for a few years out of undergrade and have since moved to various corporate finance roles (majority corp dev). I personally never regretted leaving banking due to the substantially better lifestyle in corporate, but there are definitely some days that I feel I could've grinded a bit more or should've just tried a couple of years in PE when presented with the opportunity.
Originally, my goal was to work my way up the corporate development ladder either through getting promoted or switching firms, but I recently got burned at my last corpdev job and switched my mindset towards more strategic finance / fp&a work. In my current role I'm working for a PE portfolio company reporting to the CFO doing a mix of fp&a, strategic finance, and corporate development - basically helping him build out the finance team and function. My main thought process was to gain more experience in other areas of finance outside of M&A to make myself more well rounded professionally. Do I see myself as a future CFO? Not really, but I would like to be in a VP role in the future where I get to dip my hand in a lot of different areas.
Anyway, back to your questions exits from corpdev are usually to other corpdev roles or more typical finance / fp&a roles. I've seen some corpdev guys jump to VC / PE and some back to IB all at smaller firms, but it'll be tough. In terms of least interesting parts it's all the red tape. In corpdev a lot of times you're not really owning anything (at least in my experience) in that you're moreso facilitating discussions between product, c suite, etc. and at the end of the day after going back and forth between all these parties you could end up doing a dumb deal or not doing a great deal because the CEO forces a decision. TBH this sounds dorky, but one of the more exciting things for me was modeling out different scenarios etc. quantitatively (hence my move to strategic finance / fp&a).
I wouldn't make the move unless you're sure you wouldn't want to go back to IB / PE based off of lifestyle, culture, etc. whatever it is really. If you still have gas in the tank and can grind another couple of years of work my suggestion would be to try PE even if you're only remotely interested. Grinding gets harder and harder as you get older (take it from a guy with a kid), so the time is now if you want to at least try it out. That being said if you move to corporate there are ways to go back to the IB / PE, etc. world and the move at the end of the idea can still be a great one.
Thinking about my future in the holidays as you do as I was wondering about a transition to strategy in-house. May I ask how much salary is typical in-house strategy and whats the growth like? E.g Strategy Associate => Manager => Head of team => head of revenue teams => c-suite? I wouldnt make the jump until from manager / senior manager level at consulting firms which pays ~£120k a year. What position would a manager / senior manager expect to move to at a FTSE100 firm for example? How much would they expect?
Only have information at my level, but total comp is ~£120k including bonus. Company underperformance means total comp is coming out more to like £105k though
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