Left banking for a startup, now doing an MBA. Should I go back to IBD? Seeking advice

A few years into IBD, I decided I wanted to build something, so I left to join a startup as senior management. The title looked great on paper. In reality, it was hollow.

My boss never handed me real authority: not over people, not over technology, not over business direction. What he actually wanted from me was fundraising. So that's what I did: I leveraged my network, ran raises, and spent my days in front of investors, competing in a brutally crowded space.

What I really wanted was to drive change for profits and value to the society: a technology overhaul, a shift in business direction, and a team of passionate people to build it with. But the existing team wouldn't move with me. Most of them had been with the founder for 7–20+ years and were effectively un-fireable to him. The younger, sharper people we recruited kept walking out the door for better jobs. I didn't see any of this clearly when I spoke to the team before joining, and honestly, part of me was probably too desperate to jump into a startup straight out of IBD to ask the hard questions. That's when I first felt I was drifting in the wrong direction.

Around then, the founder pulled me into another of his ventures: a brand-new entity chasing incubator funding, fresh team, different mandate. Same problem: the compensation was well below what the role deserved. But I put my head down and delivered. I built the fundraising proposal, and we closed a large round (with some conditions attached on the business side). Then, when it was time to actually build the business, I got pushed into a junior seat and, once again, underpaid.

I'll be honest that I didn't source the anchor investor myself. But beyond that, the team churned constantly, the dynamics were toxic, and there was a real undercurrent of hostility toward anyone with a banking background like mine. Eventually I'd had enough, and I left to do an MBA.

Part of that decision was about growth: meeting like-minded people, tapping into resources my undergrad never offered (my alma mater gave zero support for entrepreneurship), and sharpening my leadership and soft skills. But I'll admit the other part was strategic. I wanted a buffer, like time to breathe and reset, and I wanted employers to take a fresh look at me, this time with a master's degree behind my name and a cleaner story to tell as I step back toward the job market.

Now, during this break before school starts, something has become clear. It isn't nostalgia or some pull back toward the chaos, if anything, it's the opposite. The ignorance I was operating under has suddenly lifted. I can see the startup world for what it really was for me: too risky, too draining, and too often a place where I carried all the responsibility with none of the control. I don't want to relive the feast-or-famine grind, the sleepless nights, or the feeling of being used up and discarded once I'd served my purpose.

I got a small taste of this from the other side too. I've been volunteering to share operating views at a friend's VC firm, and I noticed something uncomfortable in myself: when I watched motivated founders pour everything into their startups, my gut reaction was almost a kind of dread, because I could already see how hard the odds are. I'd never say that to them: nothing is truly impossible, and I don't want to be the one who demotivates anyone — but I could also see that some of these companies are heading somewhere painful without near-term funding.

So here's where I'm stuck, and I'd genuinely value some honest perspectives:

- Do people still value a startup background, or will they read it as "didn't succeed, gives up easily"? How much does that stigma actually bite in recruiting?
- Should I target Restructuring or M&A, since they feel less sector-specific and more technical/skill-driven so that I could have a stable yet high income job?
- Or should I go buy-side instead? Where does someone with my background realistically fit best?
- And more broadly, given that finance is my bread and butter, what's the smartest way to actually use that, whether inside banking or somewhere adjacent to the startup world I clearly can't fully walk away from?

Appreciate any advice