Sell 7-figure business for EB?
Hi all,
In a bit of a conundrum here and would be interested in your opinions.
I have an EB FT 2022 offer in hand for NYC and have heard good things about the team culture.
The issue is that the business I founded is valued at around $1.5m at the moment that could potentially be sold at any time with 1-2 months of intense work (booming demand for my business type). I feel confident I could do it all again if required and really enjoy the autonomy of 'being my own boss' vs the opposite of that in IB which I spent a summer doing last year. Because of this, IB long-term isn't really an option, I'd be looking to do it for 1-2 years for the development of a different skillset (professional skills, seeing how a larger org operates, working in a larger team etc.) and the likely benefit of having IB on the resume for raising capital for any future businesses (I assume this will have a significant impact on ability to raise capital by showing I have a professional side as well?).
Essentially, I feel I currently have the skillset of building a low 7-figure business but want to expedite the process of learning how to build/attract the right investors to get to 8 figures, and I'm wondering if a year or two in IB will help me to do that.
Part of me feels crazy for even considering the IB offer, but another part says it may be the prudent long-term move as I see many of the most successful startup founders (in terms of capital raised) these days have spent a few years in a professional setting, whether that be IB/PE/consulting and find that trend hard to ignore.
Regardless of how much I automate, doing both IB and business is a no-go really as I'm fairly confident the business will die a slow death, so it's one or the other for a year or two really.
All opinions appreciated, thanks!
You're sitting on a 7-figure business and you want to do banking?? Banking is for those trying to get into your position, not the other way around. I can't imagine giving up a successful business to go make pitchbooks and update the diligence tracker in a dataroom.
How exactly will the banking experience equip you to make an 8-figure business? You're correct in that most modern founders have prior work experience; however, you already have solid experience (i.e. building a successful business). If you're looking to start a new business, I'm confident a successful exit from your current business will be worth more than banking on your resume for capital raising purposes.
Maybe I'm a bit jaded being salaried my whole career, so far; I personally dream about starting my own business.
How will building pitchbooks, spreading comps, and aligning logos help you do that? I'm genuinely curious as I've been an analyst for 6 months and have not learned anything regarding how to attract the right investors to move up from a 7 figure to an 8 figure business. If any other analyst has had a different experience, please chime in.
I will say its more true now than ever before that raising financing for early stage businesses (especially technology) depends heavily on founder pedigree. Raising 1-2 mill (7 figures) is legitimately free in this environment if you're someone that went to a good school and has work experience that venture funders value (big tech SWE, MBB consulting, EB/BB banking or MF PE). I think it's a little different when you're selling a business altogether (so they know the founder is leaving and care only about the asset not the staff), but for future purposes of launching a business, having good work experience can be helpful getting that next round of funding to go from 7 to 8 figures.
If you went to a hypertarget (WYD/Oxbridge/LSE), you already have the pedigree to attract investors.
If you didn't, working in IBD won't change a thing.
Please stop spamming. Whether you went to Dartmouth or LSE (neither are prestigious by the way), no one gives a shit. Have some self-respect.
Lmao Dartmouth and LSE are the most prestigous undergrad schools, along with Yale, Wharton and Oxbridge. The only schools that even come close to WYD/Oxbridge/LSE is USC or UCSB
The irony of you flexing going to Stanford whilst falling for a shitpost