Big Money vs. Prestige dilemma

Have you gotten a chance to speak with everyone else at the group yet? How do they like it there / what are their honest thoughts?

My guess is Lithuanian porn studio M&A

Unless it's a serious ethical issue, which you haven't directly mentioned but may have alluded to in some of your comments, there is literally no other reason you shouldn't take a 380k/yr tc at 21 or 22. 

There is probably some underlying prestige alone in the fact that they're paying you that much off the jump, and there's probably nothing to worry about if you were to decide to move. 

This is an opportunity that is unfathomable to probably 99.99% of all college students, including some of the best prospects I've personally seen. You are literally positioned to be a multimillionaire before 30.

The fact that there's even a smidgen of hesitation in your decision makes me believe 

a) You're trolling to stir responses because of how ridiculous this concept is

b) The fact that you're even taking a second to hesitate with this answer and are absolutely blinded by prestige, and can be influenced so easily that you considering another opportunity that, on paper, impresses a bunch of finance nerds on a forum - is a little pathetic

Once again - unless this 380k job brings some sort of ethical dilemma to you - in which case I would absolutely not take that kind of job no matter how much they paid - literally take it. If not, send the company info my way so I can beg them for the position.

NY VC all the way,

but just make sure to refer me to the 380k role plz thx

"Prestige is not the company name on your business card, it's the number on your paycheck." - Anton Kreil

“Being nobody with a lot of cash” literally my dream. You can literally go whevrver or do whatever to want, with little to no remorse. If you’re bothered about prestige then go for it but that very quickly evaporates. Prestige is the easiest thing to obtain if you have a good amount of cash (any country this holds true)

If I were you, take the opportunity.

Best tips for networking?

If you can’t provide more details, no one can give you advice on what role to take. I’ll offer some considerations though.

Corp dev as a function vs. VC or banking provides less optionality career wise. A subset of roles post VC and many post banking will be a much harder transition into. So understand that you’ll be giving up optionality.
 

Another corp dev role will not pay you anywhere close to $400k until you attain a VP title in the US. So if you ever decide to come back to the US, you will likely take a paycut in the near term.

Working abroad often doesn’t translate well to US experience and will be discounted unless you cover the region you have experience in for multinational or global company.

If you are going to do any business in an emerging or developing country, understand that there is a level of ‘’moral flexibility’  and associated political risk that you need to be comfortable with. At best you’ll have to function in a legal gray zone and at worst you’ll outright be doing illegal activities. If you break major US laws abroad, like money laundering or bribing politicians, you could face legal consequences in the US even if whatever you are doing doesn’t get prosecuted abroad. Moreover, if there is political turmoil abroad, you could find yourself in trouble if you aligned yourself with the wrong entities.

Now not knowing the details of the corp dev role, including its location, ~$400k is a lot of money to turn down. You could be making close to that amount or more post banking within a few years in an investing role but nothing is guaranteed. However, I’d deeply consider what type of position you want to work in long term, where you want to work, and political risk. 

You are assigning a unit of value to prestige, and another unit of value to money. Right now, you are conflicted about exactly how valuable prestige is to you relative to money. If you were to be offered $100,000 for a highly prestigous job, and $200,000 for a not prestigious job but you want to take the lower paying one, then you value presitge at >$100k.

Let me ask you this; if you were offered $1m per year to be a GS partner (their salary) or $10m per year as the owner of a decent size plumbing business, which one would you choose? I can tell you I would take the $10m income per year plumbing business. With that, I can do whatever I want, and I honestly don't care what people will think about me, because hey, I'm rich, and I can buy pretty much whatever I want.

Outside of your family, your partner, and your real friends, why do you care what anyone else thinks? If some rando on the internet thinks more highly about you because they think you are a GS partner, what value does that give you in your life? If that honestly gives you some form of happiness or satisfaction then hey, I'm not here to judge. But think critically about who you are trying to prove your value to through prestige.

At the end of the day, money talks. Why is Mark Cuban famous / how did he get famous? He sold a company that you probably can't name for $6bn to Yahoo at the height of the dotcom boom. Is he more prestigous than a GS partner? He went to non-targets, does that matter? I would definitely rather be him than H/Y/P -> GS -> MF PE -> HBS.

What about Charlie Mullins (who??). He founded Pimlico Plumbers in London and sold it for £150m. He didn't finish high school.

The good thing is that you are young. Hopefully as you get older, some of these things become more clear, and what you care about changes as well. I know it did for me, and when I was younger like many people wanted to be super rich and powerful. But as you get older, your priorities change and you start to value other things, and that's perfectly ok. It's your life, live it at your speed and through your own lens, don't spend it looking through other people's eyes.

This website and the idea of “prestige” has a lot of you in a chokehold. If the reason you don’t want to take the job is because it forces you to be away from family and friends - that’s completely understandable and I wouldn’t take it either. But if that’s not the only reason, to sacrifice 100’s of thousands of dollars (assuming ~$400k total comp @21) for the idea of “prestige” is flat out dumb 

In the words of the great Bankarella:  "Fuck prestige, get money".  Those words have served me well. 

Prestige is really only supposed to be a factor at the margins (i.e. all else being equal).  Two identical offers - sure you go with prestige.  But aside from that, what will prestige get you that $400K a year at 21 can't?  

You seem to be more concerned with people's perceptions of what you do then what you do.  Rest assured as you get older those concerns will fall by the wayside once you realize very few others actually know what they're doing.  You have an opportunity at a golden goose this early in life - don't blow it. 

Unless you see yourself working there (either the company, industry or location) for 10 years or so, it’s not worth it. Switching back will be hard. Leaving that much on the table will be hard. And you sure as shit won’t get 380k in America for a similar role. And if you do, it will be as a high level independent consultant in your field for American companies. Nothing else would really make sense financially or based on the resume you would have.

Assuming this is even real, do you really trust they will pay you 380k? What happens if you move out there and settle in and they give you much less? Does this country have legal recourse in that instance? Are you positive its not local currency? I assume its either oil or precious metals (hope you like the heat and/or child labor!) but I am having a tough time believing they are dishing out $380k in USD for a corp dev role to a kid who is still wet behind the ears. Maybe they are using you for your pedigree (putting HYP logo on decks profiling team) and will dump you for the next schmuck grad after a year. Still doesn’t really make sense though. If real, DM application or give me a referral in a year or two lol.

As my uncle Lenny used to say, "money talks, bullshit walks."

First understand that neither side is the sucker’s play any more than the other side is, for the average person.

Prestigious jobs pay you less than they would otherwise need to, because they know the talent pool is mostly bootlicking achiever types who will accept prestige as alternate currency.  Even the top PE firms that pay so much, would pay more if they didnt have the additional cachet of being able to drop their name and feel like you’re “somebody”.  

Similarly, employers in emerging markets pay out the nose because they know they’re weak elsewhere.  The work experience, exit options and overall life may be much worse, so they hide it with big comp.

You’re asking the right question, which is who do you want to be a few years later.  But I’m surprised to hear you pass off the more lucrative role as leaving you “a nobody with money”.  You sure VC will make you any more of a somebody? I think the track record on that is spotty at best. A baller in VC is someone who can raise a fund, and that’s much more often an ex founder than an ex VC junior/mid.  

Meanwhile the corp dev work overseas might prove to be valuable experience that gives you a leg up in your next goal, to go along with the money.

Its really case specific and a function of who you want to be long term and which place you’d rather be in a few years from now.

But in the absence of more specifics, I’d take the dough.  I can be confident that it will be an important ingredient in my next step (buys me time/flexibility to identify and locate the best opportunity to pursue).  I’m not as confident that the prestige employer will really deliver on the nubulous value of brand or experience.  Happy to adjust with more specifics.

> so they treat anyone from a top school in the UK/US as a God amongst men

This exists in many parts of the world, but it surefire tell that you are not in the right rooms even in those countries.

The money is the deciding factor if you could see yourself staying in that part of the world. Do you think you’d actually learn anything? Have fun? Is the company known for being good at what they do?

It also depends if you worked at a well known IB, and what the VC firm is. If you have a VC offer at a well known VC fund then this is a different question compared to some random NYC fund with $300m in AUM that is only known in their specific field of focus. And a hard pass if this VC is a net new COVID cheap money era fund - likelihood of Fund II getting money will be low.

Having emerging markets experience is also cool and valuable, and something you could leverage later on if you wanted to come back. Red Notice is a really cool book / example of EM investing.

I’m Canadian, and a lot of senior investing folks from our pension funds go to the gulf states for a few years to make $$$$ and then come back after. I’m seeing more juniors do the same, so who knows.

Personally, if you like the country and think you could learn stuff with the new company I’d take that over VC

Sounds like you have a lot of personal problems if you care about what other people think regarding your income… therapy might benefit you