What next step for my career (IB / PE / Military) that you would recommend?
Hello - I'm looking for genuine advice for what I should do for the next steps of my career. I did the whole IB / PE path and then joined the military to fulfill my sense of adventure and to give back. About to get out of the military due to family reasons. Kind of having a tough time deciding what I should do next for my career. I have about $1M in liquid asset and a house that is 1/3 paid for.
My long-term goal is to pursue entrepreneurship. Vague goal but I know I don't want to climb the corporate ladder. Just seems boring.
I don't have concrete ideas yet of what I want to build... I'm thinking of a few options:
1) Go to business school, which I believe I should be able to get into one of the three S/H/W. Scored really well on the GMAT / GRE. Won't cost me much money with the GI bill, just time. Network, raise some money and then go pursue entrepreneurship by acquisition.
2) Network to get into VC. Learn about different industries and then eventually start my own company
Sorry for the long post. I feel like this might be the only forum where I could ask like-minded, ambitious folks this type of question. Appreciate any advice!
You took a different path than most military. There are a lot of programs in place for direct transition without MBA but the problem you’ll face is they’re more oriented toward folks with no biz experience. Goldman VIP for example wouldn’t be as interesting for you.
I would suggest either hustling directly for what you want but simultaneously submit some apps for top b schools. It will give you optionally and if you already have the GMAT it won’t be a heavy lift. Maybe hustle for VC, some kind of startup (defense tech), or search fund if that’s of interest. I worked in finance while in the reserve and went to H/S MBA. It would open a lot of doors for you and give you a chance think about next steps. But you could also transition directly into whatever you want given your background.
Hi- OP here. Thank you for the response. Kind of an open-ended question, but where do most folks tend to go to after H/S if they want to pursue entrepreneurship? I don't think top VC firms hire a lot out of B-school so that can't be a mainstream option.
I would think of Stanford as more traditional entrepreneurship via startups. Harvard definitely has that route too. Another common thread across both is entrepreneurship through acquisition / search fund. Some do move into VC but it’s not a massive %. You can look up the placement stats for each school
This whole notion of pursuing entrepreneurship is somewhat flawed. You have runway - if you wanted to start something, just spend 6 months now trying to start something. Apply to accelerators/talent investors along the way.
Failure to do that, join a fast growing startup for a year or two first. What does an MBA or VC do for you as an entrepreneur? Teach you how to LARP? That’s a very small part of the founder pie.
Definitely thinking about joining a startup as well. Unfortunately, for the ones that I have good contacts at, I don't know the industries very well so don't really see how I would truly add values, since financial modeling is not really needed at a very early-stage startup.
Will look into accelerators as well. Thank you for the comment.
Four paths:
MBA - best if you aren’t whetted to working in finance. Will be your springboard into corporate roles, which honestly might be a really good place to land if you want / need WLB.
Banking - a lot of banks have veterans programs that you would be a shoe in for. Comes with all the downsides of working in IB.
Sector specific PE / VC - will require heavy heavy networking to get back into directly. Likely will land in a non major city and at a LMM fund honestly (might be better WLB but lower comp).
Corporate veterans programs - usually not at the most glamorous companies but would allow you to skip MBA.
It really just comes down to if you want to go back into high finance (ie: work 60-90 hours a week in a major city) or if you have other things in your personal life you need to prioritize.
What did you do in the military?
Can't be too specific since my community is very small. I was a staff officer that deployed to an area of conflict that was all-over the news.... Not special warfare or anything flashy like that though haha.
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