Startup ops > IB w/o an MBA. Has anyone actually done it?
Long post, but I'd rather give the full context than get generic advice. I'm trying to get into some sort of financial services role and can't seem to crack it. If anybody is kind enough to offer some sort of advice, I would seriously appreciate it. Feeling incredibly stuck and this is a desperation message. My story below:
I've always been interested in financial services, but I didn't really dive deep into it until later in college. I don't think I understood how competitive it was, or how early you have to get in to even have a shot.
Timeline:
Junior year: corporate finance internship. That's around when I started learning more about investment banking and got seriously interested.
Senior Year: Graduated with a finance degree, then went straight into a one-year master's in finance to get more experience.
Summer between Sr Year & Masters: Internship in private wealth, roughly half private wealth and half equity research (ER sat inside the private wealth arm)
Winter/spring of my master's: IB internship at a MM generalist firm- What I didn't know at the time was that it was never meant to convert. They hired a full-time person at the same time they hired me, and he started the week my internship ended. No offer. They referred me to a few places, but nothing landed, and I couldn't afford to sit without a job upon graduating.
So upon graduating, I took my next best option which was an operations role at a startup
That was 2.5 years ago. The startup has done really well, and the work has been better than I expected. I've had to own decisions end to end- making the calls and then living with them. I've worked across a lot of different teams building processes instead of working inside one, sat in on executive-level decisions with clients, and taken on consultative work with clients implementing technology in their business. A lot of it has been dealing with ambiguity and constant pressure to perform without much direction and a lot more responsibility earlier than most people get. But it isn't finance and my job is just not paying me enough, and at this point I'm not interested in this space at all. I want to spend my career in finance long term.
The problem: telling my story. Coming from a startup with no finance specific ties to it, I'm technically proficient in things most people in the process don't recognize or care about, and I can't seem to make it translate. I've had a lot of interviews - a few smaller IBs and a few investment firms hiring junior talent, but none of them convert to an offer. I've been networking heavily, so people know my name and know what I'm looking for, and still nothing has come of it.
Has anyone here seen someone transition from startups into finance without an MBA? If so, what did that path actually look like? I'm willing to start from zero. I'm just stuck and I can't stay in this job much longer. Any advice would be appreciated, or feel free to just give me a slap in the face and tell me to move on. Honestly any sort of honesty is appreciated at this point, and if anyone is willing to connect offline and is in Manhattan, I'd love to buy you a coffee or lunch to talk further or even hop on a call.
