PHD->MBB/quant/swe -> VC?

I just defended my dissertation for my PHD in applied+computational math at a top school (think stanford/mit/princeton/harvard), and I have a few job offers. I really want to get out of academia, and I dont want to earn minimum wage as a post doc for 5 years b4 reaching tenure. My end goal is venture capital, but I also really want to make some money asap (I've been earning under living wage for the past 5 years). Here are my offers:

Top Tech company - Google/FB level - sf: 300k, but i think i can negotiate a higher sign-on to make it ~3350k

Quant Research at a Citadel/de shaw/jane street type place (ny/chicago): 425k

Mckinsey/Bain - (ny at one, sf at other): standard post-mba offer ~200k 

I have done internships at the first 2, and have close connections/friends there, but I dont know anyone in consulting or vc.

Thanks

6 Comments
 

I would probably rank it

SWE->MBB->Quant->Gov’t

my reasoning is you can probably do SWE then go to a start up then VC as the easiest route. I’m sure MBB is also possible but usually you’re consulting for large corporations not start ups so you’re playing in a different world than VCs. Quants just make a shit ton of money but I don’t think it would be too relevant to VC (unless you did the start up route first but that’s a reach) 

Edit: I’m just a 1st year in IB so I don’t have great insight, this is just my opinion from what I’ve seen/read. Hope others with more info will chime in. 

 
Most Helpful

It's very true. Think of the skill sets required. VC is largely a sourcing + network driven ecosystem. Your pedigree is great and all, but honestly not much value add given VC's don't really need your depth of knowledge to understand & invest in most companies. On the flip side seed stage VC (where perhaps deep technical expertise would add more value) is turning into a complete and utter clusterfuck of writing checks and hoping one hits unicorn status.

This is the same reason SWE -> VC is not common and generally difficult.

 

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