Turing down IB FT offer to run my startup?
Sort of a unique situation here, but would appreciate any insight.
I'm supposed to start my FT IB job in the next few weeks. Want to keep things pretty vague so no one figures out who I am, but I'm supposed to start working at a lower BB/EB (UBS, Greenhill, etc).
However, all through college I've had a startup, but recently during Coronavirus quarantine I spent a lot of time on it and really got it going. Currently, I have ~40k in revenue for the year and am on track to make just under 100k this year. It's a software company, so I could theoretically keep scaling it. I think it's reasonably likely I could grow it slowly- say, I could be doing 300k in revenue in 3 years. There's a slim chance it could grow really fast and get over $1M+ in revenue, and obviously there is also a chance that it blows up and next year I get 0 revenue.
I'm really on the fence about whether I should give up on the startup and go work my IB job. My fear is that I'm working at a non-top bank, so my exit ops will be somewhat limited. On the other hand, going to work at a startup is a huge risk, I'd be turning down a guaranteed $100k+, and if the startup flops I would feel like a complete clown. However, being my own boss at a startup would be awesome, and I think if things work out even somewhat, I could just get an MBA or try to get a VC job if I wanted to go back into the finance world in a few years. I would also need to renege on my FT offer, which I don't think is a huge deal because it's not like I'm going to a different bank, but could this possibly haunt me later if I wanted to go into IB/MBA/other finance eventually? Also, it would pretty much be impossible to keep the startup up and running while working in IB. I could basically put it on hold (and make 0 revenue during my IB stint) and try to get it back up to speed in 2 years, but I worry about competition and if I don't innovate at all in two years I could definitely lose the edge.
Let's say my startup fails in two years- do you think I could get back into IB as someone with 2 years of experience running a startup? I have a reputable IB SA on my resume, but I imagine it would be hard to get back into IB without the help of campus recruiting. On the other hand, I'm worried that this is my one shot to scale this startup and if I go into IB, I might regret it forever.
Would appreciate any advice. Thx
Apologies didnt read the whole thing
Dude I say fucking run it. A lot of People do IB so that they can get some of the action your getting now someday. When your 50, you have regrets for the things you didnt do. I really dont know if you can break back in, but I would think weigh the risks and your confidence in your startup. I would run it personally.
I was about to tell you "don't ruin your life over a shitty app idea", but then I read and it turns out you're actually generating good cash. Grow your startup, sounds fun. Worse case scenario, you'll have a good story to tell for MBA applications. Best case scenario, you hire an investment bank for your IPO.
Go for the startup
lol big Zuckerberg energy right here
if I were you I’d 100% stick with your startup. you can definitely come back to IB, and even if it were to flop, I don’t think it’d be as embarrassing as you personally think it would be - most, if not everyone, would respect that you gave your business a fair shot and took a big risk over something guaranteed.
stick with the startup, dedicate IB hours to it, and you’ll kill it. now is the time to take risks, especially at your age, especially where there’s massive upside and very limited downside. I honestly think it’s a no brainer
Having helped launch a business from the ground up before, it takes a lot of work. I spent a year and a half getting a brewery off the ground while working full time. Whenever I wasn't dealing with the day job, my nights and weekends were spent trying to develop all of the corporate strategy, financial and operating plans, market research, etc., and was traveling every other weekend to see my business partners. Even though I was the business guy, I had to know every aspect of the business inside and out. This meant being able to contribute creatively if they asked for my ideas for beer, understand the plant layout and how important facility design is, be able to argue the differences between different methods of distribution, and understand the legal aspects of things (especially in a highly regulated market that has government oversight).
While it's nice to see that your business is making money, I have a few questions. A lot of these are rehashes, but you seriously need to answer these questions before you can get any real advice. How do you plan to fund the business and yourself while getting this off the ground? Do you have any partners in the business? What is your role in particular in the business? What is your "team" like and consist of? Do you trust your partners to handle their business or do you need to oversee them? What kind of software are you developing (high level here)? How competitive is the space? Is this something brand new and never been done or are you doing something novel in an existing space? How much of the work are you doing by yourself versus outsourcing? What do you expect your role to be if you grow the business? How do you and your partners plan to bankroll the company during the early stages? While you clearly have a proof of concept, do you really want to take VC funding or do this organically? If you were to stay in Banking, what would your end goal be?
If you don't feel comfortable answering these questions openly, don't hesitate to PM me. I'd be glad to discuss.