Which offer to take, spacetech consulting or VC? I have time to decide until this weekend.

I have been working at a fintech VC as an Investment Analyst for a couple months now but I also have an offer from a space-focused management consulting firm and I am wondering which one to take. My long term goal is VC, but it would be nice to become an expert in spacetech (while still being able to invest in other fields too).

I think the VC offer would be the more obvious one from a first look, because if your goal is VC then do VC. The issue is that my background is in finance, I haven't done any studies or worked in anything related to spacetech, so perhaps gaining some expertise in this area as a management consultant would be a better first step and then switching back to VC. The issue in the equation is:

  1. Will VC in spacetech take off? Right now its very early stages so there are not a lot of spacetech startups out there. The question is whether this will change, i.e. will there be a place for small startups/SMEs in spacetech or will it be more of a big boys game dominated mostly by large companies with lots of resources (e.g. Google, SpaceX etc.).

  2. Will I be able to gain knowledge/skills in space consulting that could be valuable for a startup if I joined one? If not, this background probably won't be that interesting for a VC either. Its a bit vague to me what kind of projects I would be working on and what kind of positions I could fill in a startup afterwards, especially since I dont have an engineering/space background.

  3. Will I be able to get my foot back into VC if I leave. One of the most difficult part of VC as you know is getting your feet in. Once you're in, you're in as with many fields within the buyside. The issue is that Ive only been an Analyst for a couple months so I only have one foot in the door. It is uncertain whether I could get back if I leave now.

Thoughts? I have time until this weekend to decide.

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Yes, that was me, was hoping to get some more responses as I still havent made my mind up.

 

Yes, that was my main concern staying in VC... I have internship experience at boutique IBs, at a large long-only asset management firm and at an early-stage startup as a business dev. This isnt that special in VC however and I feel like Im just one of many without any differentiation. To add to that, the VC Im at is pretty new still so there isnt a ton of accumulated knowledge in the firm which is an advantage and a disadvantage at the same time for various reasons.

I had to decide today and decided to stick with VC in the end. Hope I didnt make a mistake...

 

Honestly both options sound so good that here you have to go with what interests you the most. Are you particularly passionate about the future of fintech? Maybe you love an especific portfolio company? Then go VC. Do you instead find more interesting the emerging industry that will be space travel? Then go management consulting. Imagine telling girls at the bar that you are a space consultant.

Just my two cents. Congrats on securing two great options.

 

Im not particularly interested in fintech but spacetech on the other hand is a risky bet for me to specialize on because of the 3 points I listed in my original post.

I decided to reject the space consulting offer but Im already having serious second-thoughts.

 
Most Helpful

Former M&A Banker current M&A Consultant. I've also sat on two start-up Boards of Techstars alumni. Here to provide some--anecdotal--thoughts. 

Main takeaways:

- At your YOE level and long-term goal of VC, VC seems to be the best decision (Advantage: VC)

- Space Consulting will likely have projects that lean more into operational/finance & accounting/CFO strategy best practices focused instead of growing the core business, finance proper/thinking like equity, etc. This seems to run at odds with your short & long-term goals (Advantage: VC)

- Let's assume spacetech does not takeoff, at your level you can easily pivot the core toolkit of knowledge gained in either the Consulting or VC field to do something else. Again, given your goals, VC seems to be the best option (Advantage: VC)

- IMO start-ups would value someone with strong VC knowledge over Consulting (Advantage: VC)

- The most important Consulting skills can mostly be learned outside of Consulting without much work. The most important VC skills can be read about outside of VC, but really never mastered unless you're in it  (Advantage: VC) 

- Getting into Consulting with a VC background is not challenging. Getting into VC with a Consulting background is very challenging. Having prior VC experience will only cause future VCs to ask, 'what made you leave in the first place?' and your answer needs to be more than just logical (Advantage: VC)

Good luck and let us know where you land. 

 

+1 banana, thanks for the insightful comment! I came to very similar conclusions but it is nice to see it confirmed by someone else.

I ended up rejecting my space consulting offer and sticking with VC. Hopefully I will still be able to somehow specialize on spacetech later.

 

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