Would you quit IB to work at a midstage startup?

I had a friend who was a second year IB analyst at Lazard who quit to go work as an account executive at Uber pulling in around 40k a year. It seems like a huge downgrade money wise and career wise but he enjoys his job and is at one of the hottest industries in the tech world. What do you think?

6 Comments
 

It would be tough to adjust to a different work environment and different lifestyle (number of hours worked, smaller paychecks, etc...) But it doesn't seem like much of a downgrade to me though. At the end, it really depends on what you want do in the long-run, and if banking/finance isn't the answer for you after the first 2-3 years, why not explore? Taking risks is easier when you're younger. :-)

 

That seems odd, I've seen listings for jobs at Uber in finance that are looking for 2-3 years of IB experience that pay 150k if my memory is correct. To be honest, I could personally see myself doing that after two years, but not for 40k unless you were getting some equity, which you wouldn't at a company as mature as uber. At 6 figures I'd consider it, under 6 it'd be tough.

 

If you read the OPs post you would notice he said "account executive" aka sales. I would be willing to bet that the person in question is getting a 40k base and then a pretty hefty cut of his sales.

Follow the shit your fellow monkeys say @shitWSOsays Life is hard, it's even harder when you're stupid - John Wayne
 

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