Would you rather work at be an Analyst at Centerview or a founder of a Series A Startup
Title, would love to hear your guys thoughts on this
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This is the stupidest thing I’ve seen on here today
Just a hypothetical question buddy...
I'll humor you, but as someone who left finance to start a company, I'm incredibly biased.
So I'll take the other side and tell you why you should be a Centerview Analyst.
At the series A you have a 12% chance of a successful exit, which is worse odds than a dice roll. You shudder at the thought of gambling your career. Centerview has a stellar analyst program and allegedly pays above market as you progress. The firm invests in talent beyond the typical 2 years and out model and can be a stable, long-term career that can make you a millionaire over the next decade if you play your cards right.
Worse case scenario, you move to an even more lucrative gig on the buyside since the exit opps are solid. Maybe buyside isn't your style, all good, there are a few corp dev spots where you can take a more strategic approach at a F500. It's practically 9-5 and you've got a great set of hobbies and relationships outside of work. Life is paradise.
But maybe you're wondering what the Series A founder has been up to...
Your friend running a Series A company is aging like reverse Benjamin Button as they scramble to maintain lightning in a bottle. They're either growing faster than they can handle or have hit a plateau and need to find a way back to growth. They're rapidly executing 7 different jobs from closing sales to running payroll but still feel like everything moves so slowly. They're simultaneously tired and excited every time you meet them because it's a still a grind at this stage. They have friends but many are founders where they do group "founder therapy", i.e. air out their business challenges.
One day you read something that reminds you of them so you grab coffee at 8:00am on Saturday (the only time they're free) to catch up with them. Throughout the conversation they're overflowing with energy and enthusiastically share details about specific problems they're facing. They are clearly stressed but they're smiling the whole time. You remember something important you wanted to ask them so you do: "Would you rather work at be an analyst at Centerview or a founder of a Series A startup?"
They look at you, pause, inhale quickly, and respond: "That is the stupidest thing I’ve heard today."
As much as I hate the politics of CVP's founder and his affiliation with Hilary Clinton, it's a no brainer. Also an alumni friend of mine works for a corporate development team of one of their clients. He seems to really like them and we have similar professional personalities.
At Series A, it's pretty normal to cash out a bit during the raise.
IE raise $10m
Founder gets $1m - $2m
So I'd way rather be the founder
Probably very fund dependent but I wouldn't say it's pretty normal to cash out anything at Series A. We, for example, would only allow it under exceptional circumstances. But you are right, it happens.
Very very normal.
Source: Have personally made 7 figures via selling during Series A transactions across a few cos
Here's the thing: great founders don't think like this. They feel compelled by an idea & want nothing more than to will it into existence. If you're trying to rationalize being a founder vs. something else and trying to calculate odds of success & expected value, you've already lost. Zuckerberg, Jobs, Larry & Sergey, none of them gave a **** about money. They cared deeply about a problem, loved their products, and wanted to bring them into the world. If you aren't built like that, don't be a founder.
Yeah I get that, but was wondering if anyone else had a similar dilemma (IB vs. Pursuing a startup) and wanted to hear their through process. Not every sucessful founder was willing to drop everything to pursue their idea I'd imagine
The thing is, building a startup is so hard and such a grind for a long time that you need to have insane passion for what you're building to get through it. Can you dedicate 100 hour weeks for 10 years straight, paying yourself nothing in the meantime, and every day have to convince skeptical recruits, investors, customers, and the press that you're onto something great? Great founders don't hesitate, they're compelled. And sadly, the expected value is 0 since the chances of success are so low. You can't cost-benefit analysis your way to rationalize being a founder. You have to really want it, otherwise you really shouldn't do it.
Yeah man I think Zuckerberg really cared about solving the problem of how to efficiently rate college girls on campus
Then he dropped out of college after his sophomore year & moved cross country to devote his life to his company. A year later he turned down $1B offer to sell it. He lived on a mattress in a studio within walking distance of the office for years because all he did was work. Let's not get this twisted.
Founder. Don't care about the economics. I want to build things.
Trying to make the jump before my golden handcuffs tighten too much.
Interesting thread
Not sure I have what it takes to be a founder but nevertheless, Founder
What kind of a question is this?! Of course the founder of a series A startup. The Series A startup is like a gigantic free call option and your only job is to get that call option in the money. The expiration of the call option is how much runway you have.
The Centerview analyst has no such upside and even if the startup doesn't end up being successful in the end, if you can make it last a couple of years by burning as little cash as possible your base salary from the start-up will likely equal that of a boutique IB analyst.
Regardless it takes two completely different personality types and two completely different risk takers. One is a deep OTM call option while the other like like a bond paying out a steady & growing coupon.
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