What school/degree? Goal: Become a financial expert and resource for early-stage founders.
I've been digging around WSO for a while now and it seems like most of the feedback on the best schools is geared towards IB.
What degree path would help me accomplish my goals?
Goal: Become a financial expert and resource for early-stage founders.
I don't care about the prestige of the school, I want a quality education.
Background:
BAS in Residential and Commercial Property Management, 3.44GPA (VP/Deans List 6 out of 9 last quarters). Worked full time during the program and had twins during my jr. year with my wife. Managed a lot but am thankful to be done with my undergrad.
No GMAT or GRE yet.
I have experience as a co-founder (I helped with operations and fundraising) of a successful manufacturing company. I also am on the board for a 110+ year old company with over $120m in annual revenue.
Early on in my career, I decided to take a shot and apply for high-level positions and accept well below industry pay for the opportunity to prove myself/gain experience.
As a 30yo who has done a lot of networking and been exposed to a lot of high level leadership I now know that I want to hone my skills in investment analysis and become a resource for others who are starting companies.
Most founders don't understand equity structures, or how to raise money. I want to be a support to them.
Is an MS in Finance a good option?
What school would be a good fit? I don't care about the prestige of the school, I want a quality education.
I've had conversations with Purdue, ASU, Seattle University...
Thank you for your help!
By early stage I assume you mean pre-seed/seed/series A.
Most early stage founders do not need a financial expert. Most just need capital to test their idea's product market fit. If it gains traction; VCs will be lining up to have a meeting and they will deal with all the financial stuff until they assign a CFO around Series C. For this reason many early stage startups do not have CFO's. Typically early stage startups do not worry much about financial information other than CAC, LTV, and Burn Rate. (Which any high schooler can calculate)
Maybe I don't understand what you are trying to do. Could you go into more detail about your career goals?
There is a reason why MBB does not have specialists in the startup scene. Startups cannot afford advisory services in most cases. It is probably the same for financial advisors.
But to answer your question. The obvious choices are GSB, Haas, and HBS. These three schools all have a very strong network in the valley. You really stressed quality education. Most accredited flagship state universities will provide a quality MBA education. The only reason I mentioned those above is for the network. You are probably going to use the same Steve Blank book at Stanford that you would use at ASU. The only difference is that Steve Blank will be teaching the course at Stanford.
By early stage, I do mean pre-seed/seed/series A.
I'm a little hesitant to share my career goals because it seems a bit ambitious. But... my long-term goal would be to start my own version of an incubator later in my career - offering advisory services in exchange for equity.
Educational goals would be to get pretty comfortable with different valuation methods, M&A, cash-flow analysis, modeling, and forecasting, etc...
The MS Finance degree is appealing because of the high level of expertise in the above categories with only 9-12 months of school (as opposed to the 2-3 years for an MBA).
Thank you for the feedback!
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