Life after MBB

What are the alternatives beyond the classic go work for a client scenario? What other moves have you guys seen work? What moves have totally flopped?

I ask because I'm at an MBB now (post-MBA, associate/consultant-level) and plan to stick around for at least a couple more years, but I want to choose projects that will set me up for the next big thing.

 

I think starting up your own thing is pretty popular. For that, you want to be exposing yourself to all kinds of projects (Strat, Ops, Marketing, M&A, etc.) to cover the gamut of issues you'd face as a entrepreneur.

I've seen people go to a corp start role. Someone of these can be large teams and formal. Some can be very unique and 2-3 man teams under the CEO. I know a guy that travels the world to seek out new fashion trends and reports them back to the CEO (works at a fashion company).

I think there are more "unique" consulting companies out there to go to as well. I've stumbled upon SYPartners, looks cool.

 

If finance is the exit opp you want, it's primarily BAs or Partners, I think. Maybe a few Principals.

Most people I've seen leave in the middle have gone to corporate roles. Not sure whether it's all "middle management drudgery" or not, but I think most people who either want to leave or get pushed out in the middle have families, want to see them more, and end up in verticals that interest them.

A few went to strategy roles at startups, one or two to non-profit.

FYI, this isn't hearsay, but is limited to the people at my firm and in my region/office

Life, liberty and the pursuit of Starwood Points
 

Fairly certain there's past posts you can read about MBB exit opps. Just do a LinkedIn search and a whole host of things will pop up.

At my office, leaving at CTL usually puts you at a Director/VP level positions. I've seen a lot go into strategy roles but definitely varies. Recent principal departure to an SVP role at a bank.

Very few exit into PE (one recent departure did but he also had a PE background), probably a mix of a) are not likely to get the position and b) are transitioning out of consulting because of the lifestyle and want something less stressful.

 
Best Response

A few thoughts based on experiences stemming from my time in consulting:

1) Get yourself on relevant projects - If you want to work for Google, then work on technology projects; if you want PE, then work on due diligence engagements, etc.

2) Headhunters - you'll get cold calls/emails from various headhunters looking to place you. This can be another avenue for your next position.

3) Co-Workers - I had a couple co-workers/managers leave the consulting firm while I was there who after leaving tried to poach me away. If you're interested in a certain industry/firm then try to stay in touch with people who've left to go to those places. In addition, lots of consulting firms have an alumni networking site so you can even reach out that way.

4) Senior Folk - Assuming you know this person fairly well and have done good work for them, can always ask a partner or other senior-level person for a referral to a company you're interested in going to. In the vast majority of cases, they'll be happy to set you up.

 

My suggestion is to start reaching out to alumni and getting informational interviews. I would be targeted in my search e.g. I want to do finance at a tech company. Once you get a chance to talk to the alum then you need to follow up, a lot of roles are going to go unadvertised or are going to be advertised, but are truly black holes and will ultimately be filled via an internal candidate or a referral, you need to figure out how to get them. So every month get back to them, check in and just stay on their radar. Keep repeating, figure out your 10 dream firms and go from there, keep widening the net.

 

Agree with the networking advice above...if your firm offers placement assitance...would not start your clock before Feb...Jan is very slow. Not knowing your background hard to be specific about your options. Generically, consultants either end in a strategy role (as part of an internal strategy shop) or a strategy function within a business line. The assumption being you do not know enought about the business to actually take on a business role right out of the gate. A couple years in strat then you parlay that into a line role. Good luck.

 

For finance I was not really thinking along the lines of IBD - I don't think creating pitch book after pitch book is much better... I thought maybe PE or HF (I am at a point where I wouldn't mind a small/unknown firm)? What are your thoughts on that? I would love to do a startup - I am just not sure I have any sustainable ideas I could live from in the long run. Sorry if this all sounds a bit confused, I am just at a point of frustration where I know I need a change, I am just not sure where to go...

I like pickles...
 
Do your own startup? If you're deciding between that and something else, I would do something else. Doesn't sound like you really have a solid plan there, but maybe I'm wrong.
You are exactly right - I don't have a solid plan for that :-( My fear is that if the startup (whatever that might be) doesn't take off, even with a very good plan (nothing is foolproof, right?), I would have burnt a lot of cash but would be back at Square 1. On the other hand I have a few friends that did launch their own thing and are very happy/successful today...
I like pickles...
 

How many Starwood Points do you have? I would just wait until you hit 60k, because you can trade them for for 50k airline miles and five free nights at a Category 3 resort (Westin, Four Points, Sheraton).

THEN you can quit.

 

As a 1.5 yrs in MBB consultant with formerly 200k Starwood points earned (to a commenter's question), I totally hear you and agree. I'm interviewing now with startups. You should do some informational interviews -- consultants are actually quite spoiled with intellectually stimulating work at least some of the time; the stuff you'll be doing elsewhere in business analytics isn't going to be materially different or better.

Now, if you want a non-intellectual challenge, starting your own thing isn't the worst you could do. Nor is something in social impact for a year before business school. But do your homework first... banking isn't "intellectual," either.

 
As a 1.5 yrs in MBB consultant with formerly 200k Starwood points earned (to a commenter's question), I totally hear you and agree. I'm interviewing now with startups.
Are you looking at established startups (e.g. Foursquare) or smaller ones? May be a stupid question but how do you go about finding them?
I like pickles...
 

Quite a few of the MBB friends I have had who really wanted something more challenging went to somewhat established startups in pretty high level strategy roles. This seems probably be your best bet but you need to do more research to see if you would really like the work. It's probably not THAT materially different outside of the fact that you'll have more decision making power.

 

That's very interesting, I hadn't considered actually joining a startup vs starting one of my own! I will definitely look into that, any suggestions on where to look? I only know escapethecity (which I check infrequently).

I like pickles...
 
mk2012:
That's very interesting, I hadn't considered actually joining a startup vs starting one of my own! I will definitely look into that, any suggestions on where to look? I only know escapethecity (which I check infrequently).
Ventureloop has a job board for firms backed by VCs. A quick google search tells me of course there are websites like startupers and startuphire that seem to have job boards for those. I would also say one of your best bets might be too look through linkedin and find other previous MBB guys at startups in areas that you are interested in and reach out to them for help. I obviously haven't worked in consulting, but it's my understanding that most of you guys look out for each other and it's a bit of a fraternity of people who want to help each other out.
 

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