Pursuing an MBA starting in 2018, but I'm unsure what direction to take it now. Originally was set on CPGs but I've noticed an interesting debate pop up sometimes in Quora communities, where Startups give a broader exposure in managing the business, and CPGs are too slow and not fast enough/too bureaucratic, with stagnant product lines that have little room to change.
Currently work in the startup world in Marketing (Head of Digital, not overall strategy). While I can see there's a lot of quick growth opportunities like I pursued, it's a crapshoot in terms of the kind of quality the startup is, as we're mostly talking about Early Stage Startups with mostly underdeveloped business/marketing plans and highly focused engineering teams. The product is a huge indicator of how successful you'll be, and you're not really in control of that. Your budget is a big constraint, and thus you're mostly reliant on Influencers and SEM/SEO for acquisition (or more shady practices I turn down that would hurt us in the Long Run). Brand building is community engagement, Social, Email, and understanding UX principles.
In my mind (theoretically), CPGs deal with a much broader scope, as the products are physical packaged goods (so you have a lot of control over product appearance and voice). Your budget is bigger, so you should have much more experience and responsibility in dealing with analog Marketing in additional to Digital (which I believe is something many of these companies could learn a lot from, and I could have some quick wins). There's also a bigger need for more analytics and big data, with a high value in customer segmentation and audience attribution (where you can custom tailor focus groups and branding around certain audiences). You're also responsible more for P&L vs Startups where the focus is more basic (Revenue, Churn, Signups, Cohorts).
BUT...if these organizations are highly bureaucratic and not adaptable to any changes, and you're essentially a paper pusher that pretends to build a brand voice (but has already established it and there really isn't a lot of control over it, just some BS corporate mantra), then the Startup world would have much more leeway to build a brand voice despite not having nearly as many tools.
At the same time, I don't have experience in big company management/bureaucracy so sticking to Startups and smaller companies might hurt future mobility in the Long-Run.
Anyone have any opinion on this? I know this is mostly an I-Banking/Consulting/Finance forum, but there isn't a big community like this for Executive level position advice, and some of the best minds lurk on these boards. Would be great to get some feedback from you guys. Thanks!
Startups: highly, highly dependent on individual startup, and also the fact that even with the best of them, things change so fast (beyond your control) for good or bad. Remember Juicero? Yes it's being mocked as a dumb idea, but 18-24 months ago they were seen as the next Apple of food startups (backed by the most prominent VCs).
CPG: more predictable in terms of what you'll learn/gain in terms of skillset, experience, etc. And the slower pace also means that while things may not happen as fast (for good), like a large ship you can see where it's headed much more predictably in advance.
One other factor to consider is the professional network you can build as a result of these jobs. For example, I wouldn't take a startup job in Kansas City (or any startup outside a major tech/startup/VC hub) because you're marooned. In the Bay Area even if you're at a dinky startup you're part of a larger ecosystem of startups, VCs, etc.
With CPG, everything is a bit more well defined and predictable - including the kind of network you'll build based on your role (i.e. it's a mature industry so the people you interact with within the company, as well as its vendors, suppliers, etc aren't going boom and bust every 18 months and employee turnover isn't quite as extreme so that ad agency rep you're dealing with at the CPG is likely going to still be there in 1-2 years).
Also as you know a big difference in culture. At the CPG, it's going to be more predictable and uniform compared to startups (also, more older folks). Startups are really a case by case - from the infantilized "college dorm" to a more corporate culture. CPGs also tend to have a better mix of men and women (and working moms), compared to tech startups which are going to be younger and in some cases overwhelmingly young men - that can be a factor as well for the quality of your experience and learning -- some folks thrive when it feels like college cramming for exams. Others thrive in environments where it's not quite as adrenaline inducing, but where your bosses have kids to take care of and weekends and weeknights are sacrosanct for them (and by extension for you).
Ultimately it comes down to where you thrive best - in a more transient environment like startup land, or a more stable one like a CPG.
This may seem antithetical to the traditional career advice you hear out there, but that's also because such advice was geared towards a world pre-Internet (and never quite caught up to the realities of how industries go boom and bust and transform today).
In the long-term (10+ years), there's almost a 100% chance it won't matter (with one big caveat), because careers are more discontinuous then ever before.
In plain English, I wouldn't think about long-term (beyond 10 years). Focus more on what job choices will impact what you hope to do within the next 2-5 years. If stability is what you want going forward at least in the short-term, then go for CPG.
It's not useful trying to account for a 5-10 year horizon because unlike the past your career will NOT be this continuous thing, and it's practically a guarantee that you will have to do a 180-degree switch, whether by choice (because of new opportunities that don't even exist today), or not (being made redundant mid-career and having to start over somewhere else).
Think about it. How different will 2027 be from 2017? Is there going to be more, or less change compared to say 2007 vs 2017? Is change going to be faster, or slower? Then think about how useful it is to frame what your career/life/industry will be like in 2027 using the lens of 2017.
But if you wanted me to answer the question according to the world as you see it (i.e. continuous series of laddered steps towards some long-term so that the year 2027 is like 2017 today more or less), then here's your plan:
Again this would be more relevant in the 1990s and earlier (or even the 2000s) but going forward, you have to assume that change is accelerating to a point where you have to work with the assumption that you have ZERO idea what aspects of your skills, network, experience will be relevant at that time (again, it's more predictable within 5 years, but beyond that, assume "things will be more the same than different" at your peril).
The caveat to this is that the only thing that is good for the "long-term" is regardless of where you work, being a superfast learner, and being able to reinvent yourself are essential. Count on having to do a 180, even if you stay in "marketing" (as what you may be doing in 7-10 years time will be unrecognizable to what even your senior bosses are doing today). So much of the specific tools and skillsets you're using today in your job (SEO, UX, big data/machine learning, etc) didn't exist in the early 2000s dot-com era of marketing - marketers back then, just 10-15 years ago, didn't have the tools to be able to do what you can do today (and by extension, the insights you can gain as a result).
Then by your own admission, having broader skillsets with generalized lessens that are cross functional in any industry would be the best bet? Focusing on management as a whole becomes a far more important skillset, as the one constant is interacting with teams of people and relaying information from various functional departments.
In that case, I would say that the path you described would be the most logical unless I'm missing something.
From what I've gathered (and correct me if I am wrong), CPG experience at the MBA level is more of a generalist with Marketing functions based on analysis of consumers and appealing creatives. Your job is to find out what the vision for that brand sector should be, and relay information and feedback to various Managers in generalized departments based on the data you've received.
Once you've learned team management skillsets and have successfully demonstrated as such, you then go to the startup world to lead a brand as a C-Level esque perspective (though I would assume that the startup you choose is even more critical in this phase).
Technology might change, but I am not sure to the extent you're thinking. We've peaked the mass revolution that was the internet age, and are in the beginning of the maturation stage. I think we'll see more evolutionary products rather than revolutionary at this point.
We still live and interact in a physical world. If anything, online is trending more physical, whether it be via retail locations for big e-tailers (not to sell, but to showcase) or real-life gamification with your online apps based on your activities (augmented reality comes to mind). In fact, this is something I'm personally working on now.
If you really think that technology is maturing and evolutionary, then that's where we'll have to agree to disagree, and nothing I say will be relevant because it's based on fundamentally different views of where we're heading.
The Internet as we know it may have peaked, but that doesn't mean technical progress as a whole has. We've just started.
If there's one thing we probably agree upon is that jobs where interpersonal skills are essential will be the last thing that will get replaced regardless of technology. However, you can develop those skills at startups or at an established F500 CPG. It really comes down to the kind of environment or culture where you thrive as a person in developing such skills. I'm sure you've witnessed it yourself where some poor soul is struggling so badly in a company, withdraws into a shell and is therefore seen as "anti-social" or lacking in social skills, when in reality it may be that that person simply is in the wrong environment (geek at a jock school, or the jock at a performing arts school).
I highly encourage you to read up on https://futureoflife.org/ (I have no affiliation) - a consortium of those working on Artificial Intelligence (including Elon Musk, Google, etc) and if you don't think this technology will have a profound impact on marketing, then do so at your peril, because while it may not impact it in the next 5 years, you may be surprised to what extent in 10 years' time.
And finally, we don't interact or transact in the physical world as much as you may think. How much time do people spend glued in front of screens (phones, tablets, computers) compared to actually interacting with people? Even compared to 2007 before the iPhone, it's a more profound difference than you may realize.
The Internet as we know it may have peaked, but not technical progress as a whole, and that technical progress beyond the Internet (or beyond our current imagination) will change your work and career far more than you can even imagine today.
Quisquam optio quidem tempore veniam error id sit. Et aut sunt aperiam dolores itaque quod quisquam qui. Id qui aspernatur error nesciunt ea enim.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...