Working as a managing director relevant experience for strategy consulting?

Hi,

I've been working with startups for a while and MD role is not a clear one, especially at the early stage. Usually, startups have clear employee roles (Sales, Product, Marketing, Ops), and founder titles. MD sounds unclear to me.

Several things to keep in mind:

1. The risks are very high. 75% of startups die at each round of financing. If your startup dies - will look not that strong in the resume. 
2. Make sure you demonstrate the results in the startup (i.e. growth) - its all about the story you tell.
3. The industry is important. E.g. doing fintech is interesting and transferable, doing blockchain can be perceived as a scam
4. Again, the functional role is important. Working on product / data science is much more relevant for consulting than doing ops
5. You'll have to explain why you are jumping into a startup environment and then back to corporate. You'll definitely be asked why you decided to move from entrepreneurship to consulting, so make sure you have a great answer

Best

Hi there,

It can be a good experience to have in the CV. I agree with Vlad that the degree it may help is related to a couple of elements:

• Responsibility: are you going to hire people/manage them? If so, that’s a plus
• Day-to-day activity: what are you going to do in the day-to-day will impact the perception of relevance of the job experience
• Startup results: not completely under your control, but if the company dies early or fails to raise money and stays small it will negatively impact its perception
• Sector: if the sector is related to something related to consulting it helps
• Fit with consulting: the environment in a startup and in consulting is very different. You will have to show you are a good fit for the corporate world and not a “maverick” that is going to leave in 2 months as you can’t stand your boss

Having said that, several of the people we hired in my first startup moved to consulting and the experience helped them to land interviews.

Best,
Francesco

Hello!

It´s very very hard to say with the little information we have. For sure working in a successful start-up can be a great thing, but depends a lot on: 

• Impact achieved
• Specific role description
• Stakeholders managed
• Scope
• etc.

Best, 

Clara

I completely agree with Henning here!

If you can highlight strategic leadership, marketing, digital & design thinking, team leadership, etc. in your role then you can absolutely shift into strategy consulting.

Now, you'll likely have to come in as a specialist (McKinsey Digital, BCG Platinion or Digital Ventures, Tech Function, etc.), however, your skills can be transferable.

Absolutely yes! Can you share the MD job responsibilities here, so we can give better advice.

From my personal experience, I can answer with a strong: Yes! But of course you need to position it as such in future conversations with consultants. Make sure to highlight the relevant aspects of your experience: Strategic leadership, marketing, digital & design thinking, team leadership, etc

Hi there,

Yes, it will, depending on your job experience, could you probably be more specific about being an MD?

Cheers,

GB