I got kicked out from consulting and I am joining corporate strategy at a tech startup.
What should I pay attention to in order to survive?
And is corporate strategy easier to survive than consulting?
I got kicked out from consulting and I am joining corporate strategy at a tech startup.
What should I pay attention to in order to survive?
And is corporate strategy easier to survive than consulting?
Hi there,
1) What should I pay attention to in order to survive?
Possible activities you may consider before joining are:
Below you can also find some tips for the first weeks I usually recommend – you are probably familiar with most of them, but it may be good to review them:
2) And is corporate strategy easier to survive than consulting?
In theory it should be less demanding but it depends on the company. It would still be good to try to understand what you could improve given the feedback you received before in consulting and work on that.
Best,
Francesco
Why are you approaching this in terms of “survival”? How are you going to enjoy what you do ? Consulting didnt work out for you..not a big deal. Its not for everyone. Take some time to reflect and pay attention to all the things that worked well and that didnt work well. Learn from this and put it into practice.
Corp Strat in Start-up will have different set of challenges. No job is perfect and will have its ups and down. Please have a look at this article where I provide plenty of tips and guidance on career moves and choosing between firms. I hope this provide some clarity to you- https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/how-do-i-know-which-career-is-right-for-me
All the best.
Hi there,
In general, internal strategy is significantly less demanding than consulting (by its very nature). However, this rule applies more to large institutions.
Tech startups are known to be particularly scrappy/hardworking - I do not know your tech startup, but you do need to investigate the culture and work ethic of the firm in order to better understand how intense it will be.
In Corporate Strategy its critical to know the company and the business well. The faster you become a specialist in the business and the organization, the faster you will become a valuable resource.
Unlike in consulting, where in ~6 months you become knowledgeable enough to perform well in a subsequent project in the same area, here it takes a bit longer, because the level of specialization required is much higher.
You will also have to live much longer with your own mistakes. If you build a good reputation with your counterparts, that will help you a lot as time goes by. Working well with the “client” is even more important. Becoming good at “client” interviews, workshops, presentations, getting buy-in, supporting decision making is paramount.
On the other hand research loses some importance (usually relevant sources are known, and you resort more to internal knowledge and to the knowledge you build over the years… and research is frequently more about knowing WHAT information exists in the organization and WHO has it). “Recycling” previous project analysis is also relevant. In other words, research is now KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT.
Analytics loses some relative weight as well.
One other different aspect is that you don't need to be 100% bullet proof on everything. And this changes how you manage projects. In consulting, you go 100% ready with multiple backups to deal with objections. In internal consulting, sometimes you can leave those backup analysis to a later stage (and you only do them if you really need them). There is also more flexibility to change or even cancel a project, if your findings support that course of action.
Hope this helps!